Select committee: Health and Social Care Committee
Conclusion 1
2nd Report - Adult Social Care Reform: the cost of inaction
Published 5 May 2025
Addressed to Department of Health and Social Care
Health and Social Care Committee Adult Social Care Reform: The Cost of Inaction All items in this report Report on parliament.uk ↗ Inquiry on parliament.uk ↗
Conclusion (the committee's words)
The current adult social care system does not sufficiently meet the needs of the population despite the efforts of millions of paid and unpaid carers. Financial pressures mean that those needing care sometimes only receive basic support, far from enough to enable them to live fulfilling lives. Despite this, costs continue to increase, with the Government, and taxpayers, currently paying £32 billion a year for a broken system. The Government does not have a robust understanding of the extent of the current system’s failings to provide people with the care they need. Nor does it have robust data on the outcomes of delivering high quality care. Without this, it will be unable to make a clear case for reform. (Conclusion, Paragraph 20)
From: Health and Social Care Committee, 2nd Report - Adult Social Care Reform: the cost of inaction (HC 368), 5 May 2025
Government response
The government responded to the whole report on 9 July 2025 (deadline 5 July 2025).
Summary written by Accountability Index from the government's response. It is not the government's own words.The government shares the committee's view that adult social care is under significant pressure and needs reform, responds to each recommendation, and says it does not accept some, including a new cross-government impact assessment, while referring others to the independent commission led by Baroness Casey.
- On unmet need, the government says it would be "challenging to publish an annual assessment of the level of unmet care needs", citing limitations in existing data and the complexity of defining care needs.
- It says it "does not, therefore, accept" the recommendation for a new cross-government impact assessment on workforce policy changes, preferring existing impact assessment procedures. It also does not intend to commission a dedicated study of the cost of inaction, and does not think a separate growth strategy for the sector is "proportionate or necessary".
- On the Fair Pay Agreement, it will "begin the Fair Pay Agreement consultation this year", with secondary legislation and the negotiating body to follow in 2026. It is committed to establishing the first agreement within this Parliament.
- It agrees that publishing delayed discharge cost estimates would "in principle" improve transparency, and will "explore how best to publish cost data" with caveats. It will set out the Better Care Fund approach for 2026 and beyond "in due course".