The funding boost will be for care homes providing nursing care in the community, ‘which is tailored to an individual’s needs and health outcomes’. This includes administering medicines’ and performing procedures. The DHSC says the extra funding will ‘help reduce the pressure on hospitals – by preventing unnecessary admissions’, and supports the discharge of individuals into social care settings to free up hospital beds.
The ‘uplift’ for 2025 to 2026 means the standard weekly rate per person provided for NHS-funded nursing care will increase from £235.88 to £254.06 from 1 April 2025, with funding paid by the NHS directly to care homes which provide nursing care. The higher rate will increase from £324.50 to £349.50.
The funding increase follows the government’s immediate actions to improve adult social care, as part of the Plan for Change, ‘to help create a sustainable care system for the future’. This includes making available £3.7 billion to local authorities, and providing £172 million in additional funding for the Disabled Facilities Grant to deliver around 15,000 new adaptations to help disabled people live safely and independently in their own homes.
In the longer term, Baroness Louise Casey (pictured) is leading an independent commission to develop recommendations for a national care service which, it is claimed, will ‘provide high-quality care for everybody who needs it, and rebuild the sector so that it is fit for the future’.