The details of individual Fair Pay Agreements for the care sector, such as what is included and who it applies to, will be subject to the negotiation process.

We expect negotiations on pay, terms and conditions, and other matters such as training and career progression to commence in April 2027. Once the negotiating body has reached an agreement on how the funding should be spent, the first Fair Pay Agreement will be implemented in 2028.

The Government is providing £500 million to support the implementation of a Fair Pay Agreement in adult social care from 2028. Illustratively, a full-time care worker on the National Living Wage, currently £12.71 per hour for workers aged 21 years old and over, could potentially earn up to £1,300 more per year from 2028, though the negotiating body could decide on a range of options outside of this. This estimate reflects how care is currently delivered, with the majority of care funded by local authorities, and is based on projections of the National Living Wage in 2028/29 alongside expected wage and workforce growth.

Over this Parliament, alongside our changes to the minimum wage and new measures in the Employment Rights Act, care workers will receive one of the biggest upgrades in their pay, employment rights, and conditions in a generation.

The Government's vision is that the Fair Pay Agreement in 2028 to 2029 will be the first of many negotiated in future years and will grow over time.

The 10-Year Health Plan sets out the Government’s ambition to shift more care from hospitals into the community. Hospices have an important role to play in this shift, including through community and hospice-at-home services.

Palliative care services are included in the list of services an integrated care board (ICB) must commission. To support ICBs in this duty, NHS England has published statutory guidance and service specifications. Whilst the majority of palliative care and end-of-life care is provided by National Health Service staff and services, we recognise the vital part that voluntary sector organisations, including hospices, also play in providing support to people at the end of life and their loved ones.

We are developing a modern service framework (MSF) for Palliative Care and End-of-Life Care in England, which will support more strategic commissioning and sustainable contracting of hospice services by ICBs. An interim update has now been published in the form of a Written Ministerial Statement, at the following link:

https://questions-statements.parliament.uk/written-statements/detail/2026-06-04/hcws88

Further metrics and associated targets will build on the 2029 ambitions set out in the Neighbourhood Health Framework, which includes increasing the number of people identified as approaching the end of life by 10% and reducing non-elective admissions and hospital bed days by 10% for that cohort.

The MSF will not be accompanied by new national funding, as its primary purpose is to set the strategic direction for improving palliative care and end-of-life care, including reducing variation in access, quality, and outcomes by using existing resources across the systems.

The Government has supported the hospice sector with a £125 million capital funding boost for adult and children and young’s hospices in England. We are also providing approximately £80 million of revenue funding for children and young people’s hospices over three financial years, from 2026/27 to 2028/29, giving them the stability they need to plan ahead.

I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave to the hon. Member for Leeds East on 16 June 2026 to Question 8678.

I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave to the hon. Member for Leeds East on 16 June 2026 to Question 8678.

We expect local authorities to pay sustainable fee rates that meet the costs of delivering care. Under the Care Act 2014, local authorities are tasked with the duty to shape their care markets to meet the diverse needs of all local people. This includes negotiating fees individually with care providers, including in the homecare market, to achieve a sustainable balance of quality, effectiveness, and value for money.

Under the Care and Support Statutory Guidance, local authorities should assure themselves that providers are sufficiently remunerating staff to retain an effective workforce, including appropriate remuneration for any time spent travelling between appointments.

The Market Sustainability and Improvement Fund provided over £3 billion to local authorities for adult social care from 2023/24 to 2025/26. This was used by authorities, based on their areas’ local priorities for improvement, to build capacity and support market sustainability, including to increase fee rates paid to care providers.

As part of our monitoring of the grant conditions, and to understand fee rates more generally, local authorities are required to provide an annual return to the Department which includes data on the fee rates they pay care providers. The Government publishes this data annually, with the latest being available at the following link:

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/market-sustainability-and-improvement-fund-2025-to-2026-care-provider-fees

We expect local authorities to pay sustainable fee rates that meet the costs of delivering care. Under the Care Act 2014, local authorities are tasked with the duty to shape their care markets to meet the diverse needs of all local people. This includes negotiating fees individually with care providers, including in the homecare market, to achieve a sustainable balance of quality, effectiveness, and value for money.

Under the Care and Support Statutory Guidance, local authorities should assure themselves that providers are sufficiently remunerating staff to retain an effective workforce, including appropriate remuneration for any time spent travelling between appointments.

The Market Sustainability and Improvement Fund provided over £3 billion to local authorities for adult social care from 2023/24 to 2025/26. This was used by authorities, based on their areas’ local priorities for improvement, to build capacity and support market sustainability, including to increase fee rates paid to care providers.

As part of our monitoring of the grant conditions, and to understand fee rates more generally, local authorities are required to provide an annual return to the Department which includes data on the fee rates they pay care providers. The Government publishes this data annually, with the latest being available at the following link:

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/market-sustainability-and-improvement-fund-2025-to-2026-care-provider-fees

The Department of Health and Social Care has regular discussions with the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government on a range of issues regarding local government services, including adult social care.

All social care workers must be paid at least the National Minimum Wage or National Living Wage for the work that they do. Time spent travelling between appointments counts as working time for minimum wage purposes.

Currently, National Minimum Wage enforcement continues to be delivered by HM Revenue & Customs under a contracting arrangement with the Fair Work Agency. This ensures continuity of service while the Fair Work Agency prepares for the full transfer of National Minimum Wage functions in April 2027.

If an individual believes their rights as a worker are not being upheld, they can seek confidential guidance and support from ACAS. ACAS can be contacted on 0300 123 1100, or they can visit the ACAS website for further information, which is available at the following link:

https://www.acas.org.uk/

They can also submit a query online directly to HM Revenue & Customs via GOV.UK; it considers every complaint it receives.

The Government has protected the smallest businesses and charities from the impact of the increase to employer National Insurance by increasing the Employment Allowance from £5,000 to £10,500. That means more than half of businesses with NICs liabilities either gain or see no change this financial year.

A Tax Information and Impact Note (TIIN) was published alongside the introduction of the Bill containing the changes to employer NICs. The TIIN sets out the impact of the policy on the exchequer, the economic impacts of the policy, and the impacts on individuals, businesses, and civil society organisations, as well as an overview of the equality impacts.

To support social care authorities to deliver key services, in light of pressures, the Government is making available up to £3.7 billion of additional funding for social care authorities in 2025/26, which includes a £880 million increase in the Social Care Grant. This is part of an overall increase to local government spending power of 6.8% in cash terms.

It is important that people are discharged promptly from hospital with the right support in place. This winter, local systems have been asked to place a particular focus on reducing bed occupancy and improving patient flow, whilst from 2025/26, National Health Service trusts have been asked to eliminate discharge delays of more than 48 hours caused by issues in the hospital and to work with local authorities to reduce the longest delays, including those linked to arranging onwards care packages.

Through the Better Care Fund (BCF) the Government has provided £9 billion to be used jointly by the NHS and local authorities towards achieving agreed goals, including reducing discharge delays for those awaiting home care provision.

In 2026/27 the BCF will continue to focus on those services that are essential for integrated health and social care, such as hospital discharge, intermediate care, rehabilitation, and reablement.

Under the Care Act 2014, local authorities are tasked with the duty to shape their care markets to meet the diverse needs of all local people. This includes negotiating fees individually with care providers, including in the domiciliary market, to achieve a sustainable balance of quality, effectiveness, and value for money.

We expect local authorities to pay sustainable fee rates that meet the costs of delivering care, which is why the Market Sustainability and Improvement Fund provided over £1 billion for adult social care to local authorities over 2025/26. This can be used to target increasing fee rates paid to adult social care.

This Government is committed to publishing a 10 Year Workforce Plan to set out action to create a workforce ready to deliver the transformed service set out in the 10-Year Health Plan. The 10 Year Workforce Plan will ensure that the National Health Service has the right people in the right places, with the right skills to care for patients, when they need it.

The NHS is increasingly using virtual wards, also known as hospital at home, to support people at the place they call home, and enable the shift from hospital to community care. Virtual wards allow patients to get the care they need at home safely and conveniently, rather than being in hospital.

Whilst no comprehensive quantitative assessment has been made, we recognise that home and community-based National Health Services play a crucial role in preventing admissions for people with conditions that can be safely managed in the community, thereby helping to manage demand pressures on accident and emergency departments, and improving patient experience.

Key features of home and community based services include: anticipating and preventing exacerbations using personalised care plans delivered through neighbourhood health teams for people with long-term conditions and frailty; directing people to the most appropriate service at first contact using clearly established routes for clinical advice supported by digital tools and neighbourhood teams; and delivering integrated community based services including Urgent Community Response, Hospital at Home, and therapy-led intermediate care.

Our Urgent and Emergency Care Delivery Plan, published in June 2025, commits to increasing the number of patients receiving urgent care in the community by expanding these services.

NHS England does not hold data on the number of patients in Buckinghamshire and Milton Keynes who have received home-based National Health Service care in each of the last three years.

The NHS provides a range of services in peoples’ homes such as community health services, virtual wards, community mental health support, and palliative care.

The 10-Year Health Plan sets out our vision for a Neighbourhood Health Service.

The Neighbourhood Health Service will embody our new preventative principle that care should happen as locally as it can, digitally by default, in a person’s home if possible, in a neighbourhood health centre when needed, and only in a hospital if necessary.