Adult Social Care Market Report: June 2026

The Month in One Line

June confirmed that adult social care commissioning is recovering from the 2025 provider exit crisis — and councils are paying more to keep it that way.

What Moved in June

Domiciliary care was the dominant June category. Forty-one councils published domiciliary care framework procurements, compared to 28 in June 2025. Average hourly rate across new frameworks: £22.80 — up from £19.40 twelve months ago. Norfolk, Suffolk, and Lincolnshire all awarded new county-wide DPS frameworks in June.

Supported living for learning disability produced twelve significant procurements. The largest: Lancashire County Council's supported living and short breaks DPS, estimated annual value £34m, published 4 June. Applications closed 27 June.

Extra care housing: six combined authority areas published extra care development and management procurements, driven by the Department of Health's Extra Care Capital Programme tranche 2.

ICB-commissioned mental health community support: following the NHS Long Term Workforce Plan discharge targets, 19 ICBs published community mental health step-down support procurements in June. These are new commissioning opportunities that did not exist in their current form before April 2026.

Who Is Buying Right Now

• Councils with prevention duty obligations: the Care Act prevention duty enforcement guidance (effective 1 June) is producing a wave of prevention and early intervention commissioning. 23 councils published relevant contracts in June.
• ICBs: integrated care boards are the fastest-growing commissioner type in adult social care. Mental health, learning disability, and autism commissioning has shifted significantly toward ICBs in 2025-26.
• NHS Discharge to Assess: 14 hospital trusts published D2A homecare packages in June as winter preparation begins early.

Forward Signals for July

Local Government Association publishes updated adult social care fee benchmarking data in July — historically this triggers a wave of framework amendments and new DPS launches as councils revise their market position statements.

The Provider Selection Regime (PSR) one-year review publishes in mid-July. Expect clarifications on direct award and most-suitable-provider routes that will affect how ICBs commission from July onwards.

The Number That Matters

£22.80/hour — the average new domiciliary care framework rate in June 2026, up 17% year-on-year. Providers who have not yet renegotiated old block contracts are operating below market rate.

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