Capacity Tracker Update: Contract Hand Back Questions
The Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC), prompted by the Minister have been asked to collate evidence of the impact of employers’ National Insurance Contribution changes (eNICs) in April 2025 will have on care providers as a result of the November 2024 Care Provider Alliance Budget Survey which found that 57% of care providers reported they would hand back existing contracts to local authorities and the NHS.
The DHSC is utilising the Capacity Tracker to gather information about activities being undertaken relating to handing back contracts for care and support to LA and NHS commissioners, due to insufficient (expected) fee uplifts. This collection appears as a hyperlink alongside the current provider update within the Capacity Tracker system and can be updated up to the 28th of February. This is independent of the mandatory collection. This data collection exercise is only accessible within the Capacity Tracker system for users with a registered account and no information provided will be shared at an identifiable level with local authority commissioners.
The questions are in response to the CPA survey on eNICs in November and the widescale campaigning of both local and national trade associations and independent care providers highlighting the impact of eNICs and the low uplifts being received from commissioners.
Essentially Ministers are asking for proof that the Budget changes will and is having a detrimental impact on care providers.
Collectively, we have highlighted our concerns with the phrasing of the questions and the timing of this survey. We anticipate it will be repeated in future months as otherwise will present a skewed picture of the unfolding crisis, given most of the impact will come after April with the full scale of the impact not realised until much later in the year.
We also recognise that the nature of the questions and collection mechanism might make some providers uneasy about submitting information, nevertheless while not exactly what we would have wanted, this is an opportunity to highlight the pressures care providers are under, and we have been assured by the DHSC that “there are no current considerations regarding outputs being made available to commissioners and if there were, it would not be at location level to protect responders”. The Department have also confirmed that they will gather feedback and obtain much needed caveats before sharing the analysis internally and are looking to arrange a session via the CPA shortly to discuss this further.
The questions asked are stated below, and whilst they are not asked as we would prefer, this is the direction taken by the Department and we believe care providers should answer as best they can to illustrate the impact eNICs is going to have on their organisations. If there is a lack of evidence provided, this will reduce the potential remedies we continue to lobby for.
What is the most common service type offered by your organisation?
How likely are you to hand back any of your Local Authority commissioned contracts for care and support for any of your residents/service users in the next 3 months, due to insufficient (expected) fee uplifts?
How likely are you to hand back any of your NHS commissioned contracts for care and support for any of your residents/service users in the next 3 months, due to insufficient (expected) fee uplifts?
Did you have a discussion with Local Authorities in January about handing back any of your contracts for care and support for any of your residents/service users, due to insufficient (expected) fee uplifts?
Did you have a discussion with NHS commissioners in January about handing back any of your contracts for care and support for any of your residents/service users, due to insufficient (expected) fee uplifts?
Did you hand back any of your Local Authority commissioned contracts for care and support for any of your residents/service users in January, due to insufficient (expected) fee uplifts?
Did you hand back any of your NHS commissioned contracts for care and support for any of your residents/service users in January, due to insufficient (expected) fee uplifts?
Please get in touch with any questions or concerns you have and we will flag with DHSC and the Capacity Tracker team.
You can email us at: policy@careengland.org.uk