Adult social care budgets in England are facing a £623m overspend this year due to mounting demand for care for people with complex needs, the Association of Directors of Adult Social Services (ADASS) has found.
Adults' services directors also predict needing to save £869m in 2026-27 to balance their adult social care budgets, according to the results of ADASS's latest autumn survey, published today.
Among pressures highlighted by the research are those related to the care of young people aged 18-24, with ADASS finding that the number supported by councils rose by 7% from 2024-25.
The news follows findings from the Homecare Association that home care services in England were underfunded by £2bn this year.
ADASS's president, Jess McGregor, said the results of its survey showed that councils were being forced to make "impossible choices" as a result of government underfunding.
The survey, carried out last month, received responses from 124 of the 153 English councils with adults' services responsibility, with data extrapolated to estimate the current situation across the whole country.
£623m overspend predicted
ADASS found that councils were collectively on course to overspend their 2025-26 budgets by £623m, equivalent to 3% of the total.This comes on the back of authorities exceeding their planned level of spend on adult care by an average of 5.2% in each of the past three years, according to an analysis by the Local Government Association.
Authorities also projected that they would need to make £869m of savings in 2026-27 to manage their adult social care budgets.
Directors reported that the pressures were being driven by increasing demand for care for people with complex needs, including higher cost residential, nursing and supported living placements for people with learning disabilities.
Younger disabled adults' needs increasing
ADASS highlighted the increasing pressures facing councils in meeting the needs of people aged 18-24. Based on the responses, it estimated that councils were supporting 33,686 young people currently, up 7% on the 2024 figure (31,583).It also calculated that there had been a 30% rise in the number supported whose care packages were worth at least £7,000 a week, which rose from 547 to 712.
The association said the trends were being driven by increasing numbers of children with special educational needs and disabilities transitioning to adulthood.
Providers closing or handing back contracts
ADASS's survey also highlighted ongoing challenges for councils in managing their local care markets, with 61% of directors reporting that providers had closed, ceased trading or handed back contracts since 1 April 2025, affecting an estimated 4,254 people.This comes in the wake of the impact of this year's rises in the national living wage (NLW) and in employer national insurance contributions (NICs). According to the Homecare Association, these measures have increased providers' annual costs by 10%, however, council fees have risen by only about 5% this year.
ADASS warned that the sustainability of social care services could be further undermined by the government's ban on providers recruiting care workers from abroad through health and care worker visas, which came into force in July.
Providers may have to increase spending on agency staff to cover vacancies that would have been filled by international recruits, while staff shortages may also affect continuity of services for people with care and support needs, it said.
Lack of agreements about care staff carrying out health tasks
The survey results also highlighted concerns with the ongoing trend for healthcare activities, such as blood pressure checks, to be delegated from the NHS to adult social care workers.Half of directors said that they did not have an agreement with health partners that addressed when and how the delegation of healthcare activities should happen. Where agreements were in place, just 64% had provisions in place to prevent social care incurring additional costs as a result of delegation.
This is against a backdrop of growing concerns - highlighted in ADASS's 2025 spring survey - of NHS decisions, for example in tightening access to continuing healthcare, shunting additional costs onto councils.
Councils 'having to make impossible choices'
Commenting on the survey results, McGregor said: "Councils overspending on adult social care isn’t about abstract numbers — it’s about the unmet needs of real people. "Nowhere is this more evident than for young adults with complex needs...whose care and support ensures they can live full and independent lives.“The underfunding of adult social care is forcing councils to make impossible choices – trying to balance financial sustainability with doing the right thing for those who rely on us.”
On the back of the report, ADASS called for:
- The government to provide councils with an extra £300m to cover the 2025-26 winter, including by enabling them to increase care worker wages to support recruitment and retention.
- NHS bodies to commit resource to ensure delegated activities can be commissioned on a planned and safe basis, with care workers appropriately remunerated for carrying them out.
- Improved transitions to adulthood for young disabled people, including through new national standards for education, health and social care services and amendment of the Care Act 2014 statutory guidance to enable earlier identification of those potentially needing care and support from council adults' services.
