As we head towards Christmas this month in Parliament has been shaped by a series of major policy moments with significant implications for adult social care. Professor Martin Green OBE, Chief Executive, played a central role in the Health and Social Care Committee’s session on healthy ageing, where he set out the urgent need for system-wide coordination, investment in prevention, and recognition of the structural barriers facing older people. His evidence helped place social care at the heart of discussions on how the country supports an ageing population.
Alongside this, the Government announced the most extensive overhaul of settlement and migration rules in four decades. The shift to a 10-year “earned settlement” model, paired with stricter conditions and contribution-based accelerators, marks a fundamental reorientation of the UK’s approach to migration. These changes carry significant consequences for the social care workforce already among the most migration-dependent sectors, and will require close attention from providers in the months ahead.
The Chancellor’s Budget added another layer of complexity, setting out the government’s economic strategy against a backdrop of competing pressures on public services, welfare, and long-term growth. While framed as a rebuilding plan, the Budget sparked sharp debate over tax decisions, future investment, and the absence of substantive detail on social care, a gap that Care England continues to highlight.
Taken together, these developments underscore the scale and pace of policy change facing the sector and reaffirm the importance of ensuring social care remains central to national reform.
Policy Highlights
12 November 2025 – Healthy Ageing: physical activity in an ageing society – Oral evidence
Health and Social Care Committee
Read the full notes and transcript here
Witnesses:
- Adam Blaze, Chief Executive at Activity Alliance
- Professor Martin Green OBE, Chief Executive at Care England
- Emma Hutchins, Physical Activity and Health Influencing Manager at Richmond Group of Charities
- Professor Elizabeth Orton, Professor of Public Health at The University of Nottingham
- Professor Dawn Skelton, Professor of Ageing and Health at Glasgow Caledonian University
- Professor Chris Todd, Deputy-Director at NIHR Policy Research Unit in Healthy Ageing
Across the session, Professor Martin Green highlighted structural ageism, the lack of preventive prescribing, the system’s misunderstanding of risk, the absence of social prescribing in care settings, the underuse of personal health budgets, and the failure to address deconditioning. He repeatedly emphasised the need for person-centred assessments, early intervention, system-wide coordination and equal investment in social care training. He positioned the Casey Commission and national strategy development as key opportunities for genuinely transformative reform.
Migration: Settlement Pathway
Volume 775: debated on Thursday 20 November 2025
Read the full notes and transcript here
The Home Secretary announced the most significant overhaul of UK settlement rules in 40 years. The default route to settlement will double from five to 10 years, with new contribution-based accelerators and penalties for benefit use, illegal entry and criminality. Rights such as access to benefits may in future attach only to citizenship. Public service workers, high earners, volunteers and degree-level English speakers may fast-track, while benefit claimants, illegal arrivals and lower-skilled care workers may face much longer routes. All current ILR holders are protected. Debate focused on economic implications, fairness, protection for vulnerable groups, impact on public services and the balance between migration contribution and social cohesion.
Alison Bennett (Mid Sussex) (LD)
“The reason they cannot go home is that there is no social care package for them to go on to. This is terrible for them, puts strain on the trust and is ruinous to the taxpayer. Given that there is no urgent plan to reform social care, what is the Prime Minister’s plan to bring them home for Christmas?”
The Prime Minister
“As the hon. Member knows, we are reforming social care. I have asked Baroness Casey to lead on that, and she has had the first of her cross-party meetings to build consensus, which is obviously what we need on this. As I have set out a number of times, the first phase will report in 2026; so that we can reform as we go on, there will obviously be a phase after that. I remind the House that we have already boosted social care funding by £3.7 billion, with record increases also to the carer’s allowance and £500 million for the first ever fair pay agreement to properly recognise and reward carers.”
Financial Statement and Budget Report
Volume 776: debated on Wednesday 26 November 2025
Read the full notes and transcript here
The Deputy Speaker opened with a sharp warning over unprecedented Budget leaks, insisting Parliament must hear major announcements first. The Chancellor presented the Budget as part of an economic rebuilding plan, noting improved short-term growth forecasts but lower long-term productivity due to past policy decisions. She set out support for entrepreneurs, new investment incentives, ISA reforms and continued public investment in infrastructure and regional development.
She confirmed that fiscal rules are met, with borrowing and debt projected to fall. Additional funding was directed to the NHS, schools, youth employment and pensions, alongside reforms to disability assessments and apprenticeship access. Fairness measures included higher taxes on asset income, new high-value property surcharges and tighter pension tax reliefs. There were also measures for high streets, EV charging, gambling and vaping duties. Cost-of-living support included a £150 reduction in energy bills, continued fuel duty cuts and frozen income tax thresholds. The two-child benefit limit and “rape clause” were abolished, which the Chancellor said would lift 450,000 children out of poverty.
Budget Resolutions
Volume 776: debated on Wednesday 26 November 2025
Read the full notes and transcript here
The Budget debate centres on sharply opposing interpretations of Labour’s fiscal choices. Kemi Badenoch delivers an extended condemnation of what she calls a “£26 billion tax raid,” accusing the Chancellor of breaking promises, freezing thresholds, and expanding welfare—particularly by abolishing the two-child cap—in ways she claims will damage growth and burden workers. Labour MPs, led by Dame Meg Hillier and Catherine West, defend the Budget as a long-needed correction after “14 years” of Conservative economic damage, emphasising measures to reduce child poverty, expand school nutrition programmes, and increase investment in public services, ISAs, gambling duty reform, and NHS waiting times. Ed Davey argues Labour is repeating Conservative high-tax policies and insists that Brexit remains the core driver of economic decline as well as argued that there was disappointment on no social care mentions. Jeremy Hunt and Edward Leigh focus on welfare and growth, claiming that Labour’s approach increases dependency, undermines incentives to work, and raises taxes due to choices not to cut welfare or reform assessments. Overall, the debate reflects profound disagreements about welfare, taxation, growth, child poverty, and fiscal credibility, with both sides invoking the OBR, inflation figures, and past performance to frame the Budget either as essential social renewal or as catastrophic economic mismanagement.
Chamber Business
Care Leavers
Volume 774: debated on Monday 3 November 2025
Read the full notes and transcript here
The debate marked the start of National Care Leavers Month and highlighted the severe challenges faced by young people leaving care, including housing insecurity, financial hardship, and inconsistent local support. MPs called for a national care leaver offer, stronger housing rights, improved financial entitlements, and better transition support.
Minister Josh MacAlister acknowledged systemic failings and outlined reforms such as abolishing local connection tests, extending corporate parenting duties, expanding Staying Close, and reviewing early deaths among care-experienced people. There was broad cross-party agreement that care leavers deserve consistent support and opportunity nationwide.
Welfare Spending
Volume 774: debated on Tuesday 4 November 2025
Read the full notes and transcript here
The debate centred on child poverty, disability benefits, and the fairness of the current welfare system. MPs challenged the Government over the two-child limit, benefit sanctions, particularly for those with mental health conditions and delays in disability assessments. Ministers highlighted early measures such as expanded free school meals and confirmed major reforms to PIP, sanctions, and disability employment support, with full proposals due in 2026. Housing pressures, homelessness, and in-work poverty were recurring themes. The Government maintained that further decisions on welfare spending would be announced at the Budget.
Learning Disabilities Mortality Review Reports
Volume 850: debated on Thursday 13 November 2025
Read the full notes and transcript here
Peers argued that despite a decade of LeDeR reviews, people with learning disabilities continue to die “more than 20 years younger” and experience “42% avoidable deaths,” indicating systemic failure. The Government defended its approach through training, identification reforms, executive leadership in ICBs and the 10-year health plan, but peers pressed for enforceable systems, better communication support, improved care packages, and reliable data-sharing to ensure consistent, personalised care.
Oral Answers to Questions: Home Office
Volume 775: debated on Monday 17 November 2025
Read the full notes and transcript here
The Home Office Oral Questions on 17 November 2025 focused on asylum and immigration reform, violence against women and girls, rural and neighbourhood policing, and the future of asylum hotels. Ministers defended plans for wide-ranging asylum reforms inspired in part by Denmark but firmly ruled out leaving the ECHR, promising instead to reform how article 8 is applied in immigration cases. They highlighted increased removals, halving of asylum hotel use, and a commitment to close all hotels by the end of the Parliament while reviewing profiteering contracts.
Jess Phillips set out the Government’s mission to halve violence against women and girls in a decade, with a forthcoming national strategy, a new VAWG centre, and stronger support for specialist “by and for” services. Sarah Jones announced funding for 13,000 extra neighbourhood policing personnel and a new rural and wildlife crime strategy, alongside tougher action on equipment theft and shoplifting. Other exchanges covered grooming gangs, BNO settlement, legal migration caps, espionage cases linked to China, extremism, and protest powers—reflecting a broad agenda of border control, public safety, and victim protection.
Oral Answers to Questions: Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government
Volume 776: debated on Monday 24 November 2025
Read the full notes and transcript here
The 24 November 2025 Oral Answers session focused heavily on local authority funding, housing, planning reform, and homelessness, with a strong political framing that positioned the Government as correcting the inequalities of the previous administration. The Fair Funding Review 2.0 was repeatedly described as aligning resources with need and deprivation, using granular data to target support to the most disadvantaged communities.
Major legislative themes included the Renters’ Rights Act 2025, the £39bn social and affordable housing programme, and planned reforms to estate management companies. Homelessness featured prominently, with councils facing severe financial pressures and a forthcoming national homelessness strategy positioned as a key intervention.
Adult social care appeared as a critical financial pressure—especially for rural councils—highlighting its centrality to stability within the local government finance system.
The session also grappled with concerns about centralisation in planning, election delays during reorganisation, and accountability in regeneration funding. Overall, the exchanges reveal a Government positioning itself as decisively interventionist on housing and local government reform, while Opposition and some backbench MPs pressed for clarity, transparency and stronger guarantees across multiple policy areas.
NHS: Wheelchair Services
Volume 850: debated on Monday 24 November 2025
Read the full notes and transcript here
The House of Lords debate on NHS wheelchair services exposed significant weaknesses in current provision, with peers citing patchiness, long waits, market fragility, poor coordination between NHS and adult social care, and delays to hospital discharge caused by missing aids and adaptations. The Government emphasised new national tools—including the Wheelchair Quality Framework, the Medium Term Planning Framework, and investment in home adaptations through the Disabled Facilities Grant—but many peers argued that local commissioning alone is insufficient without stronger national enforcement.
Key themes included the need for early identification of equipment needs, improved integration between health and social care, better supply chain resilience, an expanded skilled workforce to assess and prescribe wheelchairs, and reforms to return-and-reuse processes. The debate underscored that wheelchair provision is not just a clinical matter but a fundamental enabler of independence, hospital discharge, equal access, and the wider social care and community support ecosystem.
Oral Answers to Questions: Health and Social Care
Volume 776: debated on Tuesday 25 November 2025
Read the full notes and transcript here
The Oral Answers session (25 November 2025) covered waiting lists, workforce, mental health expansion, palliative care, dentistry, cancer and estates. Ministers emphasised recruitment (8,500 extra mental-health staff target), urgent capital and maintenance funding, the 10-year health plan and neighbourhood services, and defended pay offers made to NHS staff. MPs pushed on implementation detail — especially waiting-list validation, outpatient reform, the hospital building timetable and hospice cash-flow. Adult social care was repeatedly flagged as the crucial partner: delayed discharge, fragile domiciliary capacity, unpaid-carer debt issues and the risk to hospices all demonstrate that successful NHS transformation depends on funded, sustainable social-care provision.
Committee Hearings
4 November 2025 – The work of the Migration Advisory Committee – Oral evidence
Home Affairs Committee
Read the full notes and transcript here
Witnesses:
- Professor Brian Bell, Chair at Migration Advisory Committee
- Dr Madeleine Sumption MBE, Deputy Chair at Migration Advisory Committee
Witnesses warned that declining employer investment in skills has increased reliance on migrant labour. Social care was highlighted as the most dependent and highest-risk sector, with weak oversight and restrictive visas leaving workers vulnerable to exploitation. Businesses noted that temporary visas can create workforce churn and weaken incentives to train staff. While immigration can ease short-term shortages, the session stressed that long-term sustainability requires improved pay, training, and job quality—particularly in essential services like social care.
11 November 2025 – The work of the Department for Business and Trade – Oral evidence
Business and Trade Committee
Read the full notes and transcript here
Witnesses:
- Rt Hon Peter Kyle MP, Secretary of State at Department for Business and Trade
- Gareth Davies CB, Permanent Secretary at Department for Business and Trade
The Committee examined departmental priorities, competition regulation, and the progress of employment rights reforms. Peter Kyle highlighted a “growth emergency” and the need for private-sector-driven expansion, alongside full implementation of the Employment Rights Bill. MPs challenged the slow pace of CMA investigations and the Government’s commitment to reducing regulatory burdens, with Kyle outlining recent deregulatory actions and future cross-departmental support. The session scrutinised UK arms export controls in relation to Sudan, with Kyle stressing reliance on FCDO advice and vowing to review concerns raised. Discussions also covered gig-economy worker protections and the resourcing of the new Fair Work Agency. Overall, the evidence session centred on regulatory reform, market oversight, employment protections, and ensuring responsibility and transparency in arms-export decision-making.
12 November 2025 – Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill: Potential impact on the Human Rights of disabled people – Oral evidence
Human Rights (Joint Committee)
Read the full notes and transcript here
Witnesses:
- Prof Liz Wicks, Professor of Human Rights Law at University of Leicester
- Paul Bowen KC, Barrister at Brick Court Chambers
- Lord Carlile of Berriew CBE KC, Barrister; Crossbench life peer at House of Lords
- Liz Carr
- Jean Eveleigh, Patron at My Death, My Decision
- The Baroness Hollins, Crossbench Life Peer at House of Lords
- Dr Henry Marsh CBE FRCS
The JCHR examined whether the Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill adequately protects the human rights of disabled people, focusing on Article 2 (right to life), Article 8 (autonomy), Article 14 (non-discrimination), and the CRPD. Witnesses agreed disabled people must be protected from discrimination and coercion while preserving autonomy, but diverged sharply on whether the Bill’s safeguards achieve this.
Paul Bowen and Professor Liz Wicks argued the Bill is broadly human-rights compliant, noting its strict eligibility rules and capacity assessments. In contrast, Lord Carlile warned the safeguards are “very poor indeed”, failing to protect against subtle family coercion or systemic pressures caused by gaps in social care. He called for judicial oversight to ensure decisions are genuinely autonomous.
Key themes included fluctuating capacity, coercion risks, distinctions between disability and terminal illness, and international case law. The Committee must now judge whether the Bill strikes the right balance between respecting autonomy and protecting vulnerable disabled people from harm.
12 November 2025 – Employment support for disabled people – Oral evidence
Work and Pensions Committee
Read the full notes and transcript here
Witnesses:
- Michelle De Oude, Co-Chair at Greater Manchester Disabled People’s Panel
- Conor D’Arcy, Deputy Chief Executive at Money and Mental Health Policy Institute
- Evan John, Policy and Public Affairs Advisor at Sense
- Geoff Fimister, Head of Policy, and a spokesperson for the Campaign for Disability Justice at Inclusion Barnet
- Kate Nicholls OBE, Chair at UKHospitality
- Jamie Cater, Senior Policy Manager at Make UK
- Patrick Milnes, Head of Policy – People and Work at British Chambers of Commerce
The Committee heard that the disability employment gap persists because policy focuses on changing disabled people rather than dismantling employer and societal barriers. Witnesses called for voluntary, rights-based, co-produced support delivered in partnership with disabled people’s organisations, rather than conditionality and sanctions. Employers highlighted delays to Access to Work, lack of clarity in support programmes and insufficient line manager training. Sustaining employment—not simply getting people into jobs—was identified as the key challenge. Overall, the evidence pointed to a need for long-term, systemic reform rather than fragmented, short-term interventions.
19 November 2025 – The work of the Department for Work and Pensions – Oral evidence
Work and Pensions Committee
Read the full notes and transcript here
Witness:
- Rt Hon Pat McFadden MP, Secretary of State at Department for Work and Pensions
- Sir Peter Schofield, Permanent Secretary at Department for Work and Pensions
The Committee’s session with the Secretary of State and the Permanent Secretary highlighted persistent weaknesses in safeguarding, with claimant deaths rising and the Department under pressure to embed a more preventative, system-wide approach. While new structures and training were described, Members questioned whether cultural change and policy design genuinely reflect safeguarding principles. McFadden outlined ambitions to strengthen contributory unemployment benefits and acknowledged major challenges in ESOL provision, youth inactivity and rising long-term sickness. Discussions on disability benefits emphasised the financial constraints shaping the Timms Review, while questions on pensions covered state pension age, adequacy and winter fuel payment gaps. Overall, the hearing revealed a Department attempting significant reform while confronting longstanding structural issues, operational pressures and scrutiny over its capacity to deliver change.
Care England’s Despatch Box: Our Right Honourable Responses to Parliament
The Fair Pay Agreement Resource Hub
The Fair Pay Agreement (FPA) is set to be one of the most consequential changes for the adult social care workforce in England. Under this new framework, care workers will have legally enforceable minimum standards covering pay, working hours, and additional employment conditions.
Budget risks undermining Fair Pay Agreement before it begins, says Care England
Professor Martin Green OBE, Chief Executive of Care England, has responded to yesterday’s Budget with a call for urgent clarity and additional support to ensure the Fair Pay Agreement delivers on its promise to uplift the social care workforce.
Briefing to Providers on the Changes to Indefinite Leave to Remain (ILR)
The Home Secretary has announced proposals for the most significant overhaul of the UK’s settlement system in over a decade. The reforms replace the current five-year ILR pathway with an “earned settlement” model, where most migrants would work towards a 10-year default route. The new approach links settlement much more directly to a person’s conduct, economic activity, English proficiency, and use of public funds.
Care England Warns Government Is Sending a Damaging Message to Overseas Care Staff
Care England, the leading voice for independent adult social care providers, raises serious concerns following the Government’s publication of a new legal migration model that fundamentally reshapes how people settle in the United Kingdom. The announcement sets out a contribution-based system in which most migrants will be required to spend ten years in the UK before becoming eligible for settlement. Higher earners and certain priority public service roles may qualify sooner, while low-paid roles are placed in the most restrictive category.
Local Government Reorganisation – Guide for Providers
It’s now been nearly a year since the Local Government Minister Jim McMahon announced the government’s intention to rapidly roll out a programme of local government reorganisation (LGR) in England – the first on this scale in over 50 years.
Care England says backing social care investment will save lives and strengthen the UK economy
Care England, the leading voice for adult social care providers, responds to the open letter issued to the Prime Minister, Chancellor and Secretary of State for Health and Social Care by leading health economists, which sets out the severe consequences of agreeing to higher branded drug prices as part of ongoing UK–US and UK–EU trade discussions.
How Apprenticeships Are Helping Solve the Care Sector’s Biggest Workforce Challenges
Anyone working in care today will recognise the pressures shaping the sector. Workforce shortages are increasing, demand for high-quality, person-centred care continues to rise, and recruitment is becoming increasingly competitive, made even more challenging by recent changes to visa policy. It’s a complex environment, and providers across the country are feeling the strain.
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