“Social services adult care” is one of those phrases that gets searched thousands of times a month across the UK, and yet most people who type it aren’t entirely sure what they’re looking for. They just know they need help. Maybe a parent is struggling to cope at home. Maybe a partner has been discharged from hospital and needs more support than the family can provide. Maybe you’re a care provider trying to understand how councils commission these services so you can win the right contracts.
Whatever brought you here, this guide is going to cut through the confusion. We’ll explain what social services adult care actually covers, how to access it, what’s changed in 2026, and what it means for providers who deliver these services. If you’re a provider wanting to understand how commissioners evaluate bids in this space, our guide on understanding scoring matrices without procurement jargon breaks down the marking process in plain English.
What Does Social Services Adult Care Actually Mean?
Social services adult care is the umbrella term for the support that local councils arrange or fund for adults who need help with everyday life. It’s not one single service. It’s a whole system of assessments, funding, and care provision designed to help people live as safely and independently as possible.
In practical terms, if someone over 18 has a physical disability, a learning disability, a mental health condition, a sensory impairment, or is simply getting older and struggling to manage daily tasks, they may be entitled to support through their local authority’s adult social care team.
The Needs Assessment
Everything starts with a needs assessment. Under the Care Act 2014, every local authority in England has a legal duty to assess anyone who appears to need care and support. You can request an assessment yourself, or a family member, GP, or hospital discharge team can request one on your behalf. The assessment looks at what you can and can’t do, what risks you face, and what outcomes you want to achieve. It’s meant to be a conversation, not a tick-box exercise, though the reality can sometimes feel more bureaucratic than that.
Eligibility and the National Framework
Not everyone who has a needs assessment will qualify for council-funded care. There’s a national eligibility framework that sets a minimum threshold. To be eligible, you must have needs arising from a physical or mental condition, and those needs must significantly affect your ability to achieve at least two outcomes from a defined list, including things like managing nutrition, maintaining personal hygiene, maintaining a habitable home, and developing or maintaining family and personal relationships.
If your needs meet the threshold, the council must arrange care to meet them. If they don’t, the council should still provide information and advice about other options.
What Services Can You Get?
The range of services that fall under social services adult care is broader than most people realise. Depending on your assessed needs and where you live, you might receive domiciliary care at home, residential or nursing care, supported living, day services, respite or short breaks, reablement programmes, equipment and home adaptations, or a Direct Payment to arrange your own care. The specific mix of services available varies by local authority, which is why the postcode lottery remains one of the biggest frustrations in adult social care.
How Social Services Adult Care Has Changed in 2026
If you last dealt with adult social care a few years ago, quite a lot has shifted. The system is under enormous pressure, but there are also genuine improvements in how services are designed and delivered.
The Push Toward Prevention and Independence
The single biggest change in 2026 is the emphasis on prevention. Councils are investing more in services that stop people’s needs from escalating, because it’s both better for the individual and cheaper in the long run. That means more reablement services that help people regain skills after a hospital stay, more community wellbeing programmes that tackle loneliness and inactivity, and more technology-enabled care that uses sensors and monitoring to keep people safe at home without round-the-clock human support.
For anyone accessing social services adult care in 2026, this means you’re more likely to be offered short-term, intensive support designed to increase your independence, rather than being placed straight onto a long-term care package.
Direct Payments and Personal Budgets Are Growing
More people than ever are choosing to manage their own care through Direct Payments. Instead of the council arranging care on your behalf, you receive a budget and choose your own provider, personal assistant, or support arrangements. In 2026, councils are actively encouraging this because it gives people more control and choice. For providers, this means a growing number of your potential clients are individuals making their own purchasing decisions, not just commissioners running tender processes.
Digital Access and Online Assessments
Many councils have introduced online portals where you can request a needs assessment, check your eligibility, and find local services without having to make a phone call. Some authorities are also offering video-based assessments for people who find it difficult to attend in person. The digital shift isn’t complete everywhere, and there are still significant gaps for people who aren’t comfortable with technology, but the direction of travel is clear.
Charging and Financial Assessments
One thing that catches many people off guard is that social services adult care isn’t always free. If your savings are above the upper capital limit (currently £23,250 in England), you’ll usually be expected to pay the full cost of your care. If your savings are below that, you’ll have a financial assessment to determine how much you contribute. Only people with very low savings and income will receive fully funded care. Understanding this before you go through the process can save a lot of stress and unexpected bills.
Navigating the System: Practical Tips for Families
Dealing with social services can feel overwhelming, especially when you’re already worried about a loved one. Here are some things we’d suggest based on what we see working well.
Don’t Wait for a Crisis
If you can see that a family member’s needs are increasing, request an assessment sooner rather than later. Waiting until there’s a fall, a hospital admission, or a complete breakdown in care makes everything harder and more urgent. Early engagement with social services gives everyone more time to plan and more options to consider.
Put Things in Writing
When you speak to the council, follow up with an email summarising what was discussed and agreed. This creates a paper trail and reduces the risk of things being lost in a busy system. If you disagree with an assessment outcome, you have the right to request a review or to complain through the council’s formal process.
Get Independent Advice
Organisations like Citizens Advice, Age UK, and your local Healthwatch can provide free, independent guidance on navigating adult social care. They can help you understand your rights, challenge decisions, and find local services that might not be immediately obvious through the council’s own directory.
For Providers: How Social Services Adult Care Contracts Work
If you’re a care provider, the services described above represent your market. Every domiciliary care visit, every supported living placement, every reablement programme, and every respite break is ultimately commissioned and funded through the adult social care system. Understanding how that system works from the inside gives you a real edge when it comes to winning contracts.
How Councils Commission Adult Care Services
Most councils commission adult care services through a combination of framework agreements, block contracts, spot purchasing, and Dynamic Purchasing Systems. In 2026, we’re seeing a strong move toward framework agreements and approved provider lists, which means getting onto the right framework is essential for securing a steady pipeline of referrals. The tender process for these frameworks is competitive, and the evaluation criteria are more demanding than ever.
What Makes a Winning Bid in This Space
The providers who win adult social care contracts in 2026 are the ones who can evidence outcomes, not just activities. Commissioners want to see retention data, reablement success rates, service user feedback, and a genuine understanding of the local population’s needs. Your bid needs to show that you’ve done your homework on the specific area you’re bidding in and that your service model is designed around the people who live there, not just a template you’ve used before.
Social Value Is Non-Negotiable
Social value sections now carry 20% or more of the total score in most adult social care tenders. Commissioners want to see local recruitment commitments, apprenticeship programmes, environmental targets, and community engagement plans. The more specific and measurable your promises, the better you’ll score. Vague statements about “giving back to the community” won’t get you past a 2 on the scoring matrix.
This is exactly the kind of detailed, locally focused bid strategy that we help our clients build. As one provider shared, AssuredBID helped them grow and diversify their business by successfully tendering on their behalf over a two-year partnership, with exceptional quality of work throughout. Read their story and others on our testimonials page.
To see how we helped a domiciliary care provider in the West Midlands win a competitive local authority adult social care contract by demonstrating strong outcomes, safeguarding, and workforce evidence, read the full case study here.
Whether You Need Care or You Deliver It, the System Is There to Work For You
Social services adult care can feel like a maze, whether you’re trying to access it for a loved one or trying to win contracts within it. But at its core, the system exists to help people live well. In 2026, that mission hasn’t changed, even if the rules, processes, and expectations around it have. If you’re a provider looking to strengthen your position in the adult social care market, book a free consultation with our tender specialists and let’s talk about where the opportunities are for your organisation.
Need support with tenders or compliance? AssuredBID helps UK social care providers prepare stronger bids and win the right opportunities. You can book a consultation with our tender experts, explore our services, and follow AssuredBID on social media for practical updates, insights, and guidance you can actually use.
