Subcontracting in UK health and social care contracts is one of those topics that sits quietly in the contract pack until something goes wrong. Most providers signing prime contracts give the subcontracting clauses a careful first read, mark them as standard, and move on. The subcontracting language reads the same…

East Sussex County Council’s Adult Social Care Department has reopened applications to its Approved List for Supported Living Services for Working Age Adults. The Council is inviting providers to join the existing Approved List for the remainder of its current lifetime, with applications closing on 11 June 2026 at 06:00.…

The National Procurement Policy Statement landed on 24 February 2025, alongside the Procurement Act 2023 coming fully into force. At the time, the commentary from the trade press was muted. The Fieldfisher analysis called it “somewhat underwhelming, covering largely predictable and well-trodden themes such as value for money, encouragement for…

Pension Age Disability Payment has been the largest cash transfer of Scotland’s devolved welfare programme so far. Between its launch on 21 October 2024 and the end of January 2026, Social Security Scotland issued around £358.1 million in payments to 175,750 individuals through more than a million separate payments. The…

Birmingham City Council has opened P2269, an Open Framework for the provision of temporary accommodation through the private rented sector and private registered providers of social housing. The framework runs for three years from award, with an option to extend by a further two years in yearly increments. Unlike a…

On Wednesday 13 May 2026, the King’s Speech set out the legislative programme for the new parliamentary session. Among the headline announcements was the NHS Modernisation Bill, the formal legislative vehicle for the most extensive reorganisation of the NHS in more than a decade. The following day, the Department of…

Surrey County Council has opened a £48 million Client Transport Services framework running from 2026 to 2034, covering home-to-school transport for mainstream and SEN pupils, adult day centre transport, looked-after children journeys, and respite care travel.  The eight-year term and contract value make this one of the most substantial client…

If you work in UK health and social care, you have lived through a long sequence of reform moments that did not become reform. The Dilnot Commission in 2011. The 2014 Care Act. The 2017 election pledge that became the “dementia tax.” The 2021 cap that was announced and quietly…

If you work in UK health and social care, the regulator you are answering to in April 2026 is not the same one you were answering to two years ago. The Care Quality Commission has spent the past 18 months in active reconstruction. Two independent reviews exposed serious operational failings.…

If you work in UK health and social care, you have heard the £4.6 billion figure by now. It is the headline the Department of Health and Social Care has attached to its 2026/27 to 2028/29 funding plan for adult social care, the centrepiece of a settlement that also includes…