GThe Care England and Hft Sector Pulse Check Report called for a multi-year funding settlement for adult social care in the 2025 Spending Review and a fully funded plan to support the workforce and bring care workers' pay and conditions in line with their NHS counterparts.

Steve Veevers, chief executive of Hft, said: ‘The Government's recognition of the urgent challenges facing adult social care is a welcome step forward and we look forward to working with Baroness Casey's commission. However, the sector can ill afford a lengthy process to identify the solutions.'

The report calls for the Government to seek urgent cross-party support to: fully fund the increase in Employer National Insurance contributions, or exempt care providers entirely; remove the ban on dependents for international social care staff; and enforce fee uplift announcement from the start of each new financial year with mandatory payment timelines for local authority and ICB payments and penalties for delays.

According to the research, 90% of providers cited rising workforce costs as one of their top three cost-pressures, with 95% reporting increases in the National Living Wage were their deepest concern due to shortfalls in fee increases from local authorities to cover these costs – reported by 85% of providers.

Three in ten providers were forced to close parts of their organisations or hand back contracts to local authorities and one-third were considering leaving the market altogether.

Over a third (37%) have curbed investment into building future capacity for care with 85% of reporting the biggest barrier to recruitment was pay rates.

International recruitment was the most frequently reported method for filling vacancies, with 40% employing this strategy but providers reported a significant drop in international applications due to a change in immigration rules.

Cllr David Fothergill, chairman of the Local Government Association's Community Wellbeing Board, said: 'Councils work incredibly hard to support people who draw on care and support, but adult social care has faced decades of underfunding, leaving services at breaking point. Local authorities are under unprecedented financial pressure, exacerbated by inflation, rising demand, an increase in employer national insurance contributions, and workforce challenges.

'We urgently need a long-term funding plan for adult social care, along with a workforce strategy that values and supports care workers. Without immediate Government action, care services will remain at risk, with devastating consequences for individuals and families who rely on them.'

Liberal Democrat care and carers spokesperson, Alison Bennett, said: ‘It is blindingly obvious that social care has been in crisis for years and is now on the brink of collapse.'

A Department of Health and Social Care spokesperson said: ‘The Casey Commission will work to build consensus around the future of adult social care that is fair and affordable.

‘The first report will be published next year and set out the immediate action this Government should take to lay the foundations of a National Care Service.

‘We are taking action now by increasing funding to allow disabled people to stay in their homes, boosting the carers allowance, professionalising the workforce and making available up to £3.7bn extra for social care authorities in 2025-26, including an £880m increase in the social care grant.'