North Northamptonshire Council sets out targeted fee uplifts to strengthen adult social care
10 March 2026
North Northamptonshire Council will propose a targeted package of fee uplifts to adult social care providers to support a sustainable local care market and good outcomes for people who draw on care.
Subject to approval, the plan continues investment into contracted care services from April 2026, focusing funding where it has the greatest impact on quality, capacity and workforce retention.
The approach also supports the Council’s strategy to reduce reliance on more costly non framework ‘spot’ arrangements by incentivising providers to join its frameworks.
Under the proposals, the Council would:
- Increase fees for contracted home care (framework) providers by an average of 2.1% from April 2026.
- Invest in older persons’ services, including up to 12% for standard older person’s residential care.
- Uplift day opportunities by 4.1%, Independent Living Framework (Extra Care) by 2.96%.
- Pause uplifts for working age adult (18 to 64) accommodation based services (residential, supported living and supported accommodation) from April, pending a targeted programme of reviews to ensure expenditure aligns with national benchmarks.
In total, the package represents an investment of £3.29m in 2026/2027, aligned to the Council’s Medium Term Financial Plan.
Our priority is better outcomes for people who draw on care. These targeted fee uplifts continue investment into contracted services where they have the most impact -supporting a stable workforce, high quality provision and the capacity our communities need.Cllr Eddie McDonald, Executive Member for Adults, Health and Wellbeing
We’re working in partnership with providers on focused reviews so that services for working age adults remain outcome focused, enabling people to live gloriously ordinary lives.
The proposals recognise the additional cost pressures providers face in 2026/27 -including the National Living Wage increase of 4.1% and broader inflationary pressures such as employment reforms and National Insurance changes.
While the care workforce picture in North Northamptonshire is improving, providers continue to report challenges with recruitment and retention - with a 6.2% vacancy rate (about 600 posts) and 23.4% turnover in 2024/25.
The Executive will consider the proposals at its meeting next week. If approved, provider uplift award letters will be issued in April 2026.