Ministers to prepare free personal care in England before Casey reports

Ministers will not wait for Casey

The government will start work on a National Care Service for England now, before Baroness Casey's review reports next summer. Minister for Social Care and Mental Health Alison McGovern told the Commons on 15 October 2026 (opens in a new tab) that ministers will 'prepare the ground now' rather than wait for it.

The service will offer free personal care, paid for by adjusting the triple lock. The commitment covers England only.

This is a material change to the timetable operators and commissioners have planned around. Reform was something to expect after Casey. It now starts while her commission is still deciding what care is and who pays, and the first part of it is pay.

The only firm money goes to pay

McGovern confirmed the first Fair Pay Agreement in adult social care will be backed by half a billion pounds, bringing care workers under collective bargaining. It is the one sum in the statement tied to a specific purpose.

She also gave the pay picture behind it. Among care workers employed by independent providers, 80% are paid within 10% of the minimum wage, according to McGovern.

Pay agreed through collective bargaining is set across the sector, not by any one provider. The statement does not say whether the fees councils set when they commission care will rise to match it.

Digital records are the progress ministers point to

Digital social care records are now used by 84% of care providers, up from 72% when the government took office, McGovern said. She added that 92% of people who draw on care now benefit from that change.

Ministers set these figures beside the pay figures as reasons not to wait for Casey. The statement does not say what the change means for providers not yet using digital records.

A start before the price is known

The statement gives no cost or price for free personal care. It does not explain how adjusting the triple lock will raise the money, and it sets no start date for the service itself. Our earlier piece on how free care would be paid for raised the same gaps, and this statement does not close them.

Commissioners are left shaping local markets until Casey reports without knowing what the national service will ask of them. Care groups are left budgeting for a pay deal now and a reform whose cost is still blank.

Preparing the ground is a promise to start before the price is known. What exactly is being prepared, and who pays for it while Baroness Casey is still writing?