Key findings — Adult Social Care Funding 2022/23
- Total adult social care spending in England reached £28.3 billion in 2022/23, with long-term support accounting for £18.4 billion (65% of the total).
- Care at home received £9.76 billion and care homes £8.64 billion of the long-term support budget, split primarily between home care (£3.08bn), supported living (£2.90bn), and residential care (£6.36bn).
- 62% of long-term support recipients are aged 65 and over; physical support is the primary support reason at 42%, followed by learning disability at 29%.
Adult Social
Care
Funding
A visual guide to how adult social care is funded in England — tracing the £28.3 billion flow from central government and local authorities through to long-term and short-term care provision.
£28bn
total spend 2022/23
By the numbers
£28.3 billion. One year. Where it goes.
£28.3bn
Total adult social care spend, England 2022/23
65%
Of all spend goes to long-term support
£9.76bn
Care delivered in people's own homes
£4.6bn
NHS Continuing Healthcare, funded by the NHS
Key findings
What the data shows
Adult social care spend reached £28.3 billion in England in 2022/23 across all provision types.
Long-term support takes 65 per cent of the total — £18.4bn, nearly two-thirds of all spend.
Care at home (£9.76bn) and care homes (£8.64bn) are split almost evenly.
Home care is the single largest care-at-home component at £3.08bn, ahead of supported living.
NHS Continuing Healthcare (≈£4.6bn) is funded entirely by the NHS for those with a primary health need.
The Better Care Fund (£2.14bn) pools NHS and council budgets to join up health and social care.
Spend by support type
Total adult social care spend reached £28.3 billion in 2022/23. Long-term support accounts for the largest share at 65 per cent (£18.4bn), followed by other support at 15.4 per cent (£4.35bn) and short-term support at 3.4 per cent (£0.95bn).
The remaining share relates to NHS Continuing Healthcare (≈£4.6bn), which is funded by the NHS and flows separately from local authority budgets.
£28.3bn
Total ASC spend
65%
Long-term share
15.4%
Other support
3.4%
Short-term support
Long-term support: care at home vs care homes
Of the £18.4bn in long-term support, care at home (£9.76bn) and care homes (£8.64bn) are roughly equal in scale — a near 53:47 split.
The balance reflects a long-running policy shift toward supporting people to remain in their own homes wherever possible, rather than in residential settings.
£9.76bn
Care at home
£8.64bn
Care homes
53%
Home's share of long-term
Inside care homes: nursing vs residential
Of the £8.64bn spent on care homes, residential care (£6.36bn) accounts for nearly three-quarters. Nursing care (£2.28bn) covers those with more complex health needs requiring on-site nursing staff.
The 74:26 residential-to-nursing ratio reflects the overall population of care-home residents, the majority of whom do not require registered nursing.
£6.36bn
Residential care
£2.28bn
Nursing care
74%
Residential share
Inside care at home: where the £9.76bn goes
Home care (£3.08bn) and supported living (£2.9bn) are the two largest components of care-at-home spend, together making up well over half of the total.
Direct payments (£2.02bn) give service users cash to arrange their own support, putting control in the hands of the people who use care.
£3.08bn
Home care
£2.90bn
Supported living
£2.02bn
Direct payments
Who receives long-term support: age and need
Long-term support recipients skew older: 62 per cent are aged 65 or over, though the working-age group (18–64) accounts for a significant 38 per cent.
Physical support is the leading primary support reason at 42 per cent, followed by learning disability (29%), memory and cognition (15%) and mental health (14%).
62%
Recipients aged 65+
42%
Physical support
29%
Learning disability
Other support: what the £4.35bn covers
The £4.35bn "other support" category encompasses commissioning and service management (£0.39bn), social care activities (£0.37bn), assistive equipment and home adaptations (£0.039bn), and carer support (£0.035bn).
The bulk of the category is a residual covering wider council social care overhead and services that do not fit the principal long-term or short-term classification.
£0.39bn
Commissioning / mgmt
£0.37bn
Social care activities
£0.035bn
Carer support
How councils are funded: the upstream picture
Local authorities draw revenue from three main sources: government grants (£59.7bn) remain the largest single stream, supplemented by council tax (£36.6bn) and business rates (£17.6bn).
Adult social care absorbs approximately £22bn of that total — around one-fifth of all local authority spending — making it by far the largest discretionary service councils must fund.
£59.7bn
Government grants
£36.6bn
Council Tax
£17.6bn
Business Rates
How the money flows
Six routes to a care budget
NHS Continuing Healthcare
Fully NHS-funded care for people whose primary need is a health need. It flows outside local authority budgets.
≈ £4.6bn · NHS-funded
Better Care Fund
A pooled budget that joins up NHS and council spending to support timely discharge and independence at home.
£2.14bn · NHS + council
Adult Social Care Grant
Ring-fenced central government grant to councils, helping them meet rising demand and provider cost pressures.
£1.71bn · Central grant
ASC Discharge Fund
Targeted funding to speed safe hospital discharge into community, home and short-term care settings.
£0.50bn · Discharge
Council-commissioned care
Local authorities commission most long-term care, funded through council tax, the adult social care precept and grant.
Local authorities
Self-funders
Many people pay for their own care, assessed against means-tested thresholds before any council support begins.
Private contribution
Central funding routes into local authorities
Central government channels social care funding through several routes. NHS Continuing Healthcare (est. £4.6bn) is the largest, funded entirely by the NHS.
The Better Care Fund (£2.14bn) integrates health and care, while the Adult Social Care Grant (£1.71bn) and ASC Discharge Fund (£0.5bn) provide further targeted support to councils.
£4.6bn
NHS CHC (est.)
£2.14bn
Better Care Fund
£1.71bn
ASC Grant
£0.50bn
Discharge Fund
Conclusion
Following the money is the first step to making the case for sustainable social care funding.
Adult social care in England absorbed £28.3 billion in 2022/23, with nearly two-thirds going to long-term support and the balance split almost evenly between care at home and care homes.
Mapping how funding flows — from NHS Continuing Healthcare and the Better Care Fund through to council-commissioned care and self-funders — shows where pressure is concentrated, and where reform could have the greatest effect.
