Adult Social Care Activity and Finance Report, England, 2023-24

Activity data is sourced from the Short and Long Term (SALT) data return, while finance data is taken from the Adult Social Care Finance Return (ASC-FR).

The data is provided by each local authority and processed by NHS England into national, regional, and local analysis which can be found in the associated data tables. The full data collected including voluntary elements of the data are available in both Excel and CSV format from https://digital.nhs.uk/data-and-information/publications/statistical/adult-social-care-activity-and-finance-report/2023-24

Further information around the data collections can also be found within the Data Collections and Guidance section of the Adult Social Care data hub.

Adult social care activity provided or arranged by local authorities covers a wide range of services including long term and short-term care, plus support to carers. Clients may take a variety of different pathways through the system, according to their needs.

This publication looks at the breakdown of expenditure by local authorities on adult social care, and the activity that is provided or arranged by the local authorities. It does not cover adult social care activity and expenditure that is provided or funded elsewhere, for example, if the care is arranged and funded by the client without any involvement from the local authority.

While the two collections have been designed to be as complementary as possible, there are some differences in how data is categorised and so direct comparisons between the two sources should be made with care. Where there are differences in the definitions used between the collections these will be clearly stated.

It is possible however, to consider broader similarities and differences in the trends shown in the data. For more information see the How can the data be used? section.

Further information is available in the Adult Social Care Data Dictionary which sets out the data definitions for each of the collections, alongside the guidance documents for each collection. If any further information is required about how the data used in this report can be compared, please contact us at [email protected].

The finance elements of this report focus primarily on gross current expenditure. This is defined as the total expenditure less capital charges, and less all income except for client contributions. Please see Figure 2 in the More on expenditure section.

This publication consists of the following outputs:

• Data tables - providing activity and finance data at national, regional, and local authority level.
• Net current expenditure data tables - providing net current expenditure finance data at national, regional, and local authority level.
• Data quality summary - showing submissions made, validation reasons, general comments.
• Data quality statement – assessing the quality of the SALT and ASC-FR data collection returns.
• CSV pack - machine readable open data (csv files), data dictionary, UUID files. Provides a full breakdown of all activity and finance figures provided by the local authorities
• Power BI interactive tool – showing comparable metrics at national, regional, peer groups and local authority level.

Note: The new set of local authority ‘peer groups’ added to the dashboard tool for 2022-23 has still been utilized for 2023-24, replacing the previous CIPFA (Chartered Institute of Public Finance & Accountancy) Nearest Neighbours Model. The new tool uses different features to CIPFA and has been created from the latest open data from sources such as the 2021 national census. The full model is publicly available on our GitHub page. Local authority data can continue to be displayed by region within the dashboard. It was able to adapt to the recent changes to local authorities and their boundary changes are as follows:

• On 1 April 2019 Bournemouth and Poole merged to form the new Bournemouth, Christchurch, and Poole local authority. The inclusion of Christchurch has also reduced the size of the Dorset local authority. Therefore, care should be taken when making comparisons over time for Dorset due to such changes.

• In April 2021 Northamptonshire Local Authority split into North Northamptonshire Council and West Northamptonshire Council.

• On 1st April 2023 Cumbria Council split to form two new district councils in 2023-24, namely: 
  • Cumberland.
  • Westmorland and Furness.

The data is presented as follows:

• Finance data within the commentary of this report is rounded to the nearest £million. Figures in £billions are reported to one decimal place unless this does not sufficiently highlight the range in which case there may be exceptions to two decimal places.
• Activity data within the commentary of this report is rounded to the nearest five.
• Percentages are rounded to one decimal place.