DHSC consultation on the Adult Social Care Negotiating Body

The consultation covers seven main areas: 

1. Adult Social Care negotiating body (including its structure, how it will be supported by a secretariat, its Chair, how the employer and employee representative sides will be organised, the role of local government)
2. Negotiation process (including the remit from the Secretary of State, timelines, decision making)
3. Coverage and remit (including which roles should be covered by the FPA, which settings, services or roles should be excluded from the FPA, whether the council and NHS employed social care staff should be included, cross-border workers, what the priorities for the ASCNB should be in relation to pay, terms and conditions, training, development and career progression, and wider matters including people and culture and additional financial support)
4. Dispute resolution (including how a dispute is triggered and the involvement of ACAS)
5. Implementation (including review and reconsideration, determination if no agreement reached, communication, guidance and codes of practice)
6. Compliance and enforcement (including Employment Tribunal claims, Fair Work Agency enforcement)
7. Equalities impact: whether people with certain characteristics would benefit or be disadvantaged by the proposals in the consultation. While there are no explicit questions on equal pay, there is an opportunity to comment on this in the equalities impact section

The DHSC is seeking responses from a range of people and organisations including “People working in adult social care, adult social care providers, people who draw on care and support…, trade unions, local authorities, commissioners, councillors, representative bodies, the voluntary and community sector.”

The LGA is encouraging all councils to respond to the consultation. You may wish to consider any concerns raised by these ASCNB proposals, including those we have listed.

Councils may want to ensure that responses set out concerns as employers of adult social care staff; as commissioners of adult social care; and as holders of statutory responsibilities relating to the provision of adult social care (where relevant).

The LGA will respond to the consultation, and we urge councils to submit their own responses too. The LGA has discussed the potential need for councils to submit consultation responses that go beyond the parameters of the online response form (which has limits in some sections of 250 words) and the DHSC has agreed that councils may use this email address [email protected]  to submit views. To help us at the LGA, please copy submissions to [email protected]

The consultation closed on 16 January 2026.