Cost of Care exercise and Market Sustainability Plan

Cost of Care exercise

In 2023 as part of the government’s adult social care reforms all councils had to undertake a Cost of Care exercise and produce a market sustainability plan. The purpose of this information was to reach an understanding with providers about the local cost of care.

Each year this information is refreshed as part of the council's annual fee setting. You can view the Annual Fee Setting and Market Sustainability Plan 2025-26 on our democracy webpages.

Our Adult Social Care Commissioning Strategy and Market Position Statement complement our annual fee setting and market sustainability plan.

The 2023 Cost of Care exercise and Market Sustainability Plan

During the exercise we identified costs in the local area for the following care categories:

• care homes for those aged over 65, including:
  • standard residential care
  • residential care for enhanced needs
  • standard nursing care
  • nursing care for enhanced needs
• domiciliary care for those aged over 18

We consulted local providers in July 2022. Many thanks to those providers who took part and submitted a response to our Cost of Care exercise.

On 14 October 2022 we submitted our Cost of Care report, Annex B and provisional Market Sustainability Plan to the Department of Health and Social Care for review.

On 17 November 2022 the government announced a delay to social care reform until October 2025.

On 21 December 2022 the Department of Health and Social Care advised councils that they had reviewed all Cost of Care reports and provisional Market Sustainability Plans. We can now share Annex B of the Cost of Care report. The report can be found as agenda item 6 on our democracy webpages.

The Annex B Cost of Care reports have been through our governance process. They were presented to Cabinet on 31 January 2023 and agreed.

Market Sustainability Plan

You can view or download a copy of our final Market Sustainability Plan here:

If you need an accessible copy of the document you can email asc.contractsandcommissioning@stockport.gov.uk.

You can find more information on the GOV.UK website:

• Market sustainability and cost of care guidance
• Adult Social Care white paper