Minister of State for Care (): I would like to inform
the House of several updates from the Department of Health and
Social Care over the February recess.
Social care: allowances uplift for working age adults
& disabled facilities Grant 2026/27
The Government has confirmed that it will be uplifting the social
care allowances, which ensure that people drawing on adult social
care retain sufficient income to cover essential living costs.
From 6 April 2026, these allowances will rise in line with CPI
inflation (3.8%), recognising pressures from rising food,
clothing and utility costs. For working-age adults, we are going
further: the Minimum Income Guarantee will increase by 7%, the
first above‑inflation rise in over a decade. This will put over
£400 more a year into the pockets of more than 150,000
working‑age disabled adults, or around £510 for those also
receiving the disability premium.
This uplift protects disabled people on low incomes, supports
greater choice and control, and forms part of our wider programme
to build a stronger, fairer National Care Service. We will
continue to work closely with local government, disabled people's
organisations and sector partners to ensure the system remains
sustainable and responsive to people's needs.
The Government can also confirm that £723 million will be made
available for the Disabled Facilities Grant in 2026-27. This
Grant helps eligible older and disabled people on low incomes to
adapt their homes to make them safe and suitable for their needs
so that they can remain independent. Practical changes include
installing stairlifts, level-access showers, or ramps. The
government is also taking action to allocate Disabled Facilities
Grant funding to local authorities in England in a fairer, more
evidence-based way from 2026-27, with transitional protections to
allow local authorities time to adjust. MHCLG has published the
details of local authority allocations here(opens in a new tab). We
expect funding to be distributed to local authorities in May.
Launch of consultation on smoke-free, heated tobacco-free
and vape-free places in England
Smoking is the number one preventable cause of death, disability
and ill health in England. Vaping is less harmful and can help
adult smokers quit, but it is not without risks, and the
long-term health effects are still being studied. Exposure to
second-hand smoke can be particularly damaging for children,
pregnant women and people with existing health conditions.
A consultation on smoke-free, heated tobacco-free and vape-free
places in England is open until 6 May 2026. It sets out proposals
to extend current indoor smoking restrictions to some outdoor
places, specifically public children's playgrounds and outside
certain health and social care settings and education settings.
The consultation also proposes to make indoor places that are
already smoke-free places, heated tobacco-free and vape-free
places as well and extending these restrictions to some outdoor
places.
The consultation does not propose extending any measures to
outdoor hospitality settings or private outdoor spaces.
Responses will inform the measures that are ultimately taken
forward and following the consultation, we intend to make and
implement secondary legislation during the course of this
Parliament.
Urgent Dentistry appointments:
The Government is committed to ensuring people can access urgent
dental care when they need it. Over the past year, ICBs have been
commissioning additional urgent dental appointments and there is
now an urgent care safety net available in all areas of the
country.
From April 2026, we will cement our commitment to urgent care by
making it a requirement for high street dentists to offer a
minimum number of urgent appointments, including to patients who
are new to the practice.
We have listened to clinical advice from the Chief Dental Officer
for England, as well as feedback from the sector that the current
definition of the national target, focused on clinically urgent
care, is too narrow and has meant that some patients with serious
and on-going needs are still missing out.
We will therefore broaden the scope of our pledge to deliver not
just additional urgent appointments, but more appointments of all
types. This will open up capacity to more patients, preventing
people resorting to DIY dentistry while retaining the urgent care
safety net.
Data published on Thursday 19 February shows that the NHS
delivered an extra 1.8m courses of dental treatment over the
first 7 months of 2025-26 compared to the same period in the year
up to the general election and almost half of these were
delivered to children.
