Chief Executive’s View Most local authorities welcomed the news that the Government was pausing local government reform. What people are not talking about is the huge amount of money already spent preparing for this reorganisation. I suppose, like every time the Government or a quango wastes money, the amount will be opaque and the reporting structures labyrinthine, so people will never know the real cost of a change in policy. This is not the first time we have seen millions of pounds wasted on an initiative that subsequently gets stopped by government, often just before it’s about to be implemented. One of the worst examples was the money spent preparing to implement Sir Andrew Dilnot's reforms to social care funding. The preparation took several years, and during that time local authorities spent a significant amount of money preparing for the change. However, you may be surprised to learn that, despite this change having an enormous impact on social care providers, there was never any hint that money would come to them to prepare for what would have been a significant change in how services were funded.
IN THIS ISSUE These Hands Academy Ensuring Nobody Deteriorates Unnoticed PAGE 8
Right to Work Is Changing: Is Your Workforce Ready for 1 October? PAGE 12
When ESG pays: how one Solihull care home unlocked £55,000 PAGE 20
Across the public sector, we see a recurrent theme: every time they are required to change, huge amounts of money are invested in the process, and they are given time to complete their plans. In the worst cases, services are stopped because of a reorganisation. I think the public sector needs to learn a lesson from organisations such as X. When this was sold to Elon Musk, he firstly told the team that they were going to have a reduction in staff of 80% and within days of this announcement, he told them they would be rebranding from Twitter to X. Despite this enormous change, the platform never once went down because they understood that business as usual had to take place at the side of massive reorganisation. Compare this to what we are currently going through with ICPs and NHS England. Since the announcement that these two organisations would change and reconfigure, we have seen endless examples of them focusing on their own reorganisation at the expense of their primary purpose. For many care providers, this has shown up in ICPs and trusts failing to pay their bills. It is time somebody got to grips with the public sector and reminded them they are here to serve the public, not themselves; and when we require them to reorganise and reconfigure, they should do it alongside delivering on their primary purpose. They never accept reorganisation or staffing challenges as an excuse for those who contract with them, so why should they expect us to give them an easy ride? In my view, the real challenge in the public sector is culture change, and if the Government has spent 100 times the amount of money that they’ve spent on structural reorganisation on culture change, I believe it will be in a much better position than we are today.
Beyond the Basics: Building a Culture of Infection Prevention PAGE 24
ESOS Phase 4: what care providers need to know before 31 December 2026 PAGE 31
Professor Martin Green OBE Chief Executive: Care England DH: Independent Sector Dementia Champion
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Social Care Colleagues
Book your FREE winter flu jab today Book an appointment and prepare for the Flu season
Exclusive Seven- Day Pre-Booking Available from 7th July Scan the QR code or visit: boots.com/flu
Service starts October 2026, subject to availability. England and Wales only. Eligibility criteria apply. Ask our Pharmacy team for details
Care Agenda | The voice of the care sector
Boots Winter Flu Vaccination Booking – Now Live
The online appointment booking system Free NHS flu vaccinations are available for in-store winter flu vaccinations is now for frontline workers in social care live. settings across England and Wales. We will share further updates regarding Please see poster on the previous page, provision in Scotland once these are which includes a QR code and direct link confirmed. to the booking system. We encourage social care teams to use these details to Learning Support Available secure appointments. Our Boots Care Learning module – “Let’s Learn About Flu” – is available to support social care teams. This module offers clear, practical guidance on how flu spreads, who is most at risk, and why vaccination remains one of the most important lines of defence each winter.
For the 2026/27 flu season, Boots will be using the following inactivated influenza vaccines (IIV) for eligible adults, which have been approved for use for the NHS flu service and are in line with UKHSA recommendations: •
•
IIVc (cell-based inactivated influenza vaccine): • Who it’s for: Adults under 65 years in a clinical risk group, including frontline health and social care workers. Also recommended for adults aged 65 years and over • About the vaccine: Produced using cell culture technology rather than eggs. This can offer improved protection against the flu strains expected to circulate. IIVe (egg-based inactivated influenza vaccine): • Who it’s for: Adults under 65 years in a clinical risk group where IIVc is not suitable or not available. • About the vaccine: Manufactured using the traditional egg-based process and remains a safe and effective option for preventing flu.
Thank you for continuing to prioritise the health and wellbeing of both your teams and the people you care for. If you have any questions or require further support, please don’t hesitate to get in touch at care.service@boots. co.uk
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Care Agenda | The voice of the care sector
From application to first shift: removing friction from care recruitment By Paul Watson, VP at Sona Recruitment pressures in Social Care may be easing, but the challenge is far from solved. Skills for Care’s latest figures show that the vacancy rate fell to 6.2% in 2025/26, the lowest level in a decade, yet there were still around 96,000 vacant posts across adult social care in England. Against that backdrop, attracting candidates is only part of the challenge. Providers also need to consider what happens after someone decides to apply.
matters most: getting to know candidates and identifying the right people for each service, while keeping the final decision, as it should be, a human one.
Lengthy applications, slow communication, disconnected hiring stages and delays in completing right-to-work, DBS and reference checks can all add unnecessary friction. For candidates considering several opportunities, a slow or unclear process can increase the risk that they disengage before the offer stage. Getting this wrong carries real consequences: a right-to-work failure can mean a civil penalty of up to £45,000 for a first breach and £60,000 for a repeat, and from October 2026 those rules extend to subcontractors and platform workers too.
Making recruitment more efficient does not mean lowering standards or rushing decisions. In Social Care, values, experience and suitability remain fundamental. The aim is to remove unnecessary administrative barriers so a thorough recruitment process can also be responsive. There is also an opportunity to think beyond the point of hire. For providers operating across multiple locations or services, bringing the right person into the organisation is only the first step. Once onboarded, visibility of skills, availability and workforce needs can help teams deploy people where they are needed most.
For recruitment teams managing applications across multiple services and locations, the challenge is equally practical. Without a clear view of where each candidate sits in the process, tasks can become difficult to coordinate and create more administration. The question is whether each stage connects smoothly to the next: from application and interview through to offer, onboarding and ultimately a candidate’s first shift.
That can make it easier to fill gaps internally, offer employees opportunities across suitable services and reduce unnecessary agency reliance.
Technology can play an important role here. A modern applicant tracking system can carry a candidate's profile, application history and right-towork evidence in one record, rather than relying on disconnected systems, spreadsheets and manual updates. That means checks become part of the hiring process, not a checklist picked up once the offer has gone out.
Providers cannot always control how many people enter the recruitment market. They can, however, control the journey from application onwards, getting people cleared to work faster, not just hired faster, and make better use of the workforce once they are there.
Greater visibility can make it easier to see which candidates need attention, where delays are occurring and which vacancies remain open. Automating routine communications and administration can also give recruitment teams more time to focus on where human judgement
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Care Agenda | The voice of the care sector
What is Value-Based Healthcare? Value-based healthcare is an approach that focuses on achieving the best possible outcomes for people while making effective use of healthcare resources. Rather than measuring success by the number of treatments delivered or products supplied, value-based healthcare looks at what truly matters to individuals: improved quality of life, greater independence, better health outcomes, enhanced dignity and a positive care experience. Healthcare services, clinicians, patients and suppliers all work together to deliver care that creates meaningful, measurable benefits.
provide training and assessment to ensure customers and patients get the right products, at the right time. We also offer guidance on bladder weakness and bowel health to advice on skin care, dementia, dignity and continence promotion, our focus is on helping people live well, not simply managing symptoms. Value-based healthcare also means supporting those who provide care. Caregivers and healthcare professionals face increasing pressures, including workforce shortages, training needs and growing demand for services. Ontex works alongside healthcare partners by providing education, clinical resources and service support that help improve care quality while driving efficiency. This contributes to better experiences for residents, patients, families and care teams alike
For people living with bladder weakness or incontinence, value can mean different things. It may be the confidence to leave the house without worrying about leaks. It may be maintaining healthy skin, improving sleep, reducing caregiver burden or preserving dignity and independence. These outcomes often have a profound impact on daily life and overall wellbeing. Value-based healthcare recognises that these personal outcomes are just as important as clinical measures. [blog.id-direct.com], [ontex.com]
Ultimately, our role in value-based healthcare is about creating outcomes that matter. By combining innovative continence solutions with education, training and ongoing support, we help people maintain comfort, confidence and dignity. When individuals can participate more fully in everyday life, caregivers feel more supported, and healthcare resources are used more effectively, value is created for everyone involved. That is the essence of value-based healthcare, and it is at the heart of how Ontex approaches continence care every day.
At Ontex, we see value-based healthcare in action every day through our commitment to continence care. While high-quality products play an important role, our contribution extends far beyond product provision. We support a more holistic approach to continence management by helping individuals, caregivers and healthcare professionals access the education, tools and guidance they need to make informed decisions and improve outcomes. [ontex.com], [ontexacademy. com] Through initiatives such as Ontex Academy and our team of nurse advisors, we help
To find out more, visit Ontex.com.
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Care Agenda | The voice of the care sector
These Hands Academy Ensuring Nobody Deteriorates Unnoticed Across adult social care, care providers are supporting people with increasingly complex needs, often with limited resources and growing expectations from the wider health and care system. Care teams are frequently the first to notice when something changes. They see the subtle signs: a resident who is quieter than usual, a change in breathing, reduced appetite, increased confusion or a general sense that something is not quite right. The challenge is not whether care staff notice deterioration. Very often, they do. The challenge is making sure those concerns are recognised, evidenced and heard early enough to support timely decisions.
A device sitting on a shelf does not prevent deterioration. A confident care worker, supported by training, clear processes and the right escalation language, can make a difference. This is where implementation support becomes essential. Many providers already have access to digital tools or telehealth equipment, but face challenges with adoption, confidence, workflow, technical barriers or sustained use. These Hands Academy works alongside providers and system partners to understand what is happening in practice and identify what support is needed to move from equipment being available to equipment being used well.
The Impact Hub has been designed to support managing deterioration training in a practical and accessible way. Learning is shaped from real examples carers and care teams involved in the Connected Care Programme. These reflect the everyday decisions staff make when they are observing, escalating, reassuring, documenting or seeking clinical support for the people they look after.
The Managing Deterioration white paper provides an opportunity to explore this wider issue: how care providers can be supported to recognise deterioration earlier, use information more effectively and strengthen communication across health and social care.
The Impact Hub supports care teams to build confidence in recognising soft signs of deterioration, understanding observations, using NEWS2 and communicating concerns in a way that is familiar to health professionals. This shared language can strengthen conversations with GPs, urgent care, community teams and families, helping to move care from a reactive response to a proactive approach.
For providers, commissioners and system partners, the call to action is simple. Visit the Impact Hub, explore the Connected Care Programme and read the Managing Deterioration white paper. If there is telehealth equipment in a home that is not working, not being used or sitting on a shelf, These Hands Academy can support a rapid evaluation to understand why.
This work sits alongside the Connected Care Programme, which supports the use of telehealth in care homes and supported living environments. While technology is an important enabler, the programme recognises that impact does not come from equipment alone. Devices only create value when staff feel confident and competent to use them, when the information gathered is meaningful, and when it supports better decision-making for residents.
The aim is not simply to use technology. The aim is to make technology useful for residents, for care teams and for the wider system wrapped around them. https://www.thesehandsacademy.co.uk/
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Care Agenda | The voice of the care sector
Herne Bay Manor: Solving the Challenge of Safety Without Compromising Independence Providing high-quality care often means balancing two equally important priorities: keeping residents safe while maintaining their independence, privacy, and dignity. As a newly opened care home, Herne Bay Manor wanted to establish an approach that supported both from the outset. •
Like many care providers, the team recognised some of the challenges associated with traditional monitoring practices. Frequent overnight checks can interrupt sleep, while reactive approaches to falls management often mean teams are responding after an incident rather than identifying potential risks beforehand. For those residents living with dementia, maintaining a calm and familiar environment is particularly important.
• • • • •
100% resident participation through an informed consent process Fewer intrusive overnight checks Improved response times Greater visibility for care teams A quieter, less disruptive environment Enhanced support for residents living with dementia
As Mike Wilson, Chief Operating Officer at Dunham Care, explains:
Key priorities included: • Supporting residents to remain as independent as possible • Reducing unnecessary disruption, particularly at night • Identifying risks earlier and responding more effectively • Enhancing support for people living with dementia • Maintaining privacy and dignity at all times
"RoomMate focuses on prevention rather than detection, enabling intervention before a fall or incident occurs rather than responding after the fact." He also highlights the role the approach plays in supporting dementia care: "The system's non-intrusive nature supports our approach to dementia-friendly care, providing continuous monitoring without compromising privacy or dignity."
A More Proactive Approach to Care To help achieve these aims, Herne Bay Manor introduced Sensio as part of everyday care delivery. Using privacy-focused technology rather than cameras, the system helps teams gain a better understanding of residents' movement patterns and identifies when support may be needed. From the beginning, the home took a transparent approach with residents and their families. Clear information and informed consent formed a key part of implementation, resulting in all residents choosing to take part.
The experience at Herne Bay Manor highlights how thoughtful use of technology, combined with clear communication and resident choice, can support a more proactive model of care. As the home continues to grow, attention will increasingly focus on measuring longer-term outcomes such as falls reduction, response times and resident wellbeing, helping build a clearer understanding of what contributes to safer, more responsive care environments.
Since adoption, teams have reported several practical benefits. Greater visibility of residents' wellbeing has enabled teams to identify potential concerns sooner and tailor support more effectively. Silent alerts sent directly to care teams have also reduced reliance on audible alarms, contributing to a calmer atmosphere across the home, particularly during the night. Reported outcomes include:
Learn more about how proactive, person-centred technology is helping care providers create safer, more responsive environments for residents. Visit Sensio’s website to explore more real-world care stories, insights and resources from across the sector https://www.sensio.com
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Care Agenda | The voice of the care sector
Healthy Ageing Begins at Home: Why the Future of Social Care Is More Than Home Adaptations Cindy Willcocks, Southwest Social Care Nursing Advisory Council (SCNAC) Co-Chair People across the UK are living longer than ever before, but longer life does not always mean healthier life. As our population ages, increasing numbers of people are living with multiple long-term conditions, frailty and dementia. The challenge facing the NHS, local authorities and adult social care is therefore not simply to extend life expectancy, but to increase healthy life expectancy— enabling people to remain independent, connected and in control of their lives for as long as possible. For most people, home is where they want to be. It is where memories are made, relationships flourish and communities provide a sense of belonging. Remaining connected to familiar places, neighbours, family and local networks is fundamental to wellbeing, confidence and quality of life. Supporting people to stay at home for longer is not only a personal aspiration; it is central to delivering sustainable health and social care. For many years, the conversation around ageing well at home has rightly focused on home adaptations. Grab rails, level-access showers, improved lighting, wider doorways and stairlifts have transformed thousands of homes, reducing falls and enabling people to remain independent. These adaptations represent one of the most practical and cost-effective forms of prevention available, helping people remain safe while reducing pressure on health and care services.
services; it requires a change in mindset. Investment must move upstream, supporting people to maintain strength, mobility, confidence, cognitive wellbeing and social connections long before significant deterioration occurs. Prevention is not simply about reducing demand on acute services—it is about enabling people to live healthier, happier and more fulfilling lives. Homes That Support Health
However, if we are truly committed to healthy ageing, we must broaden our thinking. The future of adult social care is not simply about creating accessible homes—it is about creating homes and communities that actively support health, wellbeing and independence throughout later life.
Home is far more than a physical environment. It is where identity, purpose and independence are nurtured.
Prevention Must Replace Crisis
Adult social care has always understood that people achieve the best outcomes when they remain connected to their homes, families and communities. Yet support is still too often introduced when needs have escalated, rather than helping people maintain the strengths and capabilities they already possess.
Too often, people receive support only after they have reached a point of crisis. A fall leads to an avoidable hospital admission. Declining mobility increases dependency. Loneliness contributes to deteriorating mental and physical health. Frailty is recognised only after confidence and independence have already been lost. By this stage, interventions are more intensive, more expensive and often more disruptive to people's lives.
The next generation of healthy ageing should combine home adaptations with proactive, strengths-based support. Alongside accessible housing, people should have opportunities to maintain physical activity, improve balance and mobility, build social connections and access personalised support that promotes emotional and cognitive wellbeing.
The NHS 10-Year Health Plan sets out a clear ambition to shift from treating illness to preventing it, moving care closer to home and strengthening neighbourhood health services. This vision closely aligns with the direction of adult social care policy, which places prevention, early intervention, personalised care and independence at its heart.
When homes become places that actively support health, they become more than settings where care is delivered— they become environments that prevent deterioration and promote independence.
Delivering this ambition requires more than redesigning
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Care Agenda | The voice of the care sector Technology as an Enabler Technology has an increasingly important role to play in supporting healthy ageing, but its purpose should never be to replace human relationships.
and delayed admission to residential care. These remain important indicators, but they tell only part of the story. Future success should also be measured by whether people remain physically active, socially connected and confident in their daily lives. We should ask whether individuals continue participating in meaningful activities, whether technology has enabled earlier intervention and whether people feel able to make choices about how they live.
Across the UK, digital care planning, remote monitoring, wearable devices, falls detection and assistive technologies are helping professionals identify changes earlier and intervene before crises occur. Used well, technology enables more personalised care, empowers people to take greater ownership of their health and provides reassurance to families without reducing independence.
These are the measures that truly reflect healthy ageing. They move the conversation beyond safety towards wellbeing, resilience and quality of life.
The goal is not surveillance; it is confidence. Technology should enable people to remain safely connected to the people and communities that matter most while giving professionals better information to support proactive care.
A Shared Vision for the Future Healthy ageing is not simply about living longer—it is about living better. It is about preserving dignity, purpose, independence and choice throughout later life.
Social Care: A Partner in Population Health Adult social care has always recognised that good health is about much more than medical treatment. Care professionals support people to remain active, connected and engaged in everyday life. They help people prepare meals, maintain relationships, continue volunteering, access community activities and retain control over the decisions that affect them.
The homes of the future should be safe and accessible, but they should also promote movement, support cognitive health, encourage social connection and enable people to remain active participants within their communities. Adult social care has always recognised that independence is not defined by the absence of support but by the presence of opportunity. By bringing together housing, health, technology, community organisations and social care, we can redefine what ageing well at home truly means.
These everyday interventions are often overlooked, yet they are powerful forms of prevention. They reduce isolation, maintain confidence, promote independence and prevent unnecessary deterioration.
The next generation of home adaptations should therefore be judged not only by whether they prevent accidents but by whether they help people continue living the lives they value. If we achieve that, we will have done far more than improve homes—we will have strengthened communities, advanced prevention and demonstrated that the future of health and social care begins where people most want to be: at home.
As the NHS seeks to improve population health through neighbourhood-based care, adult social care must be recognised as an equal strategic partner. The relationships built by social care professionals, together with their understanding of people's lives, homes and communities, make them uniquely placed to deliver the prevention agenda. Collaboration Creates Better Outcomes
For more information about the SCNACs and opportunities to get involved, reach out to The OS (https:// theoutstandingsociety.co.uk/scnac/, contact Sonia on Admin.SCNAC@theoutstandingsociety.co.uk), speak to your regional Co-Chairs or come and chat us and some of our partners, on the Nursing Lounge at Care Show Birmingham on Wednesday 7th and Thursday 8th October 2026– you can book your free tickets here.
Healthy ageing cannot be delivered by one organisation acting alone. Housing providers, social care professionals, occupational therapists, community nurses, physiotherapists, voluntary organisations, technology providers and local authorities all have an important contribution to make. Increasingly, Integrated Care Systems and neighbourhood teams are demonstrating how collaborative working can improve outcomes by bringing together expertise around the individual rather than organisational boundaries. The same principle should guide the future of ageing well at home. Home adaptations, community support, digital innovation and personalised care should no longer be viewed as separate services but as part of one coordinated approach focused on helping people remain independent. Measuring Success Differently Traditionally, success has been measured through practical outcomes such as fewer falls, improved accessibility
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Care Agenda | The voice of the care sector
Right to Work Is Changing: Is Your Workforce Ready for 1 October?
Right to work checks have always been part of the job for care providers. But from 1 October 2026, the rules widen, and providers who assume their current process covers everyone could be caught out.
across your organisation, not just your direct employees. Then check who actually owns right to work compliance for each of those arrangements, because someone in HR is not an answer that survives an audit.
Not everyone working in your organisation sits on a standard contract. Bank staff, subcontractors, and people sourced through online platforms can all be part of the mix, and each arrangement carries its own compliance responsibilities. From 1 October, if you take someone on with a worker's contract, use subcontractors, or find staff through certain online platforms, you'll need to run right to work checks on them too. If your checks were built around traditional employment only, gaps could be opening up right now without anyone noticing.
Review your current procedures against the new rules, confirm your team knows when follow-up checks are needed, and be honest about whether your written policy matches what actually happens on the ground. Paper compliance and practical compliance are not always the same thing, and it is the gap between them that gets providers into trouble. Aston Brooke Solicitors works with care providers on sponsor licence compliance, right to work requirements, and UKVI mock audits designed to catch weaknesses before the Home Office does. We are also joining Care England for two webinars this October, covering the new right to work requirements and the Government's Earned Settlement proposals, so providers know exactly what is coming and what it means for their workforce.
A right to work check has never been as simple as asking for ID. To establish a statutory excuse against a civil penalty, employers must run the correct check, at the right time, and keep the right evidence. Miss a step, and the excuse disappears with it. If you hold a sponsor licence, the stakes are even higher for you. Illegal working or weak compliance systems do not just risk a penalty. They can put the sponsor licence itself on the line, and for many providers, that licence is what makes it possible to recruit from overseas at all.
For further information, support, or details of our Care England webinars, contact Aston Brooke Solicitors at support@astonbrooke. co.uk or call 020 3475 4321
Get ahead of this now, rather than reacting to it once something has already gone wrong. Start by mapping every way people are engaged
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Care Agenda | The voice of the care sector
Configura Advance: the chair that adapts to you Some residents don’t fit the chair. The chair should fit them Join us live Bring your questions and your difficult cases. This is the session to ask about the resident you have never quite found the right chair for.
Every care home has them: the residents for whom the standard chair simply does not work. Too wide, too deep, too upright, not enough support in the places that matter. What follows is usually a compromise, a cushion wedged in somewhere, or a resident who slowly stops using the chair at all and spends longer in bed than anyone intended.
Configura Advance: the chair that adapts to you. Tuesday 17th November 2026, 2:00PM.
The Configura Advance was built for exactly those residents. With integrated size adjustments across every dimension and a range of backrest upgrade options, it is our most configurable and most recyclable chair yet, and the optimal choice for clients with complex postural requirements.
Save your space here: https://accora.care/ academy/webinars-signup/configuraadvance-the-chair-that-adapts-to-you
On Tuesday 17th November at 2:00PM, we are running a free session on how it works and who it is for. What we will cover We will give an overview of the key features, including the integrated size adjustments and the backrest options, then examine how these work together to support safe transfers, promote healthy posture, protect skin integrity, and maintain comfort, stability and independence throughout the day. Learning outcomes • •
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To introduce the features and functions of the Configura Advance To understand how the Configura Advance can meet an individual's needs in relation to portability, size, pressure and posture To discuss the clinical justifications behind the benefits of the Configura Advance To outline how the Configura Advance can benefit the service user and community equipment services
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Care Agenda | The voice of the care sector
Putting period equity on the social care agenda With women making up 78% of England’s adult social care workforce, period equity is far more than a nice to have. Care is a 24-hour profession, after all. For someone working a long or overnight shift, leaving a care home to buy a period product might not be practical – and during the night, there may be nowhere nearby even if they could.
there’s broader recognition that people who menstruate may need emergency access to period products to preserve their own health, dignity and wellbeing.
So, what are the alternatives and how can care providers turn period equity into an opportunity to support not only their care teams, but also their visitors? CareHomeLife explains.
That’s why CareHomeLife has partnered with Egal Pads on a Roll for a brand-new initiative. These individually wrapped pads, which can be installed directly inside toilet cubicles, are a simple way for care providers to make free period products readily and discreetly available to visitors and care workers in their time of need.
What is period equity and why does it matter? In the face of a lengthy cost-of-living crisis, a 2023 ActionAid poll found that more than 20% of women and people who menstruate in the UK were struggling to afford basic period products. To put a finer point on it, that’s around 2.8 million people nationwide, many of whom have had to prioritise food, gas, electricity or period products for their dependents above their own basic needs.
So far, feedback has been overwhelmingly positive, with one user describing the pads as a ‘godsend’. It’s a perfect example of the practical steps providers can take to democratise pads, ensuring care workers have access throughout a lengthy shift. What’s clear, however, is that period equity should never be an afterthought. It absolutely deserves to be on the agenda, and by adopting a compassionate, person-centred approach, care providers and suppliers can ensure their staff and visitors have access to pads, should the sudden need arise.
Needless to say, going without period products can have serious long-term consequences, and not just for the individual. In addition to the many health and wellbeing issues associated, ActionAid found that 14% of people surveyed avoided or missed work during their period. In care settings, these absences – which are often avoidable – can negatively impact employee retention and quality of care.
To find out more about CareHomeLife’s Pads on a Roll initiative, visit shop.carehomelife.co.uk
This is what makes period equity so very important. Everyone who menstruates deserves equal and affordable access to the products, facilities and education they need to manage their periods safely and with dignity. And yet, studies have shown that 87% of women have been caught in a public toilet without a period product. That’s unacceptable. So, what can be done? Tackling period equity one pad at a time Already, the wider care community is beginning to go further to embrace period equity. Today,
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Cybercriminals don’t care that you’re a care home Whether you’re running a care home or a café, cybercriminals don’t stop to check. That’s why the protection we arrange is built to be resilient and layered. It doesn’t only cover the financial fallout, but the emotional impact too.
When care is at the heart of what you do, safeguarding it matters. Reach out to Everywhen to find out at newcare@everywhen.co.uk or 0330 123 5144 today.
*Subject to underwriter terms and conditions. Only available as a new care home client. Everywhen is a trading name of Advisory Insurance Brokers Limited, which is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority (Firm Reference Number 313250). Registered in England and Wales, Company No. 4043759. Registered address: 2 Minster Court, Mincing Lane, London, EC3R 7PD.
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Care Agenda | The voice of the care sector
Supreme Court redefines deprivation of liberty What social care providers need to know and further training The Supreme Court’s decision in A Reference by the Attorney General for Northern Ireland ([2026] UKSC 16) (“AGNI”) has immediate practical implications for social care providers. Existing authorisations and pending applications should be reviewed with local authorities, but care arrangements should not be changed simply because they may no longer amount to a deprivation of liberty. Providers must continue to deliver person-centred care, comply with the MCA, act in best interests where required, and keep clear records explaining the rationale for decisions.
The CQC has confirmed it still expects providers to consider case by case whether authorisation may still be needed, gather people’s views effectively, and continue to meet MCA and Health and Social Care Act requirements.
Background
The decision takes immediate effect. Providers should: 1. Assess existing authorisations against the new test and keep a detailed record of the assessment 2. Request reviews by the local authority DoLS team 3. Train staff on the new approach, including the importance of consent and recording any objections/concerns and 4. Update any internal policies procedures or guidance
AGNI marks a shift in how deprivation of liberty is identified under Article 5 of the European Convention on Human Rights. For more than a decade, practice has been shaped by the “acid test” in Cheshire West: continuous supervision and control, and not being free to leave. The Supreme Court has confirmed this can no longer be treated as a standalone test. Decision-makers must instead take a holistic, multifactorial approach, looking at the person’s concrete situation and the real impact of any restrictions.
Hempsons specialist training
Relevant factors include nature, duration and manner of restrictions; supervision and control; whether the person objects or shows acceptance; opportunities to leave; social contact; the relative normality of the placement; and the purpose of restrictions.
To help providers understand the impact of AGNI in practice, Hempsons is offering focused, interactive training led by specialist social care lawyers. If your organisation would be interested in bespoke training for your team, please email socialcare@hempsons.co.uk
The judgment also changes the role of consent. The Court distinguished valid consent for Article 5 purposes from capacity to make decisions about care or residence under the Mental Capacity Act 2005. A person may be able to consent if they have basic awareness of their environment and can form and express a view. Consent can also be inferred from a tacit positive indication. If there is serious doubt about genuine consent, it should not be inferred.
Hempsons contacts
The practical consequence is that some people who would previously have been regarded as deprived of their liberty may no longer require DoLS authorisation or Court of Protection oversight (unless there is also a dispute over best interests), including individuals whose arrangements reflect ordinary expectations of daily life for them, as long as those arrangements are agreed as being in the person’s best interests
Flora Jago, Senior Associate f.jago@hempsons.co.uk
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Jolena Bullivant-Clark, Associate j.bullivant-clark@hempsons.co.uk
Health
As part of a national legal firm with over 150 specialist health lawyers, we cover all aspects of health care related law and practice. We have a long history of providing market-leading legal advice to care providers. Our large team of specialist and experienced care homes lawyers advise our regulated care business clients daily across wide-ranging areas including:
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Inquests and inquiries
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Safeguarding and investigations
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Employment and HR advice including immigration
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Refinancing and restructuring advice
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CQC issues and regulatory advice
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Commercial disputes and debt recovery
To find out more about the care services we can offer, contact Julia Appleton, Partner, at julia.appleton@weightmans.com
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Care Agenda | The voice of the care sector
Ditch the spreadsheet and give your managers their time back For many of providers across the UK, the day starts with building and rebuilding spreadsheets, cross-referencing paper rotas, chasing staff by phone, and hoping the cover holds before the first visit begins. The workforce pressures behind that daily scramble now represent around 60% of care home income, with agency spend alone estimated at £1.59 billion a year across UK care homes. Recruitment shortages, unpredictable absences, and rising regulatory expectations have made workforce planning one of the most operationally demanding parts of running a care service, and when the tools available are a spreadsheet and a group chat, the margin for error can become uncomfortably thin.
For staff, the Access Care Employee Mobile App, integrated with Access Care Rostering, puts their rota, shift offers, payslips, and leave requests in their pocket, and helps them stay informed without a phone call, and feel like part of the team without being tethered to a desk. Now, Access Evo brings an additional layer of intelligence to that foundation. Sitting across the tools your team already uses, Evo can surface scheduling insights, flag potential compliance issues, and help managers make faster, betterinformed decisions in everyday language.
So the problem here isn't the people, but the process. Manual rostering creates a compounding problem where managers lose hours to admin that could go to oversight and quality, errors in shift allocation create compliance gaps, or staff feel out of the loop, which erodes retention at a time when every experienced carer counts. And when something changes at short notice - a sickness call at 6am, a new care package starting Monday, the system has to be rebuilt by hand.
You & I Care, an award-winning home care provider operating across Essex, Surrey and Hertfordshire, describes Access Care Rostering as the centrepiece of its digital setup. Founder Laura Biragi credits the tools with helping the organisation be ‘agile, proactive, comprehensive and consistent’, and with giving teams more time for what they came into care to do, and that is building relationships and delivering high-quality support.
The result is a workforce that is harder to manage, more expensive to run, and more difficult to retain than it needs to be. What changes when the right technology is in place?
Good workforce technology earns its place by giving experienced care professionals the time and headspace to do what they are actually trained for.
Access Care Rostering gives health and social care providers a single platform to plan shifts, match staff to care needs, track absences, and maintain a live view of workforce coverage, across one site or many. Managers get an accurate picture of who is available, who has the right skills, and where gaps are emerging before they become a problem.
To find out more about how Access Care Rostering and Access Evo can support your workforce, visit our Evo page or speak to our team today. (Evo for care: https://www. theaccessgroup.com/en-gb/health-social-care/ care-management-software/evo-for-care/ )
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Care Agenda | The voice of the care sector
When ESG pays: how one Solihull care home unlocked £55,000 Ask most providers about ESG and the conversation turns to cost within thirty seconds. Another framework, another report, another demand on a budget already stretched thin. Yet at a recent Caring for Tomorrow webinar, one Solihull care home told a different story, and it ended with £55,000 of match funding.
Solihull Care shows the opposite: a single home, a specific problem, a well argued application, and a five figure result that would not otherwise have arrived. For anyone weighing where to start, the honest answer is that the first step is rarely a strategy. It is a conversation with your local authority, your waste contractor, your suppliers, or a funder. To watch the full session, email hello@gracecares.com and we will send you the recording. It is worth the time of any registered manager or care professional who has been told sustainability is their job.
Caring for Tomorrow is a free webinar series delivered nationally by Grace Cares, the circular economy social enterprise that rescues, refurbishes and redistributes unwanted care equipment. It exists because sustainability conversations in social care too often stay theoretical. Providers do not need another definition of Scope 3. They need to know what somebody in a comparable setting actually did, what it cost, and what came back.
Next: a live case study from Hallmark Luxury Care Homes The next Caring for Tomorrow webinar takes place on Thursday 26 November 2026, 10:30 to 11:15, and features a live case study from Claire Johnsen, Head of ESG and Innovation at Hallmark Luxury Care Homes.
This session delivered exactly that. Paula Cashmore, General Manager at Solihull Care, walked attendees through how the home built its case for a refurbishment project to replace radiators and lighting throughout, and secured £55,000 in match funding. Three things stood out. First, the money already exists. Match funding, community grants, local authority pots and corporate ESG budgets are all live, and much of it goes unclaimed because care providers do not think of themselves as eligible. They often are. Second, the case was built on outcomes, not carbon alone. Funders responded to a project that improved residents' daily lives and reduced environmental impact at the same time. Framing the work as care first and sustainability second made it fundable.
Claire will talk through how ESG is embedded across a larger care group, what has worked in practice, where the pitfalls sit, and how smaller providers can borrow from that approach without the same infrastructure behind them. There will be time for questions. Registration is free and open to all. Scan the QR code, click here or email hello@grace-cares.com for the link to register.
Third, it started small. There was no dedicated ESG department, no expensive baseline exercise. There was a clear idea, evidence to back it up, and someone willing to ask. That last point matters most. ESG in social care is often presented as something that belongs to large groups with the resources to staff it.
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Care Agenda | The voice of the care sector
Your best people didn’t join care to become administrators The workforce challenges facing social care are complex. Recruitment and retention remain a major part of the conversation, but there is another pressure quietly consuming valuable capacity across residential care organisations every day: administration.
The answer isn’t simply more technology. It’s better-connected care management software designed around how residential care organisations actually operate. Bringing workforce management, staff rostering, time and attendance, payroll, HR and compliance together can reduce unnecessary duplication and give care teams a clearer view of their workforce.
Care home managers and their teams are responsible for delivering safe, high-quality care while simultaneously managing staff rostering, absences, time and attendance, payroll information, HR records, compliance requirements and changing workforce needs. Each task is necessary. The problem is how much time they can collectively take away from the people, leadership and care that matter most.
Managers can identify staffing gaps sooner, make more informed workforce decisions, keep important compliance information visible and reduce the manual processes happening behind the scenes. Most importantly, technology can give people time back.
The problem isn’t always people. Sometimes, it’s process. When care workforce information sits across spreadsheets, paper records and disconnected systems, simple tasks can become unnecessarily complicated. A change to a care home roster can have implications for staffing levels, working hours and payroll. An expired document can create an HR and compliance risk. Information entered into one system may need to be manually entered again somewhere else. Individually, these are small inefficiencies. Multiplied across every employee, every shift and every care setting, they become a significant operational burden. And when the social care sector is already working hard to recruit and retain good people, making better use of the workforce we already have is increasingly important. Care technology should give time back, not add complexity
At Syncurio, our approach to digital transformation in social care has been shaped through co-production with people who understand the realities of the sector. Because successful care technology shouldn’t ask teams to completely change the way they work; it should support them to work better. The goal should never be to replace the human element of care. It should be to protect it. By reducing avoidable administration and connecting the information care teams rely on every day, we can create more capacity for managers to lead, teams to feel supported and care providers to focus their resources where they have the greatest impact. For further information on simplifying workforce management within your care organisation, email info@syncurio.co.uk or visit www.syncurio.co.uk
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Unlocking growth for social care businesses Navigating the social care sector? Our experts are here to help your business grow. We support clients with: buy and build programmes mainstream mergers and acquisitions exits equity investments REIT equity and operator transactions debt finance and refinancing restructuring and reorganisation VAT and other tax structuring joint ventures To find out more get in touch. Julian Smith Partner, Head of Healthcare Corporate julian.smith@mills-reeve.com 07500 012203
Care Agenda | The voice of the care sector
Beyond the Basics: Building a Culture of Infection Prevention From leadership to frontline staff, creating a proactive mindset is the key to keeping homes safe and resilient. Policies, audits, and posters matter, but culture turns guidance into daily habits. A strong culture of infection prevention is visible in small choices—clean hands at the threshold, tidy trolleys, open windows, honest reporting, and supportive conversations after nearmisses.
Design with air and flow in mind. Ventilation, and traffic patterns influence transmission. Map high-touch routes and adjust furniture to create natural distancing without harming homeliness. Maintain HVAC systems, use portable HEPA units and schedule activities to avoid crowding. Good air is good care.
Start with purpose. Explain why prevention protects residents’ independence, reduces hospital transfers, and keeps routines stable. Connect actions to outcomes: every correctly worn apron prevents crosscontamination; every cleaned remote control avoids a cough spreading through a lounge. When people see impact, compliance shifts from obligation to professional pride.
Measure what matters. Track hand-hygiene, cleaning compliance, vaccination uptake, and outbreak response times. Display charts on noticeboards so teams can see progress. Pair metrics with stories “Mrs Patel’s physiotherapy continued because our ward avoided flu.” Data inspires when it feels human.
Leaders set tone. Managers who model hand hygiene, challenge poor practice kindly, and celebrate improvement make standards social, not just procedural. Visible leadership rounds, safety huddles, and “Ask Me About Infection Control” badges signal approachability. When executives review data, fund equipment, and ring-fence training time, staff believe the message: prevention is non-negotiable.
Sustain momentum. Build rituals: monthly “Prevention Spotlight,” rotating champions, and end-of-shift resets. Celebrate small wins with shout-outs or coffee vouchers. Embed expectations into appraisals/ inductions. Tie procurement to standards so cheap alternatives don’t erode safety.
Invest in skills. Replace checkbox e-learning with blended, scenario-based training. Use micro-drills at handover, tabletop outbreak simulations, and practical donning/doffing refreshers. Rotate champions across shifts so night teams are included. Build micro-competencies, cleaning a commode, sampling temperatures, storing PPE, then validate through peer observation and quick audits with instant feedback.
Culture is a continuous practice. When infection prevention becomes part of identity, homes stay safer, calmer, and ready for whatever winter brings. Above all, keep listening. Residents, families, cleaners, caterers, and carers notice risks first; invite ideas, test improvements, and share results so everyone owns the outcome and culture strengthens together.
Make it easy to do the right thing. Place sanitiser at decision points, stock PPE where it’s used, label waste clearly, and use colour-coded tools. Standardise consumables to reduce confusion. Use visual cues: door prompts, “clean/dirty” tags, and laminated room guides. Borrow ideas from aviation: checklists, closedloop communication, and “sterile cockpit” rules during medication rounds.
Get in touch, we’re here to help.
Normalise speaking up. Encourage staff to pause care when something looks unsafe and thank them publicly when they do. Establish anonymous reporting for near-misses and share learning in weekly briefs. Replace blame with curiosity: What made the shortcut attractive? How can we remove friction? Psychological safety is a disinfectant for risk.
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Care Agenda | The voice of the care sector
When a Registered Manager Vacancy Starts Affecting the Wider Team A Registered Manager vacancy can place significant pressure on a service, particularly where there is no clear interim leadership arrangement in place. The immediate focus is usually recruitment, but the wider impact on the existing team can be just as important. Deputies may be asked to take on more responsibility. Senior staff may find themselves dealing with issues that would normally sit with the Registered Manager. Regional or operational teams may need to spend more time supporting the service. If this continues for any length of time, it can start to affect supervision, decision-making, governance and the consistency of day-today leadership. From our work with providers, one of the key questions is whether the service has enough management capacity while recruitment is ongoing. That does not always mean bringing in an interim manager. In some services, the existing team may be able to manage the situation with the right structure and support. A deputy may be ready to step up but need mentoring around areas they have not previously been responsible for. In other cases, external interim management may be the more appropriate option. The important point is that the arrangement needs to be realistic.
As Fabio Cecchi, Commercial Director at Fulcrum Care, explains: “When a Registered Manager leaves, the priority should be understanding what the service needs during the gap, not just how quickly the vacancy can be filled. The impact on the wider team, management capacity and oversight all need to be considered alongside recruitment.” The permanent appointment also needs the same level of care. Recruiting quickly may ease immediate pressure, but appointing someone without the right experience or fit for the service can create further instability. Fulcrum supports providers with Registered Manager recruitment, interim management and mentoring, helping services maintain leadership capacity while a permanent solution is put in place. The level of support can be tailored to the situation, whether that means bringing in interim leadership, supporting an existing deputy or helping recruit the right Registered Manager. For further information and support with Registered Manager recruitment, interim management or mentoring, visit fulcrumcareconsulting.com.
Expecting one person to absorb the Registered Manager role alongside their existing responsibilities can create further workforce pressure rather than solve it.
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Care Agenda | The voice of the care sector
What a million nights reveal about sleep in care homes Residents with irregular sleep are 1.5 times more likely to fall. For providers carrying the cost and the regulatory exposure of those falls, that signal sits in a part of care that is still largely unrecorded. Scheduled checks and handover notes capture moments rather than patterns, and nothing in standard reporting makes the difference visible across a group of homes.
studied, residents slept nearly an hour longer each night after Teton was introduced, and slept 8% more efficiently. Teton builds a continuous picture of each resident's sleep, with no wearable and no camera, so staff can see who is settled before opening a door and complete the check from the app instead, focusing on residents who are awake or at risk.
A new report ‘One Million and One Nights’ analyses more than a million resident-nights of sleep data gathered contactlessly in care homes and hospitals since early 2024. It is published by Teton, an autonomous operating system that gives teams a continuous understanding of resident wellbeing. Its central point is that sleep is a measurable early warning signal that most providers cannot yet see. The first finding concerns what a normal night looks like. Residents sleep just under eight hours a day on average, but across a three-week analysis daily totals spread fairly evenly between roughly four and eleven hours. An average that wide offers little guidance for any single resident, and the more useful measure is each person's own baseline. The second concerns safety. The falls finding shows an association rather than a cause, but it gives teams a practical early signal, because several broken nights in a row can prompt a conversation about mobility support, medication timing or the room environment before anything happens. Aaron, a Registered Manager at Nightingale Hammerson, explains: "A resident who normally slept six or seven hours and woke once a night had started sleeping three or four hours and getting up four or five times. That can indicate a UTI, so we’d get them seen by the doctor."
Teton supports care teams across UK providers. The report is written as a benchmark for what a normal night looks like, and as a basis for the questions worth asking about your own homes. Download your free copy at https://www.teton.ai/sleep-reportuk?utm_source=print&utm_medium=offline&utm_ campaign=care_england_q3_2026&utm_ content=article. Findings are based on production data from Tetonmonitored care homes and hospitals. Teton's system is not a medical device and does not diagnose or direct clinical response. It supports qualified care staff and does not replace their judgement.
A comparison with hospital wards adds context for anyone managing admissions. The median hospital patient sleeps 6 hours 48 minutes, against a median 8 hours 7 minutes for a care home resident, despite four hours longer in bed. Residents coming back from hospital may be carrying a significant sleep deficit into their first days home. The most encouraging finding concerns what happens once sleep is visible. Across the homes
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Care Agenda | The voice of the care sector
Right to Work changes come this October here’s how to stay compliant All employees in the UK, whether UK citizens or not, must complete a Right to Work check to confirm they're legally allowed to work. From 1 October 2026, this requirement is expanding. Traditionally, only direct employees needed a Right to Work check. The scheme is now widening to cover non-traditional working relationships – including subcontractors, agency-sourced workers, and gigeconomy workers – bringing millions of people into scope. For care sector businesses, who rely heavily on flexible staffing, these new rules will have a big impact. That's why Care England's partner, uCheck, is here to explain more. Key takeaways • Changes take effect 1 October 2026 • Scope expands to include worker contracts, individual subcontractors, and online matching services • Care is higher-risk: the sector's reliance on agency staff and international recruitment means greater exposure to non-compliance • Penalties are steep: up to £60,000 for repeat breaches, or unlimited fines and prison time for knowingly hiring illegal workers Why care providers are exposed Care relies on flexible staffing with a fast turnaround, leading to significant dependence on arrangements such as hiring agency workers to cover shifts at short notice. That flexibility comes with scale. There were 16,606 Health and Care Worker visas granted to main applicants in the year ending September 2025 – covering roles like nursing professionals, caring personal services, and medical practitioners – alongside 77,148 Temporary Worker visas granted over the same period. To claim eligibility to work in the UK, Right to Work checks must have been completed by checking their eVisa – or similar route. Who needs to act, and how
Verification Service Provider (RtW DVSP) listed on the digital identity and attribute service (OfDIA). If you use technology to support wider checks (for example, on people holding share codes) that provider must be RtW DVSP-certified too. Preparing for October Steps to take now • Map your workforce: identify everyone delivering care on your behalf, not just direct employees • Check each arrangement: review arrangements against the new rules • Audit your agencies: ask staffing agencies for evidence of Right to Work checks, and build assurances into your contracts • Review international recruitment: check sponsor licence and eVisa processes if you recruit from overseas Stay compliant with uCheck uCheck's simple platform, rapid check turnaround, and scalable systems mean you can submit as many checks as you need in one go – helping you build safer, more compliant screening practices ahead of October 2026. [H2] Sign up today as a Care England member As a Care England member, you can access preferential rates and FREE registration with uCheck, saving you over £50. Sign up here and use code CAREENGLANDFREE at checkout for lifetime access to the uCheck portal. Already a uCheck member? Login, and rescreen your employees today.
From October, any Right to Work check completed under the Digital Scheme (for those holding a UK or Irish passport or passport card, or an eVisa) must be carried out by a registered Right to Work Digital
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Care Agenda | The voice of the care sector
What should AI actually deliver for Social Care? By Thomas Tredinnick, CEO and Co-Founder, Ally Cares As AI becomes more widely used across social care, much of the conversation is understandably focused on what the technology can do. But I think there is a more important question for providers: what will actually change for residents as a result? We need to be careful that adopting AI, or any new technology, does not become an objective in itself. Success should not be measured by how sophisticated a system is, how much data it processes or how many tasks it can automate. It should be whether it helps care teams deliver better outcomes for the people they support. Efficiency matters, particularly when providers are under significant pressure, but there is a bigger opportunity. Technology can help us understand things about residents that have traditionally been difficult, or sometimes impossible, to observe. One example is the time residents spend alone in their bedrooms. A member of the care team might see somebody at 10pm and again at midnight, but historically there has been very little information about what happened between those interactions unless the resident used their nurse call system or somebody physically entered the room. They may have woken repeatedly, been coughing, moved around their room several times, attempted to get out of bed or shown signs of discomfort. Individually these events might not appear significant, but together they can help build a more complete picture of that resident. This is where AI and advanced resident monitoring can become genuinely valuable. Technology can identify patterns across information that it would be impossible for a
person to observe continuously, helping care teams recognise changes in behaviour, identify possible signs of deterioration earlier and make more informed decisions about care. That does not replace the human element of care. Technology can provide information, but it is the care team who understands the individual, recognises the context and decides what that information means. As AI grows, providers should also become increasingly demanding about the evidence behind it. An ‘AI-powered’ label tells us very little. What problem does the technology solve? How reliable is the information? How does it fit alongside existing care? And, crucially, what evidence is there that it improves outcomes in real care environments? Ultimately, the success of AI in social care should not be measured by how much technology we adopt, but by what changes for the people we care for. See advanced resident monitoring in action Ally Cares hosts learning workshops in care homes, giving providers the opportunity to see how advanced resident monitoring is being used in practice, hear directly from care teams and explore the impact on resident outcomes. Book a place at an Ally learning workshop
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Care Agenda | The voice of the care sector
ESOS Phase 4: what care providers need to know before 31 December 2026
Of all the compliance requirements facing care providers, ESOS is one of the few that can deliver genuine business value when approached properly. Done well, it identifies practical opportunities to reduce operating costs, lower carbon emissions and improve the performance of your estate, while strengthening compliance at the same time. With qualification assessed on 31 December 2026, there is still time to get organised before the compliance deadline on 5 December 2027.
Preparing early puts you in a stronger position for your Phase 4 submission. Half-hourly data can take time to retrieve, and for leased sites information may need to come from landlords or managing agents. Starting now allows you more time to resolve gaps, involve the correct internal teams, and fit this additional work around your own budget cycle. The bigger opportunity is what the assessment can leave you with: a clearer view of which sites use the most energy, where savings may be possible and which measures deserve investment first. These insights support operating-cost reductions, better budget planning, and a stronger decarbonisation business case built on real numbers.
The qualification test is organisation size, not sector: 250 or more employees, or annual turnover more than £44 million together with an annual balance sheet total in excess of £38 million. Care is staff-heavy, so an organisation can cross the employee threshold before the financial ones. Care groups count too: if one of your UK-based centres qualify for ESOS, the whole corporate group qualifies. Whether you were required to submit data for Phase 3 or not, it is worth confirming your eligibility status for Phase 4.
When choosing your ESOS support, we recommend looking for consultants with experience across multisite estates and access to an approved ESOS lead assessor. Talk to a Planet Mark consultant today to learn more about who qualifies for ESOS Phase 4 and how to prepare for the approaching deadline with confidence.
For care providers, all of your buildings are often where the work sits. Energy data can be spread across sites, suppliers and billing systems, with different parts of the picture sitting across estates, finance and operations. Add ageing buildings, hot water running around the clock and comfort standards that cannot be compromised for residents, and building a reliable view takes time.
Get in touch here: Talk to an expert today.
Phase 4 has tightened the rules, but the changes are clear enough to plan around. Display Energy Certificates and Green Deal Assessments are no longer valid alternative compliance routes. Organisations must report energy savings achieved, review progress against action plan commitments and explain measures that were not implemented. At least 95% of total energy consumption must be included as significant energy consumption and covered by an appropriate compliance route, such as ESOS energy audits or ISO 50001. The ESOS assessment and compliance notification also require board-level sign-off before submission through MESOS by 5 December 2027.
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Your property. Our expertise. Navigating complex property transactions or development challenges? We advise clients across the real estate sector on: Acquisitions and disposals Affordable housing and Section 106s Commercial landlord and tenant matters including asset management Corporate acquisition and disposal Development and regeneration Disputes and risk management ESG compliance and sustainability Finance and investment structuring Planning law and infrastructure agreements To find out more please get in touch. Michael Whatley Partner, Real Estate michael.whatley@mills-reeve.com 07962003345