Market Context
Home care (sometimes also referred to as domiciliary care) is a range of services that are put in place to support an adult to remain living in their home. The professional, known as a carer, will provide support and complete tasks that aid an adult to remain independent and safe. The type of tasks can vary from personal care, administering medications, or supporting the adult with activities. Their primary role is to maintain the adult’s quality of life and support them to meet their outcomes.
Domiciliary care can be provided on a short-term or long-term basis. We also commission specialist services, that include home care. It is commissioned mainly through our Home Care Dynamic Pursing System (DPS).
Market Rating
There is currently ample supply of capacity in Somerset’s home care market, meaning that no one is waiting for support that will enable them to remain in their own home.
Home Care providers have increased their staff numbers, mainly through international recruitment, meaning we have a workforce that is able to meet demand. This has led to a market where people are likely to have a choice of provider and we are able to offer a real person-centred service. They will also be able to remain living in their own homes for as long as it is safe for them to do so.
Current Market Status
Demand for Home Care has increased over the past 12 months and is back to levels not seen since the end of 2022, which was the previous peak of demand. Despite this increase, the current framework providers have ample capacity available to meet demand.
The predominant users of home care services are those that are over 75, and it is projected that the number of people living in Somerset that are over 75 will increase by 24% between 2025 and 2035. We are confident that the group of providers that are active in the County will be able to meet the anticipated demand in the coming years.
Somerset is a very rural county and there will always be certain areas where capacity is a challenge. We are working to improve this via the continuing growth of our community services and use of Micro Providers where appropriate.
The Home Care in Somerset framework has been in place since April 2024 and as part of this we are committed to working with local home care companies. A condition of approval onto our framework is that an organisation has a CQC registered office within 10 miles of the Somerset border. There are currently 61 approved providers on the Somerset Home Care Open Framework, and 50 of these are supporting at least one person to remain living at home. As part of the recommissioning we contracted for 6 block contracts in areas that are either high demand or in locations where supply can be difficult and these have successfully delivered services to people in those communities.
Limiting the framework to locally based care providers will ensure that providers know Somerset, and will also protect the market from a saturation level that would impact the financial sustainability of all.
As of March 2026, there are 119 locations in Somerset registered to provide home care (this includes provision for adults of working age and older adults). In terms of quality, 72 home care providers are currently rated as good or outstanding, 2 as requires improvement and 45 do not have a current rating. The 2 providers rated as requires improvement are not currently contracted to provide 65+ home care by Somerset Council.
Market Data
All data is correct as of March 2026
| Somerset Market – Whole Market |
|
| No. Providers |
119 |
| % Providers CQC rated Good or Outstanding |
60%(38% not inspected yet) |
| New Providers approved to Home Care in Somerset framework since 01 April 2025 |
0 |
| Providers exiting the market since 1st April 2025 |
3 |
| Somerset Adult Social Care Market – Local Authority funded |
|
| Spend |
£33m |
| No. Providers on DPS |
61 |
| % Providers on DPS CQC rated Good or Outstanding |
70% , 30% not yet inspected |
| No. Adults commissioned by Somerset Council using DPS |
1550 new packages per year. |
| Commissioned hours per week |
355 new hours per week |
| % Somerset Council funded packages with providers rated Good or Outstanding by CQC |
100% of packages in 2025 were sourced with providers rated outstanding, good or those that are yet to be inspected |
| Packages commissioned outside of DPS since April 2025 |
0 |
Distance from desired commissioning objectives
The home care market in Somerset is currently in a stable and healthy position. We will need to ensure that future demand is taken into consideration when looking at our commissioning objectives but we are currently where we need to be for the existing demand for service.
Market Risks
There are concerns regarding increasing costs to providers such as National Living Wage, which will increase by 4.1 % from April 2026 and the impact this will have on the cost of delivering home care.
Changes to the rules around recruiting from overseas and the impact this could have on the workforce is risk to the market. The pledge to stop all overseas recruitment into Adult Social Care by 2028 is likely to lead to increased vacancies in the sector, which would lead to unmet need within home care.
Current areas of focus for commissioners
The current priorities for commissioners are to manage the market to ensure there is ample supply to meet current and future demand whilst protecting the market from an oversupply that could make home care businesses unviable.
There has been a large increase in the number of home care providers in the United Kingdom following the workforce growth through Home Office certificates of sponsorship. This has led to providers from all over the country offering to send carers to Somerset. It is important to protect the Somerset market from potential oversupply that would lead to good quality, established Somerset businesses having to exit the market.
