Our Market Position Statement for Adult Social Care is a key resource for care providers, outlining our approach to delivering and commissioning Adult Social Care services in partnership with our communities, health partners and neighbouring authorities, ensuring people are the centre of our consideration and involved in shaping and designing our services.
We cannot support residents with care needs without the valuable input from providers across Medway. These statements aim to share our vision of how we can continue to work together to support people who need us.
Collaboration is important to meet the needs of residents and support independent living, whilst adhering to our responsibilities in the Care Act 2014.
The statement reflects our commitment to:
- enabling residents to live healthily and independently for longer by preventing the escalation of care needs
- providing accessible information and advice which will inform self-care
- ensuring a diverse and high quality range of provision that meets residents’ needs
- considering community resources, unmet care needs and support for carers.
Our approach is to be inclusive, extending support to self-funders and potential future service users.
Adult Social Care covers:
- social work
- personal care
- practical support for adults with a physical disability, learning disability, or physical or mental illness
- support for their carers.
Family or friends often provide unpaid care. The amount of unpaid care provided by family and friends affects the extent care is funded by local authorities, or adults paying for their care privately (self-funders). Eligibility criteria for accessing publicly funded care are set out in the Care Act 2014.
New requests for Adult Social Care
Requests for support have increased in the last 5 years for both working age (18 to 64 year olds) and older adults (aged 65 and older) and are now above England and South East averages.
Statistics
- 9,265 requests for support for adult social care were received from new clients in 2024 and 2025.
- 68% of these came from those aged 65 and over.
- 6,424 clients were issued with 32,884 items of community equipment from April 2024 to March 2025
- 5,927 clients were issues with 37,623 items of community equipment from April 2025 to March 2026.
- In 2024 to 2025, 2,980 requests were for adults aged 18 to 64, from 2022 to 2023 only 2,777 requests were for adults in this age group.
- In 2024 to 2025, 6,275 requests were for adults aged over 65, from 2022 to 2023 4,846 requests were for adults aged over 65.
46% of requests made requests were either:
- signposted
- provided with information and advice
- did not go on to receive a service
This is a 5% decrease compared to 2022 to 2023.
6% of people who made requests received a long-term service such as care at home or residential care. This is the same as 2022 to 2023.
View Adult Social Care activity statistics on the Department of Health and Social Care website.
More about Adult Social Care, and the Adult Social Care Strategy.
Medway Council Strategic direction
Our strategic documents provide our vision and priorities, and outline our approach in tackling challenges in order to leverage opportunities. These strategies emphasise the importance of partnership, innovation, and a commitment to improving the lives of those in need of care and their families.
The One Medway Council Plan 2024 to 2028 outlines our vision, values and priorities.
Visit our equality, diversity and inclusion and modern slavery statement pages.