What a council market position statement tells you before you buy
A council’s Market Position Statement sets out what care it wants more of and what it will not buy. Here is how to read one and test it against the data, using Kent’s 2025 to 2035 statement as the worked example.
Len Burgess · 13 Aug 2026 · 13 min readA market position statement (MPS) is a document an English council publishes about its adult social care market: what care and support it expects to buy over the next few years, and what it wants less of. It is written for care providers, investors and the people who use services. If you were looking for a marketing positioning statement for a brand or product, that is a different thing; this guide is about the council document. Kent’s current statement runs from 2025 to 2035. It says the county has too much standard residential care for older people, too little dementia nursing care and too little extra care housing, and it plans for council funded residential demand to grow by 20% while the 85+ population grows by 51%. If you are buying a care home or starting a service, read the statement before you read the sales particulars.
What is a market position statement, and why do councils publish one?
Under section 5 of the Care Act 2014, a council must promote the efficient and effective operation of the market for care and support in its area, so that people have a choice of good quality services. This is the market shaping duty. The statutory guidance defines market shaping as the council working with providers, people who use care, carers and families to encourage and facilitate the whole market in its area, including care that people arrange and pay for themselves. Commissioning is narrower: the council assessing local needs, deciding what it will arrange itself, then buying, monitoring and reviewing those services. The Care and Support Statutory Guidance (chapter 4, Market shaping and commissioning of adult care and support) suggests that a council can best begin those duties by developing a published Market Position Statement with providers and stakeholders (paragraph 4.56). It is guidance, so form, length and dates vary between councils. Kent’s own statement describes it as a requirement of the Care Act.
An MPS is a signal of intent. It does not guarantee placements or fees. It tells you where the council will put its money and its planning support, and where it will be harder to win council work.
How to read a market position statement, section by section
- Foreword and purpose. Read for the overall direction. Kent’s is prevention first: people should stay at home for as long as possible.
- Strategic context. Lists the strategies the MPS sits under. These tell you which other documents to check, such as Kent’s commissioning intentions and housing strategy.
- Service sections. Each one has an aim, how the council will achieve it, supporting evidence and "shared aims". The shared aims are the most direct statements of what the council will and will not buy.
- Supply and demand tables. The numbers you can test. Kent gives beds by district, current council placements and projected growth to 2035.
- Summary of current position and future direction. In Kent this is a two column table near the end. If you only read one page, read this one.
Kent’s messages by service
Home care
Care at home is the council’s main form of support for older people. It supports 3,480 older people at home now and projects 710 more by 2035 from population growth alone, possibly more if it diverts people from residential care. It wants providers that are flexible on visit times, use technology and range from small to large. Its assistive technology service has supported over 3,000 residents since November 2023.
Supported living
The statement lists 897 supported living schemes with room for 2,785 people, mostly for people with a learning disability. It wants more provision for complex needs, short term supported living for people leaving hospital under mental health sections, and options for care leavers. It does not want campus style schemes.
Extra care
Kent wants extra care to be the mainstream alternative to residential care. It commissions 834 flats in 18 schemes, projects about 490 more council placements by 2035, and names “the Isle of Sheppey, Canterbury and Thanet” as places where there is no provision or schemes are full.
Residential and nursing care
Care homes are for people whose needs cannot be met at home: “Residential and Nursing Care will only be considered when community-based support is not possible.” The council places 4,386 people in residential homes and 1,213 in nursing homes, and it plans to recommission its older people’s care home contracts. It wants homes that support people leaving hospital, including step down beds, and services for bariatric needs and dual diagnosis. It also says “Providers should understand local authority care rates and ensure services remain viable as private funding changes”.
Dementia
The summary lists “Under-provision of dementia nursing care” next to “Over-provision of standard residential care”. That is the single most useful line for a buyer of an older people’s home in Kent.
Complex needs
For learning disability, autism and mental health, the message is a lack of local provision. The statement says “more placements are made outside of Kent because of this.” It wants autism specific supported living and residential services, crisis accommodation and step down from psychiatric wards.
Kent wants more extra care, home care and complex needs provision, and less standard residential care
What Kent County Council says it wants more of and less of, by service, with a line from the statement
| Service | More of | Less of | In the council’s words |
|---|---|---|---|
| Home care | Flexible care at home, technology, a mix of provider sizes | Rigid visit schedules | “supporting people to live safely, independently and well in their own homes and communities for as long as possible” |
| Supported living | Schemes for complex needs, mental health step down, care leavers | Campus style schemes | “We want supported living to be affordable and within communities rather than campus style provision.” |
| Extra care | About 490 more council placements; Sheppey, Canterbury, Thanet | Age only eligibility | “To make extra care housing a preferred, mainstream option across Kent” |
| Residential (older people) | Modern, fit for purpose homes; step down beds | Standard residential; small or substandard homes | “small, substandard, or unviable homes will not meet the council's requirements.” |
| Nursing and dementia | Dementia nursing, bariatric, dual diagnosis | Older housing stock | “Any increase in provision should be for nursing and dementia care homes that cater for complex needs” |
| Learning disability and autism | Local supported living and residential for complex needs | Out of county placements | “Expand local provision for autistic people with complex needs to reduce out-of-county and inappropriate placements” |
| Mental health | Supported accommodation with support that rises and falls | Fixed packages | “Lack of suitable provision for people with mental health needs across the county” |
Source: Kent County Council, Adult Social Care Accommodation Market Position Statement 2025 to 2035. Summary by Orrery Intelligence; quotes verbatim.
Test the statement against the data
An MPS is the council’s view. Before you rely on it, check that the numbers agree with independent data. Four tests for Kent:
1. Does the council plan for the growth in older people? Kent’s population aged 85 and over is projected to rise from 47,084 to 70,914 by 2035, up 51%. The statement projects council funded residential demand for older people rising by 20% and nursing by 21%. The council expects more people to be supported at home and in extra care instead. The projections cover people the council funds, not self funders.
Kent plans for council funded residential care to grow far more slowly than its 85+ population, which rises 51%
Projected growth in council funded demand 2025 to 2035, % (the statement’s figures), against growth in the population aged 85 and over 2026 to 2035
Source: Kent County Council MPS 2025 to 2035 (caseload projections, ONS 2022 based); ONS subnational population projections (2022 based). Orrery Intelligence analysis.
2. Is standard residential care really over provided? Kent has 315 beds per 1,000 people aged 85 and over, against 304 for England as a whole. Among its neighbours, East Sussex has 361 and Essex 274. On this measure Kent is close to average, so the over provision the council describes may be about the type and quality of beds, and about what the council wants to fund, more than the raw count. New homes keep opening: 14 new care homes with 452 beds registered in the last 24 months, while 23 homes with 369 beds closed.
Kent has 315 care home beds per 1,000 people aged 85+, close to the England figure of 304
CQC registered care home beds per 1,000 people aged 85 and over, 2026: Kent, England and the nine English regions
Source: CQC care directory, 1 Oct 2026; ONS subnational population projections (2022 based). Orrery Intelligence analysis.
3. Is dementia nursing under provided, and where? 98 Kent homes are registered for both nursing and dementia care, with 6,001 beds. Nursing beds per 1,000 people aged 85+ range from 83 in Swale to 237 in Dartford, against 153 across Kent. Swale includes the Isle of Sheppey, which the statement also names for extra care. If you are looking for a nursing or dementia opportunity, the districts at the top of the table below are where nursing beds are scarcest relative to the older population.
Swale has the fewest nursing beds for its older population: 83 per 1,000 aged 85+, against 237 in Dartford
Kent districts, CQC registered beds 2026, sorted by nursing beds per 1,000 people aged 85+
| District | All beds | Nursing beds | Dementia beds | Aged 85+ | Nursing per 1,000 85+ | 85+ growth to 2035 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Swale | 1,019 | 309 | 744 | 3,710 | 83 | +51% |
| Gravesham | 545 | 271 | 483 | 2,477 | 109 | +30% |
| Thanet | 1,635 | 506 | 1,097 | 4,441 | 114 | +48% |
| Dover | 1,305 | 453 | 779 | 3,794 | 119 | +54% |
| Canterbury | 1,930 | 674 | 1,489 | 5,301 | 127 | +54% |
| Sevenoaks | 1,153 | 674 | 962 | 4,378 | 154 | +48% |
| Folkestone and Hythe | 1,601 | 623 | 933 | 3,954 | 158 | +57% |
| Tonbridge and Malling | 897 | 658 | 771 | 3,778 | 174 | +48% |
| Maidstone | 1,563 | 913 | 1,265 | 5,166 | 177 | +54% |
| Ashford | 1,034 | 711 | 689 | 3,705 | 192 | +61% |
| Tunbridge Wells | 1,246 | 832 | 814 | 3,968 | 210 | +52% |
| Dartford | 896 | 571 | 675 | 2,412 | 237 | +37% |
Source: CQC care directory, 1 Oct 2026; ONS subnational population projections (2022 based). Beds in homes registered for nursing or dementia; a home can be both.
4. Do the council’s own figures add up? The statement lists 7,837 residential and 6,749 nursing beds, 14,586 in all. CQC lists 14,824 beds in Kent care homes, so the two are close. Its demand table for residential care adds up to about 4,420 placements across all client groups, consistent with the 4,386 placements in the text. Small differences are normal; large ones are worth a question.
Then check the money. Kent’s 2025/26 average residential rate was £1,186.81 a week, up 11.6% on the year, and its nursing rate £1,378.00. Both are well above the England median. Home care was £28.05 an hour.
Kent pays £1,187 a week for residential care, more than any of its neighbours
Council average fee rates 2025/26: home care per contact hour, residential and nursing per week (nursing excludes NHS funded nursing care), with change on 2024/25
| Council | Home care | Change | Residential | Change | Nursing | Change |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Kent | £28.05 | +4.0% | £1,187 | +11.6% | £1,378 | +11.2% |
| Medway | £21.92 | +8.0% | £875 | +3.6% | £1,126 | +10.7% |
| East Sussex | £28.16 | +4.0% | £929 | +4.0% | £994 | +4.0% |
| Surrey | £24.87 | +2.8% | £952 | +2.4% | £988 | +2.7% |
| Essex | £28.04 | +6.4% | £849 | +5.2% | £1,103 | +4.0% |
| West Sussex | £28.92 | +3.7% | £1,033 | +5.1% | £1,125 | +6.1% |
| England median | £24.05 | £962 | £1,068 |
Source: DHSC Market Sustainability and Improvement Fund, council returns 2025/26. England median across councils reporting.
Finally, test the quality lines. The statement says small or substandard homes will not meet its requirements. Kent has 213 homes with under 20 beds (1,781 beds). Their CQC ratings are the best of any size group, so a small home is not automatically a weak one. The statement groups small homes with substandard and unviable ones, so ask the council what it means by small before you buy one.
Small homes are not the weak spot on quality: 86% of Kent homes under 20 beds are rated Good or better
Kent care homes by size, with the share of rated homes that are Good or Outstanding
| Size (beds) | Homes | Beds | Good or better |
|---|---|---|---|
| Under 20 | 213 | 1,781 | 86% |
| 20 to 39 | 122 | 3,510 | 74% |
| 40 to 59 | 70 | 3,364 | 72% |
| 60 or more | 82 | 6,169 | 76% |
Source: CQC care directory and ratings, 1 Oct 2026. Orrery Intelligence analysis.
- Place the home in the statement first. A standard residential home for older people sits in the category Kent says it has too much of. It can still be a sound buy. Council placements and fee uplifts may be harder to win, so self funders matter more.
- A nursing or dementia home, or one that can take hospital discharges and step down placements, is in the category Kent wants more of. Check the registration covers it, and ask how many current residents came through discharge routes.
- Ask the council’s commissioning team: when will the older people’s care home recommissioning happen, and what will the new contract require of buildings, room sizes and en suites?
- Ask: which districts have the longest waits for council funded dementia nursing placements, and does the council place people out of county for it?
- Ask: how does the council define "small" and "substandard"? Is there a minimum home size or room standard it will contract with?
- Ask: what fee uplift is planned for next year, and how are self funders who run out of money treated?
- For complex needs and supported living, ask whether new schemes need council support before you secure property, and how referrals are made.
Red flags when reading any MPS
- No numbers. A statement without supply and demand figures is a wish list. You cannot test it.
- Old data. Check the dates of the figures as well as the document. Kent’s tables use 2022 based population projections and current caseloads.
- Ambition without funding. "We want more extra care" means little without named sites, capital or a procurement timetable.
- Silence on fees. If the statement says nothing about what the council will pay, look at its published rates before you plan on council income.
- Only council funded demand. Most MPS projections cover people the council funds. Self funders can be a large part of a home’s income and are mostly outside the numbers.
How often they are updated
There is no fixed timetable. The statutory guidance says councils should review their care and support strategies with stakeholders so they stay fit for purpose (paragraph 4.57). Dates and time spans vary: Kent’s covers ten years. Kent’s current statement mentions local government reorganisation and devolution, so the structure of the council that commissions care may itself change before 2035.
How we worked this out
We read Kent County Council’s Adult Social Care Accommodation Market Position Statement 2025 to 2035 in full. Every quote above is checked word for word against the document, and the council’s figures are taken directly from its tables. We then compared those figures with CQC’s directory of registered care homes (1 October 2026), ONS population projections for people aged 85 and over (2022 based), and council fee rates reported to DHSC for the Market Sustainability and Improvement Fund. Beds per 1,000 aged 85+ divide CQC registered beds by the 2026 projected population.
The statement’s projections cover people funded by Kent County Council, not self funders, and are rounded to the nearest ten. CQC bed counts include all registered beds, whoever pays. Nursing and dementia beds are beds in homes registered for those services; a home can be registered for both, and not every bed in a dementia home is used for dementia care. Medway is a separate council and is outside this statement. Fee rates are council averages and individual placements vary.
Questions
Is a council legally required to publish a Market Position Statement?
The Care Act 2014 places a duty on councils to shape the care market (section 5). The statutory guidance suggests a published Market Position Statement as the best way to begin that duty. Many councils publish one, but its form is not fixed in law.
Where do I find a council’s MPS?
Search the council’s website for "market position statement". Some councils publish one document for all adult social care, others one per service, such as care homes, home care or learning disability.
Does an MPS tell me what the council will pay?
Usually not in detail. Kent’s says providers should understand local authority care rates. The rates themselves are in the council’s fee publications and its Market Sustainability and Improvement Fund return to DHSC.
Kent says residential care is over provided. Should I avoid buying a residential home?
Not necessarily. It means council demand for standard residential care is not expected to grow much. A home with a strong self funder base, good ratings and a building that can be adapted may still do well. Model your income without growth in council placements.
How much weight should a lender put on an MPS?
Use it as a check on the business plan. If a plan depends on council placements in a service the council says it has too much of, ask for evidence of current referrals and occupancy.
Does the MPS cover Medway?
No. Medway Council is a separate unitary authority with its own adult social care responsibilities. Kent’s statement covers the 12 districts in the Kent County Council area.