Integration and rebalancing capital fund

If you are using this scheme to provide awards of subsidy, you must inform the Subsidy Control Unit – email: scu@gov.wales.

Wales

Integration and Rebalancing Capital Fund (ICRF)

Section 58(a) of the Government of Wales Act 2006.

ICRF is a programme set up to directly support the Programme for Government (PfG) commitments of developing 50 integrated health and social care hubs, invest in a new generation of health and social care hubs, rebalancing the residential care market and eliminating profit from looked after children.

As part of this programme, regional partnership boards (RPBs) develop the planning and governance architecture to enable better alignment between various revenue and capital programmes. This ensures a joined-up approach across key partners in health, social care, housing and education.

The fund will focus on 3 priorities:

1. The delivery of Integrated Health and Social Care Hubs
2. Rebalancing the residential social care market
3. Eliminating profit from Looked After Children

The policy objective is lined to priority 2 of the programme is to:

• Support the rebalancing of adult residential care provision by increasing delivery from within the not-for-profit sector.
• The investment is targeted towards the public and not-for-profit sectors to enable them to grow. Independent profit-making providers are excluded from applying. Capital funding will be made available to support local authorities and not for profit organisations to develop their own care home provision. Support via IRCF will be limited at up to 70% of eligible project costs.

The Health and Social Care Integration and Rebalancing Capital Fund (IRCF) is a programme set up to directly support rebalancing the residential care provision by increasing delivery from within the not-for-profit sector.

The guidance outlines how the investment will be targeted towards the public and not for profit sectors to enable them to grow. However, in relation to adult care, small independent providers may also be able to benefit from investment if the Regional Partnership Board determines that growing or enhancing their service offer is of strategic importance for the region and that sufficient capacity cannot be achieved through the public sector.

The white paper ‘Rebalancing care and support’ sets out ministerial ambitions to rebalance the social care sector away from cost to quality, from outputs to outcomes and from profit towards social value.

All IRCF applications are subject to HMT Green Book principles in relation to the 5 case business model in line with Treasury Green Book principles, that assess the costs, benefits and risks of different options for achieving the funds objectives. This is essential to ensure the efficient and effective use of public resources.

Welsh Government

IRCF funding is awarded to public sector bodies including local authorities and health boards, it can also fund RSLs and 3rd sector organisations but due to the integrated nature of the funding there are always public sector bodies within each proposal.

Human health and social work activities

26 February 2026 to 31 March 2027.

£50,000,000

All subsidy awarded under the Scheme will be awarded by way of direct grant.

Priority 2 of the IRCF programme is to:

• Support the rebalancing of adult residential care provision by increasing delivery from within the not-for-profit sector.
• The investment is targeted towards the public and not-for-profit sectors to enable them to grow. Independent profit-making providers are excluded from applying. Capital funding will be made available to support local authorities and not for profit organisations to develop their own care home provision. Support via IRCF will be limited at up to 70% of eligible project costs.

Eligible costs are those associated with capital expenditure and typically include:

• Land and Property: Acquisition of land, existing buildings, and associated legal or survey fees.
• Construction and Works: Build costs, infrastructure development (for example roads, rail), and site preparation.
• Plant and Machinery: Equipment, vehicles, and hardware required for the project.
• Digital and IT: Software development, hardware, and initial setup of digital infrastructure.
• Professional Fees: Design, engineering, project management, and specialist consultancy fees directly related to the capital delivery.
• Risk and Contingency: 'Optimism bias' adjustments must be applied to initial capital cost estimates to account for the tendency of project costs to be underestimated.

Under the Priority 2 Scheme for rebalancing the adult social care market, there is a maximum intervention rate of 70% for proposals and organisations must provide match funding from their own financial resources, demonstrating commitment to the programme. The funding received by each project must allow for improved service delivery models, better co-ordinated and joined up delivery where there is opportunity for joint funding across the public sector.

Capital investment is available to support local authorities and not for profit organisations, including housing associations to make this shift in the following ways:

• Investing in community settings/residential/nursing care premises to ensure they can meet individuals more complex needs closer to home, i.e., nursing, allied health professional and intermediate care capacity. This could include increasing access to NHS services, (such as community therapy, rehabilitation/ reablement and podiatry) for residents, recognising they remain members of the health board population.
• Supporting and incentivising local authorities and not for profit providers to grow in house provision – which could include expansion of in-house care homes (additional beds), upgrades to facilities to bring them in line with regulation to enable them to be re-registered as a not-for-profit provision.
• Support for local authorities to bring failing provision back under local government management.
• Increasing residential and nursing care capacity where there are identified gaps/shortages of provision.

£20,000,000

For more information about applying for support under this scheme, please contact the team at IRCF@gov.wales

For more information about this scheme’s compliance with the Subsidy Control Act 2022, please contact: