The Welsh Government published its September 2026 social services capacity update on 5 November. The release extends the monthly series that began in March 2024. It gives providers a starting point for discussing demand and service availability with local authority commissioners.
Read waiting and service figures together
StatsWales publishes separate tables for adults waiting for services and adults receiving services. Both cover areas such as domiciliary care, residential care and reablement. The series reflect local authority provision and exclude people who arrange or fund their care without council involvement. StatsWales also cautions that differences in how councils deliver services can limit comparisons between areas.
Use the figures to ask a more specific question
Start with several months for the council area where you operate and compare the data with what you see in referrals. A growing domiciliary care waiting list, for example, may prompt a conversation about visit times, travel distances or the level of support people need. A month-end count cannot tell a provider which of those factors is driving the wait.
Bring anonymised information on referrals the service could accept and those it could not, with reasons where available. Ask whether the same constraints show up across the local market. That can help a commissioner and provider decide whether to explore changes to scheduling, coverage or referral criteria before committing extra capacity.
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