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Government Announces Change to Adult Social Care Reforms

The government has announced a change to its adult social care charging reforms in England. These changes will, the government say end the lottery of unpredictable care costs through the introduction of a £86,000 cap on personal care costs, as well as a more generous means test, raising the upper capital limit from £23,350 to £100,000, and the lower capital limit from £14,250 to £20,000.

The changes will also include the ability for those who currently arrange and pay for their own care to request their local authority arrange care on their behalf – and access council fee rates – by implementing Section 18(3) of the Care Act 2014, which includes a £5.4 billion investment over three years, building on measures in the Health and Care Act.

This includes £3.6 billion to reform the social care charging system and enable all local authorities to move towards paying providers a fair cost of care.

The Government’s consultation on the statutory guidance to implement charging reform ran from 4 March until 31 March 2022 and sought views on how a cap on care costs would operate in practice. The consultation received 161 responses, indicating broad support of the policy principles and the aims of our reforms. The feedback suggested that sections of the guidance needed further development to ensure they are clear and workable. We have therefore worked with local authorities and the wider adult social care sector to clarify and expand the guidance in line with this feedback.

The guidance updates the existing care and support statutory guidance (CASS) and covers the following areas:
• Cap on care costs (including detail on: daily living costs; what counts towards the cap; the metering process; requesting that the local authority meets self-funders’ needs and cross-border issues);
• Independent personal budgets (including detail on: the principles of establishing an independent personal budget; verification of the purchase of care; dispute resolution; and moving from an independent personal budget to a personal budget);
• Care accounts (including detail on: what should be included in a care account; care account statements; retention of care accounts; and portability of care accounts).

The consultation sought views on how best to ensure smooth implementation of this change. Respondents pointed towards a need to mitigate the initial impacts of Section 18(3) and a common theme in responses from local authorities was concern about the workability of full implementation from October 2023. They were also concerned about the potential impact on those awaiting care and support, should a large number of people with existing care arrangements already in place approach their local authority to arrange their care at this point in time.

The guidance clarifies the government’s intention to stage the extension of Section 18(3) over 18 months, so that people entering residential care from October 2023 are initially eligible. Additionally, anybody already living in residential care will be eligible from April 2025 at the latest, and earlier if the market can sustain full rollout. This will be kept under regular review. Section 18(3) already applies to individuals who are receiving care outside of a residential care setting.

Section 18(3) does not affect an individual’s ability to use the cap on care costs; all care users will be able to meter towards the cap on care costs from October 2023. Rather, Section 18(3) helps individuals ensure that they pay no more than the metering rate when meeting their eligible needs; the metering rate is based on the fees commissioned by local authorities, and these cannot always be secured by individuals arranging their own care. This means that individuals using section 18(3) from October 2023 onwards need not pay more than £86,000 on getting the personal care they need; their local authority will arrange their care and they will meter towards the cap based on the amount they spend. Everyone who funds their own care will be able to ask their local authority to meet their needs from April 2025 at the latest. People with assets of less than £100,000 do not need to use Section 18(3); they will be able to ask their local authority to meet their needs from October 2023, as a result of the extended and more generous means test.

Cllr Martin Tett, Adult Social Care Spokesperson for County Councils Network, said:
“The announcement today of a phasing to the implementation of Section 18(3) of the Care Act 2014 responds directly to the advocacy by the County Councils Network (CCN) and our research with LaingBuisson. This work showed that a full implementation of this new duty to arrange care on before of self-funders from October 2023 could cause major financial risks for both councils and care providers.

“CCN welcomes the government acting on our recommendation to, at the very least, implement section 18(3) only for new individuals entering the care system from October 2023. However, while this will help reduce the funding shortfall and better manage immediate demand, CCN still remain very concerned that funding provided to move towards a fair cost of care will be insufficient to off-set providers’ financial losses from Section 18(3), impacting on their sustainability.

“Concerns on funding and implementation timescales of social care charging reforms, however, are not limited to the impact of Section 18(3). CCN’s report with Newton demonstrated that both the extended means test and cap are underfunded and create significant workforce challenges. It is vital the government re-examines both the quantum and distribution of resources for these reforms to local government so county local authorities do not face significant unfunded burdens and considers potentially phasing other elements of the reforms package so councils have more time to transition and prepare.”

 

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