Source · Select Committees · Housing, Communities and Local Government Committee
Recommendation 9
9
Acknowledged
Paragraph: 60
It is nevertheless disappointing that people currently living in and paying for residential care, whose...
Recommendation
It is nevertheless disappointing that people currently living in and paying for residential care, whose payments before October 2023 will not count towards the cap, will now not be able to access local authority rates until 18 months later than they were originally told. The Government should put every effort into heeding its commitment to rolling out Section 18(3) for those currently living in residential care earlier than April 2025.
Government response summary AI-generated
The government states they agree with the committee’s recommendation for market shaping to include a dedicated focus on outcomes-based commissioning and investing funding to strengthen local authority market-shaping, commissioning, and contract management capability.
Summary of the government's response below — read the verbatim text to verify.
Paragraph Reference:
60
Government Response
Acknowledged
HM Government · verbatim extract
Acknowledged
As announced in the Autumn Statement 2022, we listened to the concerns of local government and took the difficult decision to delay implementation of the planned reforms to the adult social care charging system (known as ‘charging reform’). Alongside this, the planned extension of Section 18(3) to enable self-funders in residential care to access local authority commissioning has also been delayed. This delay gives local authorities additional time to prepare for rollout, and none of the £3.6 billion announced for charging reform in 2021 has been diverted away. The savings from this decision are being retained in local authority budgets to help them meet the current pressures in social care. In fact, we are providing even more funding for adult social care on top of the £3.6 billion, with an additional £2.7 billion in new grant funding. This is because we are absolutely committed to ensuring that everyone has access to the right care and support they need, at the right time. The government published an initial impact assessment in January 2022, which sets out its modelling of the costs and benefits of charging reform. An updated impact assessment will be published in advance of implementation. Additionally, in preparing for implementation in October 2023, the government d
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