Source · Select Committees · Housing, Communities and Local Government Committee
Recommendation 16
16
Accepted
Paragraph: 75
One-year funding settlements and short-term grants are hampering local authorities’ ability to plan and to...
Recommendation
One-year funding settlements and short-term grants are hampering local authorities’ ability to plan and to deliver value for money, which in turn affects local care markets as it makes it more difficult for local authorities to enter longer term contracts with providers. The Government must provide a multi-year funding settlement to give local authorities the visibility they need both for their own sustainability and also to help shape sustainable local care markets. It should also aim to make announcements about grants and social care precept at an earlier stage in councils’ budgeting cycle.
Government Response Summary
The government states that in developing the People at the Heart of Care white paper, it engaged extensively with other government departments, and has worked closely with colleagues across government since the white paper publication to produce the recently published Next Steps to Put People at the Heart of Care plan.
Paragraph Reference:
75
Government Response
Accepted
HM Government
Accepted
In developing the People at the Heart of Care white paper, we engaged extensively with other government departments, including the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities (DLUHC) and the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP). The whole of government is fully committed to working together to deliver our 10-year vision for people who draw on care and support, unpaid carers, and the adult social care workforce. Since the white paper publication, DHSC has worked closely with colleagues across government, including DLUHC and DWP, to produce the recently published Next Steps to Put People at the Heart of Care plan. Our work with DLUHC includes preparing for Government response 23 the upcoming establishment of the Office for Local Government (Oflog) which, alongside the new CQC assessments of local authority social care responsibilities, will contribute to local government transparency and accountability. We have also worked with the Department of Business and Trade on the Carer’s Leave Bill, which is currently going through parliament, that will introduce a new leave entitlement as a right from day one, available to all employees who are providing care for a dependant with a long-term care or support need. Our new Market Sustainability & Improvement Fund (MSIF) is an excellent example of effective joint working between DHSC and DLUHC. DHSC has led on developing the overall design and grant conditions for the Fund, doing so in joint collaboration with DLUHC officials. Once launched, the Fund will be administered, and legal enforcement of those grant conditions be overseen by DLUHC, working in close collaboration with DHSC. This will ensure that the MSIF grant aligns with wider funding streams linked to the local government finance settlement and that we can collectively assess the impact and potential burden on local authorities. DHSC works closely with DWP to ensure that the ASC charging system aligns with any changes to benefits. We recently announced that the social care allowances (Minimum Income Guarantee and Personal Expenses Allowance) would be uprated for FY 2023–24 in line with CPI inflation (10.1%) and worked extensively with DWP to ensure that this uprating aligned with the rate at which they were uprating benefits. We also give consideration to how new payments made by DWP should be treated under charging regulations, in terms of whether they should be taken into account when local authorities are calculating what a person should contribute from their income or assets towards their care costs. DWP is currently passing legislation to enact the cost-of-living payments announced in the Autumn Statement, and DHSC has worked closely with the relevant DWP policy officials and lawyers to deliver an appropriate legislative route to disregard the payments for the purposes of charging for social care. Our 10-year vision is ambitious, and it will not be realised overnight, and we know that the scale of the challenge requires a truly cross-government effort. Beyond the Next Steps to Put People at the Heart of Care plan, we will continue to work alongside our colleagues across government, to explore further areas for joint working and ensure that our reforms deliver on their intended purpose. 24 Government response Conclusion 22 and 23 – taskforce for housing for working age disabled adults Conclusion 22 - We welcome the Government’s commitment to “making every decision about care is a decision about housing”, but we are concerned that currently the Government is not putting this into practice. The detail on the housing policies in the People at the Heart of Care White Paper and how their funding will work have not been shared. We welcome the creation within DLUHC of a taskforce for housing for older people, but it is not clear what the read across will be to policies in the People at the Heart of Care White Paper. We are also concerned by an apparent lack of joined- up working both between DHSC and DLUHC—and within DLUHC—on housing, planning, and social care. This is not intended as a criticism of Ministers, but of the siloed working that this suggests both within DLUHC and across DHSC and DLUHC.