Government response to the report on Social care funding: time to end a national scandal (February 2022)

This is the government's response, published 22 February 2022.

Summary written by Accountability Index from the government's response. It is not the government's own words.

The government welcomes the committee's comments, acknowledges "the need for more funding for adult social care" and says its principles have informed reform plans, including a Health and Social Care Levy and a cap on personal care costs.

• It announced £5.4 billion over three years to begin reform of adult social care, backed by a new Health and Social Care Levy, with an increasing share of the Levy spent on social care beyond 2024-25.
• From October 2023 it will introduce an £86,000 cap on personal care costs over a lifetime, and says people will "no longer face wholly unpredictable or unlimited care costs".
• It agrees that the disparity between fees paid by self-funders and by local authorities is unfair, and will use section 18(3) of the Care Act 2014 so self-funders can ask their local authority to arrange residential care.
• On local authority funding, it will work with the sector over the coming months to update the data used to assess needs and resources, "before consulting on any potential changes".

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