Recommendation 26

We challenged the Department on how it was applying lessons from its earlier attempt at charging reform to meet the revised implementation date of October 2025. The Department told us that charging reform was “not a delivery challenge; it was a money challenge”, and that was why it delayed it and redirected the money from charging reform into the system. The Department assured us it had been ready to deliver, and it 58 Q 64 59 Qq 75–78 60 Letter from DHSC to the Committee of Public Accounts, 1 February 2024 61 Qq 66–68 62 Letter from DHSC to the Committee of Public Accounts, 1 February 2024 63 C&AG’s Report, paras 3.2, 3.8 64 C&AG’s Report, para 17, Qq 63 65 Qq 11, 63 66 Q 63 18 Reforming adult social care in England had learned a lot from the six trailblazer local authorities. It told us about the innovative ways that the trailblazers had discovered to get through more care needs assessments, for example, using online digital technology and having different mixes of teams rather than relying on a social worker. We heard that one of the trailblazers made a 40% productivity improvement through those approaches.67 As the NAO’s report pointed out, to achieve the revised timetable, work would need to begin soon yet the funding set aside for charging reform has been diverted elsewhere and the levy to support it dropped.68 When we asked about how it would fund charging reform, the Department told us that the funding and the timetable for the next spending review were questions for the next spending review.69