Presentation.
Minutes:
The Board received a short presentation providing an update in respect of the Care Act 2014, which was the biggest change in Adult Social Care legislation for 60 years and included reforms in the law and funding regime relating to care and support for adults and carers. The new legal framework brought legislation together into one modern law and encompassed the whole population, not just those with eligible social care needs.
The key features of phase one were a duty to promote people's wellbeing and to prevent need for care and support; a duty to provide an information and advice service about care and support; a requirement to carry out an assessment of both individuals and carers wherever they had needs, including people who would be ‘self-funders’; a duty to facilitate a vibrant, diverse and sustainable market of care and support provision and to meet people's needs if a provider of care failed; a national minimum eligibility threshold for support, a minimum level of need which would always be met in every Council area; a requirement to offer a universal deferred payment scheme, where people could defer the costs of care and support set against the value of a home they owned; a duty in some cases to arrange independent advocacy to facilitate the involvement of an adult or carer in assessing needs and planning for care; a duty to provide social care support to people in prisons and bail hostels; a duty to strengthen Safeguarding Adults Boards and to make safeguarding ‘personal’; embedding the right to choice through care plans and personal budgets.
The key features of phase two were the introduction of a revised upper and lower capital limits; a £72,000 cap for meeting eligible needs, care accounts; support after reaching the cap; free care for life (zero cap) for those born with an eligible need or who developed one in early life and an appeals process.
Everyone with eligible needs would be able to progress towards the cap, which would be set at £72,000. The rate at which they progressed would be based on what the cost was, or in the case of self-funders would be, to the local authority. This cost would be set out in a personal budget or an independent personal budget. Progress towards the cap would be recorded in a care account. The local authority would maintain the care account and provide people with annual statements so they were informed of their progress. There would be a different approach for adults of working age.
The cap only included the cost of care to meet a person’s eligible needs.
Where a person was in a care home the local authority would deduct £230 per week for daily living costs to work out how much counted towards the cap. The rate included would be based on what the cost was, or in the case of self-funders would be to the local authority. This would not affect how much the provider received. Other costs which would not count included Top-up fees, NHS-funded care and only costs from April 2016 onwards would count.
Details of Cheshire East’s approach to the act were reported. A new customer journey through adult social care was being designed and would be the foundation of all other developments. A new ICT system to support assessment and care management has been procured. The Care Act Project Board had overseen the implementation of the Care Act and task and finish groups, drawn from adult social care and corporate colleagues, had developed the detail of the changes. Public consultation on policy changes regarding fees had taken place and a detailed communications plan had been put in place.
RESOLVED
That the update be noted.