Free Personal Care at Home

1. Free Personal Care at Home The Story So Far

2. Key stages • Summary of the proposals • ADASS’s view – the positives • ADASS’s view – the problems • What happened next? • What may happen over the next few months? • What has been achieved over the last few months?

3. Summary of the proposals • Personal care at home free for those with critical needs and require support with 4 ADLs • Benefits those who are known to Social Services and are currently paying • Also benefits those not known to Social Services with a high level of needs who are either making their own arrangements or struggling along without any help • Does not benefit those who have substantial needs or are critical but only require support with 3 ADLs • Does not benefit those who are in residential care (unless they leave) or who are not paying for their care at the moment

4. ADASS’s view – the benefits • We welcomed the Bill in principle • Some current service users would benefit from the lifting of their financial burden • Some people currently struggling on their own would start to receive good quality personal care • The Bill emphasised the principle of helping people to live at home • It also placed a major focus on re-ablement • It brought more resources into the funding of adult social care

5. ADASS’s problems with the Bill • Its relationship with Putting People First and the wider agenda set out in the Green Paper • Only some people will benefit which will make the system even more complicated and less transparent • Only personal care is free; non-personal care is not • Free personal care would cost significantly more than the Government assumes, the risk is borne wholly by local authorities and it requires funding from local authorities • Implementation by 1st October 2010 was not practical

6. What happened next? • Our concerns about the cost of the proposals and the speed of implementation were shared with the LGA and received widespread public attention • They became the focus of challenge by a number of peers which led to four amendments being passed by the Lords • The Commons accepted delay until 1st April and also agreed that the Act would only become law if it is agreed by the new Parliament

7. What may happen over the next few months? • It is up to the new Parliament to decide if the Act should be implemented • We must assume that a Labour Government would implement this as soon as possible • A Conservative Government may want to take stock because they want to have a radical look at the public expenditure situation as a whole • If there is a hung Parliament then everything is likely to be up for negotiation • If free personal care proceeds then we have more time to implement. We would need to ensure that reviews this year are completed in a way which recognizes the requirement of the Act. We would also need to lobby for some resources to help prepare for implementation next April • We need to make sure that the focus for change going forward is not just on older people and that it ensures that the principles set out in Putting People First are paramount

8. What has been achieved over the last few months? • Adult Social Care has received massive public attention which is great news • The Government has set out a comprehensive set of options and its emerging preferred way forward. The Conservatives have set out an alternative way forward. We have a starting point for further debate in the new Parliament • We were right to challenge both the costs and the timescale for implementation. These are practical issues which Directors have the responsibility to manage. In doing this, we worked well with the LGA