The Care Act is coming…

Last few weeks to the implementation of most of the Care Act. The Care Act 2014 is a new law about care and support for adults in England that will come into action in April 2015, making one new law saying what people will be able to get and what councils will have to do. The main themes of the Care Act are around promoting:

  • Wellbeing: giving people greater choice and control to be independent and providing advice and support;
  • Carers entitlements and rights: carers will be entitled to their own assessments to see if they are eligible for support and the same rules will apply all over England for the first time;
  • A lifetime cap on care costs: there will be a limit to the amount people will have to pay for care in your lifetime (this will not come into force until April 2016);
  • Advocacy: councils commissioning adult social care must find you an independent advocate who will help you and represent your best interests to get the right services if you are unable to do so;
  • Keeping adults safe: for the first time a law tells councils what to do to help keep adults safe from abuse or neglect making Safeguarding Adults Boards mandatory.

At our AGM on 12 March we presented on the Care Act 2014 and below we list some key documents and links to help you get up to speed. We welcome any further questions you might have.

To get started, a useful 6-minute animation, An Introduction to the Care Act 2014 from the LGA/ SCIE embedded in the LGA’s dedicated Care Act mini-site:

Secondly, three useful briefings:

Finally a comprehensive set of fact sheets from the Department of Health:

  1. General responsibilities
  2. Who is entitled to care and support
  3. Assessments and eligibility
  4. Care and support planning
  5. Charging
  6. Funding reform
  7. Safeguarding
  8. Carers
  9. Continuity of care
  10. Market oversight and provider failure
  11. Transition
  12. Prisons and Registered Accommodation

If you have any further questions let us know.