The Care Act has been the biggest change to English adult social care law in over 60 years. This page is intended to help you understand the Act and how we are responding in Calderdale, and to provide further information and contact details which you might find helpful. The page is updated as work progresses.
The current statutory framework has changed and the Care Act 2014 replaced and consolidated a number of laws and regulations.
The nine pieces of legislation in rounded boxes above were replaced by the Care Act 2014.
Key areas of change on 1st April 2015
- General responsibilities on local authorities including promoting people’s wellbeing, focusing on prevention and providing information and advice.
- The introduction of consistent, national eligibility criteria.
- New rights to support for carers, on an equivalent basis to the people they care for.
- Legal right to a personal budget and direct payment.
- The extension of local authority adult social care responsibility to include prisons.
- New responsibilities around transition, provider failure, supporting people who move between local authority areas and safeguarding.
Reforms to the way that social care is funded, which were to be effective from April 2016, were postponed by the Department of Health until 2020
- A lifetime ‘cap’ of no more than £86,000 for individuals on reasonable care costs to meet their eligible needs (see detail below);
- and an increase in the capital threshold for people in residential care who own their own home.
What we have done so far
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The Calderdale Care Act implementation project is being steered by the Adult Social Care Implementation Board which is chaired by Bev Maybury: Director, Adults, Health and Social Care.
Currently this Board consists of key officers from across the Council to ensure we have a consistent approach to the changes ahead.
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As well as the changes in our assessment process we made a number of changes to our Information Technology systems to ensure that it met the requirements of the Care Act.
The capture of case details was reviewed so that this data provides our commissioners with the information they need to shape the market to accommodate new requirements.
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A senior management briefing was held on 13th October 2014 in central Halifax. This gave attendees details of the legal implications we needed to consider as a Council.
Over the past few months briefing sessions were held for all staff members to provide them with a more detailed explanation of the changes and impact.
These briefings were offered to user-led groups affected by the Care Act, including clinical commissioning groups, partnership boards and voluntary sector organisations.
If you are interested in arranging for a Care Act briefing for your group or organisation, then please get in touch.
- A regional approach to communications, based on guidance from the Department of Health and Public Health England, was implemented to raise residents’ awareness of the Act in the run up to April 2015.
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The Council's Adults, Health and Social Care workforce and relevant staff from other directorates also received training to support them with the changes.
This training took place during for the first quarter of 2015. As with the communications campaign, a regional approach was taken to ensure consistency across the region.
Further information
More detail on the Care Act from the Department of Health is available through the following links:
The Department of Health has written detailed draft regulations and guidance on:
- what the Care Act means;
- and how local authorities must respond.
For more on this, visit: Care and support statutory guidance (GOV.UK).
Get in touch
If you want to speak to someone about the changes ahead and how they may impact you, please contact:
- Iain Baines, Care Act Implementation Lead, phone: 01422 393809.
- Ann Ogilvie, Care Act Implementation Support Officer, phone: 01422 393961.