Agenda item

 Question from Cllr Robin Stuchbury to Cllr Angela Macpherson Cabinet Member for Health and Wellbeing

From October 2023, the Government will introduce a new £86,000 cap on the amount anyone in England will need to spend on their personal care over their lifetime. In addition, the upper capital limit (UCL), which is the point at which people becoming eligible to receive some financial support from the local authority, will be raised to £100,000 from the current £23,500. As a result, people with less than £100,000 of chargeable assets will never contribute more than 20%. I understand in introducing this change, the Government will need to introduce an amendment to the Care Act 2014 and the way people will be means tested which is subject to Parliamentary approval.

Under the Care Act 2014, charges must not reduce people's income below a certain amount but local authorities can allow people to keep more of their income if they wish. This amount is known as the Minimum Income Guarantee (MIG).This would allow people receiving means tested support to keep more of their own income for those receiving care in their home and personal expenses allowances for care residence. It was indicated the cap will cover daily living costs for people in care homes and people will remain responsible for their daily living costs throughout their care journey, including after they reach the cap. These are very large changes to the way the local authority will work in a caring environment to support vulnerable adults. It is obvious that a large percentage of the councils funding is penultimately through the social care precept, which is and has grown close to 12% of the council tax Buckinghamshire Council collects.

As we enter the financial year 2023/2024 what is the financial planning in respect to these changes in legislation ? The purchasing of four Wood Place care homes could be more financially challenging in the fiscal years, 23, 24,25, then they were in the previous years of both the legacy County Council and the early years of Buckinghamshire Council. What modelling is being undertaken and is the ability of the council to collect increases in social care allowance/social care precept being considered by Cabinet or does Cabinet not agree with undertaking any rises in the social care precept due to their political stance ? This is an important question due to the cost of living crisis many of our constituents find themselves in across a broad income spectrum within Buckinghamshire.

The following response to the Cabinet question was noted:-

Question from Councillor Robin Stuchbury to Councillor Angela Macpherson, Deputy Leader and Cabinet Member for Health and Wellbeing

“From October 2023, the Government will introduce a new £86,000 cap on the amount anyone in England will need to spend on their personal care over their lifetime. In addition, the upper capital limit (UCL), which is the point at which people becoming eligible to receive some financial support from the local authority, will be raised to £100,000 from the current £23,500. As a result, people with less than £100,000 of chargeable assets will never contribute more than 20%. I understand in introducing this change, the Government will need to introduce an amendment to the Care Act 2014 and the way people will be means tested which is subject to Parliamentary approval.

Under the Care Act 2014, charges must not reduce people's income below a certain amount but local authorities can allow people to keep more of their income if they wish. This amount is known as the Minimum Income Guarantee (MIG). This would allow people receiving means tested support to keep more of their own income for those receiving care in their home and personal expenses allowances for care residence. It was indicated the cap will cover daily living costs for people in care homes and people will remain responsible for their daily living costs throughout their care journey, including after they reach the cap. These are very large changes to the way the local authority will work in a caring environment to support vulnerable adults. It is obvious that a large percentage of the councils funding is penultimately through the social care precept, which is and has grown close to 12% of the council tax Buckinghamshire Council collects.

As we enter the financial year 2023/2024 what is the financial planning in respect to these changes in legislation? The purchasing of four Wood Place care homes could be more financially challenging in the fiscal years, 23, 24,25, then they were in the previous years of both the legacy County Council and the early years of Buckinghamshire Council. What modelling is being undertaken and is the ability of the council to collect increases in social care allowance/social care precept being considered by Cabinet or does Cabinet not agree with undertaking any rises in the social care precept due to their political stance? This is an important question due to the cost of living crisis many of our constituents find themselves in across a broad income spectrum within Buckinghamshire.”

RESPONSE from Councillor Macpherson

In its autumn budget statement on 17th November, the government announced that the social care charging reforms described in the question are now delayed by two years to October 2025.

As part of our preparation to implement the social care charging reforms, we modelled the likely number of residents that will benefit from the proposed changes. The government has always indicated that the cost of the changes would be fully funded but we believe that the cost has been underestimated. The postponement of the implementation date to 2025 provides both the Council and the government with more time to prepare for the financial impact of the reforms.

Also in the autumn budget statement, the government announced that councils could increase the social care precept by 2% (up from the current 1%). Buckinghamshire Council has this under consideration as part of its medium term financial planning to address the increasing cost of social care provision.