Asked by: Lord Lipsey (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether it remains their policy to introduce a cap of £86,000 on individuals' care costs from 2023.
Answered by Lord Markham - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
We have listened to the concerns of local government and have taken the difficult decision to delay the planned adult social care charging reforms from October 2023 to October 2025. The funding intended for implementation will be retained in local authority budgets to meet current pressures.
Asked by: Lord Lipsey (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government what percentage of (1) GP surgeries, and (2) hospitals, use text messages to remind patients of appointments.
Answered by Lord Markham - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The information requested is not held centrally.
Asked by: Lord Lipsey (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what estimate they have made of the additional cost to public expenditure of setting the proposed cap on care costs at £35,000, rather than the proposed level of £86,000.
Answered by Lord Kamall
Lowering the cap from £86,000 to £35,000, while all other parameters remain unchanged, would double the estimated additional state spend for reform on older adults in 2027/28, when modelled in 2021/22 prices.
Asked by: Lord Lipsey (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what percentage of care recipients aged 65 or over are funded (1) wholly, or (2) partly, by local authorities.
Answered by Lord Kamall
This information is not collected in the format requested. NHS Digital collects data on recipients of long-term care aged 65 years old and over who are supported by local authorities. However, its data collection does not differentiate between those who are funded in whole and those who are funded in part by their local authority.
Asked by: Lord Lipsey (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government, for each year from 2014, how many people used deferred payment schemes that enable older people to avoid selling their houses to pay for care.
Answered by Lord Kamall
The data is not available in the format requested. From 2015 NHS Digital collected data the number of new Deferred Payment Agreements (DPAs) agreed during the year and the total number of outstanding DPAs at the end of the year on a voluntary basis. In 2016-17 the collection became part mandatory and later fully mandatory in 2017-18. However, this data does not include the total number of DPAs concluded, therefore does not confirm how many people used a DPA on an annual basis.
Asked by: Lord Lipsey (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government how many older people will benefit from the new cap on personal care payments for each year from 2023–24 to 2029–30.
Answered by Lord Kamall
Approximately half of all older adults receive some state support for their personal care costs under the current system. This will rise to nearly two-thirds of adults following the implementation of the reforms announced on 7 September. An impact assessment setting out the costs and benefits of social care charging reform will be published in due course.
Asked by: Lord Lipsey (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government whether care costs that are met at present by the nursing cost allowance will count towards the new £86,000 cost cap for personal care.
Answered by Lord Kamall
Nursing services provided or funded by the National Health Service are not subject to a financial assessment and contribution by the individual. NHS-funded nursing care will not count towards the £86,000 cap on social care costs due to be introduced in October 2023.
Asked by: Lord Lipsey (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government from what date the spending on care will count towards the £86,000 proposed cap.
Answered by Lord Kamall
The proposed cap will begin to take effect from October 2023. To prepare for the implementation of the new system, local government will assess those who have eligible needs.
Asked by: Lord Lipsey (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government whether their revised means test proposed in the new social care policy will contribute to hotel costs, or only to care costs.
Answered by Lord Kamall
To ensure that the new system maintains fairness between people receiving domiciliary care and those receiving residential care, individuals will still be responsible for daily living costs, including accommodation costs. For those unable to cover the costs themselves, personal care costs and daily living costs will be means tested. Additionally, people who fall within the means test are guaranteed to retain a personal expenses allowance after daily living costs have been deducted.
Asked by: Lord Lipsey (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what estimate they have made of the cost to public funds of their proposed cap on social care costs to be in (1) 2023–24, (2) 2024–25, and (3) 2029–30.
Answered by Lord Kamall
We committed to ensuring local authorities have access to sustainable funding for core budgets at the forthcoming Spending Review. A full impact assessment will be published in due course, including an outline of the predicted costs to public funds of the cap on social care costs.