Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to the Care and Support Statutory Charging Regulations 2014, what assessment he has made of the adequacy of the National Association of Financial Assessment Officers average fuel costs figures in comparison with those provided by Ofgem, for the purposes of assessing what constitutes above-average fuel costs for Disability Related Expenditure; and if he will make a statement.

The responsibility for interpreting and applying the Regulations and the Care and Support Statutory (CASS) guidance rests with local authorities, taking into account all the available information and taking its own legal advice where appropriate. Where a person receives a disability related benefit, the local authority should assess and allow for the service user’s disability related expenditure and apply flexibility where necessary.

The CASS guidance provides in paragraph 41 “What is disability-related expenditure should not be limited to what is necessary for care and support. For example, above average heating costs should be considered.”