Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what discussions he has had with local authorities on enabling direct payment to care workers where providers have collapsed or ceased operations.

Local authorities are best placed to understand and plan for the needs of their population. That is why, under the Care Act 2014, local authorities are tasked with the duty to shape their care market to meet the diverse needs of all local people. This includes encouraging a wide range of service provision to ensure that people have a choice of appropriate services which offer quality and value for money.

Where individuals are in receipt of local authority funded support, they may choose to receive their personal budget as a direct payment, which can be used to employ carers, or other staff, directly.

Care providers entering and exiting is a normal part of a functioning market, and local authorities should have appropriate contingency plans in place, depending on the services being provided. Under the Care Act 2014, local authorities also have a temporary duty to ensure continuity of care in the event of business failure. This means that people continue to receive the care and support they need if their adult social care provider is no longer able to carry on delivering services.