Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps he is taking to ensure that disabled people of all ages have equal access to social care; and with reference to paragraph 6.1 of the Spring Budget 2017, if he will make representations to councils to ensure that funding for social care is equally distributed among disabled people of all ages.

Social care is a means tested service. The Care Act 2014 requires that local authorities must assess any adult who appears to have a care and support need. The Children Act 1989 places a similar duty in relation to children’s needs. Local authorities are subject to the Public Sector Equality duty, which requires them to take steps to meet the needs of people with protected characteristics (which includes disability), where they are different from the needs of others , and to minimise or remove disadvantages resulting from protected characteristics. Local authorities have a duty to ensure that when someone has been assessed as being eligible for care and support due to a disability, they must commission the services to meet those needs. However, it is up to each local authority to decide what services to provide and how much based on local circumstances.