Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of reducing care home costs for elderly and disabled people.

Fee rates are set by providers of adult social care, the majority of which are in the independent sector. The Department does not have powers to set or recommend the level of fees that care homes charge. However, all businesses are required to comply with the Consumer Rights Act 2015 by ensuring that they use fair and clear terms in their standard agreements with customers.

Local authorities should negotiate fees individually with care providers to achieve a sustainable balance of quality, effectiveness, and value for money.

Under the Care Act 2014, local authorities are tasked with the duty to shape their care markets to meet the diverse needs of all local people. This includes commissioning a diverse range of care and support services that enable people to access quality care.

In undertaking these duties, there are elements of good market shaping practice that can be applied more widely. These include:

• using local population and market data to inform commissioning decisions and involving providers and those with lived experience in the commissioning process;

• encouraging a wide range of service provision to ensure that people have a choice of appropriate and high quality care services in their local area; and

• working effectively with local providers to inform decisions on fees, drawing on providers’ insight into local market sustainability and workforce pressures.