Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask Her Majesty’s Government how many local authorities with a social care responsibility have made local authority-funded care available for those with less than substantial care needs, in each of the last five years.

The following table shows where local authorities set their local eligibility criteria within the eligibility framework set out in the statutory guidance Prioritising Need in the Context of Putting People First: A whole system approach to eligibility for social care.

Source: ADASS Budget Survey

* Data not collected

** Data not published

The Care Act 2014 provides the power for Secretary of State to set national eligibility criteria. The national criteria are set out in the Care and Support (Eligibility Criteria) Regulations 2015, which were implemented in April 2015. The national eligibility threshold is set at a level where an adult’s needs have a significant impact on their wellbeing. Local authorities cannot tighten eligibility above this threshold, but they can choose to meet needs below this threshold.