Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask Her Majesty’s Government, in the light of research from Reform indicating that the number of deferred payments issued by local authorities has not risen since 2012, whether they plan to widen access to the Deferred Payment Scheme by raising the £23,500 means threshold.

The Care Act 2014 introduced universal Deferred Payment Agreements (DPAs) so that people should not be forced to sell their homes in their lifetimes to pay for care. The eligibility criteria for DPAs are designed to ensure that they are available to those who would otherwise be at risk of having to sell their homes.

The Department is continuing to monitor the success of the scheme, and data on the uptake of DPAs across all local authorities will be available later this year.