The Care Act

The act came into effect on 1 April 2015. Key areas of change nationally included:

• Local authorities having a general responsibility to promote people’s wellbeing, focusing on prevention and providing information and advice
• The introduction of a consistent, national eligibility criteria. This gave people peace of mind that wherever they live in the country, or plan to move to within England, if their needs meet the threshold, they'll be eligible for support. Also, if someone decides to move to another area, councils have to work together to guarantee that there's no gap in the person’s care
• New rights to support for carers, to give them the same rights as the people for whom they care
• Legal right to a personal budget and direct payment, for those who are eligible, to support their wellbeing and help them to remain independent for longer
• The extension of local authority adult social care responsibility to include prisons
• New responsibilities around keeping people free from harm and ensuring that their care and support is still maintained if external services fail
• Deferred payment agreements across the whole of England. A deferred payment agreement is an arrangement with the council enabling people to use the value of their home to fund care home costs without having to sell their home in their lifetime
• Changes to the way that adult social care is funded, including a lifetime ‘cap’ of no more than £72,000 for individuals on reasonable care costs to meet their eligible needs, and an increase in the capital threshold for people in residential care who own their own home

The Care Act has enabled us to better focus on the things that really matter, and help us to support people’s independence and promote their wellbeing - key aspects of the act.

We want to enable people’s aspirations to flourish, whether those aspirations are to cook their own meals, go shopping or find employment. We don't want people to develop a dependency on care services.

We want to talk to people about what they can do, rather than what they can't. We need to ensure that people can be part of their community, just like everyone else.

All councils are facing unprecedented financial pressure, and we therefore have to make sure that we make the most of our resources and deliver services as creatively and cost-effectively as possible.

We're actually increasing the amount of money being spent on prevention and enablement, so by working differently we can still provide services for people who need support, just in a different way.

To help us change the way we work we've used the national ‘Making it Real’ statements. These have been shaped by what older and disabled people, carers and citizens expect to feel and experience when it comes to personalised care and support.

One of the ways in which we've changed the way we do things is by making it easier for people to get the support they need more quickly, via things like our First Point of Contact service and Let’s Talk Local sessions.

• The Care Act (easy read version) on the gov.uk website
• Factsheets on the gov.uk website

You can also watch these videos to find out more about the Care Act:

• Surrey County Council video on Youtube
• The Care Act - rural
• What is the Care Act - on Vimeo, by Skills for Care
• An introduction to the Care Act from the Social Care Institute for Excellence