Funding announced for Charging Reform preparations

£15.5 million funding has been announced to help local authorities prepare for adult social care charging reform in October 2023.

The £15.5 million will be shared by local authorities to prepare their workforce and recruit dedicated IT staff to oversee the implementation of the care accounts.

Further support will be made available later to strengthen capacity and to support implementation of technology that can support charging reform.

Adult social care charging reform includes a new lifetime cap of £86,000 on the amount anyone in England will need to spend on their personal care, alongside a more generous means test for local authority financial support.

The transformed social care charging system will apply to people in both residential and at-home care. This aims to protect people from unpredictable care costs.

From October 2023 no-one starting to receive care will pay more than £86,000 over their lifetime, and no-one with assets of less than £20,000 will have to make any contribution from their savings or housing wealth – up from £14,250. Anyone with assets between £20,000 and £100,000 will be eligible for some means-tested support with the upper limit more than four times the current limit.

Minister for Care, Gillian Keegan said:

"We’re committed to fair and high-quality care, and this is the beginning of our journey of reform, creating the next step in making our ambitious plans a reality."

"We’re working closely with local authorities, providers and care receivers to deliver a smooth transition into the new system to end unpredictable cost of care for the public."