Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether he has conducted financial modelling to support proposals to allow self-funders to arrange care at council rates.

From October 2023, we will enable more self-funders in care homes to ask their local authority to arrange their care by further commencing Section 18(3) of the Care Act 2014. The impact assessment, published in January 2022, presents the impacts of these changes, which will vary across local markets and will depend on local circumstances, such as the number of self-funders and the extent to which top-ups are utilised to support user choice. We are currently seeking views on the introduction of this policy via the ‘Operational guidance to implement a lifetime cap on care costs’ consultation, which is open until 1 April 2022.