Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, pursuant to the Answers of 22 September 2021 to Questions 49948 on Local Government: Contracts and 49947 on Local Government, if the Government will compensate local authorities for the costs of the levies which fall on contractors they employ; and what funding from the levy will be paid to local authorities for (a) the cost of introducing the £86,000 cap, (b) the proposed floor as described in the Health and Social Care Plan, (c) improving social care provision and (d) any other reforms as a result of the Health and Social Care Plan.

We have announced that we will be investing an additional £5.4 billion across three years in social care. The announcement includes funding that will be made available to all local authorities to cover the costs of implementing our reforms, including the cap, the increased capital limit and moving towards paying a fair rate of care and the associated implementation costs. The Government intends to compensate departments and other public sector employers in England at the forthcoming Spending Review for the increased cost of the Levy and provide Barnett consequentials on this funding to the devolved administrations.