Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether he plans to (a) implement the Care Act 2014 provisions on protecting individuals from unaffordable care costs and (b) introduce a more generous means test for social care funding.

In July 2024, the Chancellor of the Exchequer announced that the planned adult social care charging reforms, which were inherited from the previous government, would not be taken forward in October 2025.

The means test thresholds for support with adult social care costs are reviewed annually. The rates for the next financial year will be published via a Local Authority Circular in due course.

The Government is committed to reforming the adult social care sector. We have launched an independent commission into adult social care as part of our critical first steps towards delivering a National Care Service. The Terms of Reference are sufficiently broad to enable Baroness Casey to independently consider how to build a social care system fit for the future, including considering the affordability of care costs if she sees fit.