Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:

To ask Her Majesty's Government what estimate they have made of the cost to local authorities of the new requirement to comply with a social care providers scheme linked to payments for sleep-in care; and whether the new burdens doctrine will apply to such costs.

Work conducted by the Government during the summer highlighted the risk posed to the social care sector as a consequence of historical liabilities associated with "Sleep-in" shifts. The Government is exploring options to minimise the impact on the social care sector, including holding discussions with the European Commission. On 1 November 2017, in recognition of the extraordinary circumstances affecting the social care sector, HMRC introduced the Social Care Compliance Scheme. This is an interim enforcement scheme designed to facilitate a solution to the issue of National Minimum Wage underpayment for sleep-in shifts in the social care sector.