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

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what estimate they have made of the impact of the requirement for the employers of careworkers to pay for sleep-in time and what steps they will take to ensure that local authorities are able to fund the additional costs.

Local authorities are responsible for commissioning suitable care for anyone assessed as having eligible care needs. It has always been the responsibility of social care providers to pay care workers the National Minimum Wage /National Living Wage for sleeping time, if what they are doing amounts to work under their Contract.

Following measures announced in the Local Government Finance Settlement local authorities will have access to £7.6 billion of new money for adult social care by 2019/20. These changes mean that local government will have access to the funding it needs to increase spending on adult social care every year in this Parliament. The key Government departments with an interest in adult social care work together regularly to review the effectiveness of the system to support future decisions.