It is believed that Chancellor Jeremy Hunt will push social care reforms back by a year as part of an initiative to cut down on government spending.
This news was well received by local councils who have been pressing for reforms to be delayed due to the pressures it would place on an already fragile social sector.
A delay would give the government time to ensure funding and support is in place for councils that will be helping with the implementation in terms of carrying out assessments and reviews.
Initially introduced by former PM Boris Johnson, the reforms were designed to offer financial support to care providers, including an £86,000 cap on care costs and a more generous means test.
The County Councils Network (CCN) responded to government plans to defer the social care reforms and said it was happy that its concerns had been listened to.
Martin Tett, spokesperson for network adult social care said: “With local authorities facing severe workforce and inflation-fuelled financial pressures, they would be impossible to implement in the timescales without making services worse and leading to longer waits for a care package for people on day one of their introduction.”
“But while the implementation of the reforms should be delayed, the funding committed next year must be retained by councils and reprioritised, not used as a saving as part of the government medium-term fiscal plan.”
The government is yet to announce when these reforms will now be rolled out but we aim to keep you in the loop.
To talk to a member of our team, don’t hesitate to email us via info@imperiumresourcing.com.
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