INTRODUCTION THE CARE ACT 2014 Introduction 1. The Care Act 2014 (CA 2014) has been described by Norman Lamb MP, Care and Support Minister, as the most significant reform of care and support in more than 60 years. The overwhelming majority of it comes into force on 1 April 2015. All of you here will be concerned to ensure that so far as possible you know what changes are being brought into effect and to be as well prepared as you can be. 2. You are all most welcome to this half day training event on the CA 2014, and in particular on those provisions which will come into force on 1st April 2015. We too at Cornerstone are determined to be ready for the changes, and our community care team here has thrown itself enthusiastically into the training and seminar programme of which this forms an important part. 3. But is the Minister right? It certainly sounds like a hugely impressive claim. And in some ways it is justified. Yes, the aim has been to address the whole of community care law in a single document. Yes, the aim is codification, not mere consolidation. Yes, the aim is to impose not merely a structure but a rationale for the provision of care and support. And some of what is contained is both new and important, and will affect the work of social workers, their colleagues in other departments and other authorities and organisations alike. 4. But to say that it changes everything, or to say that it is fundamentally new and different would be wrong and perhaps misleading. 5. As Lady Justice Hale reminded us in R (O) v Wandsworth [2000] 1 WLR 2539, the enactment of the National Assistance Act 1948 (NAA 1948) was but one component within the creation of the modern welfare state. The trigger for this was the Beveridge Report (1942, Cmnd 6404, paragraph 8), which identified the 5 giants on the road to reconstruction: want, disease, ignorance, squalor and idleness. Huge targets, bold objectives, and the new Act does not compare in scale with that. 6. There has been no fundamental overhaul over the intervening period. Important parts of the NAA 1948 have been hived off: section 21 (1) (b), Adam’s Rib, was removed and replaced with the homelessness legislation. Those under 18 were removed and are now dealt with under the Children Act 1989 as extended notably by the Children (Leaving Care) Act 2000 and now the Children and Families Act 2014. There have been changes to important parts, most obviously by the Chronically Sick and Disabled Persons Act 1972, changes to the law relating to persons from abroad and an assessment regime in the 1990. 7. One of the first things that strikes one on reading the Act is how much remains the same. The line between care and support on the one hand and medical treatment on the other remains the same, with Coughlan [2001] QB 213 and Grogan [2006] EWHC 44 (Admin) being put of a statutory footing. The line between housing and social care will be drawn in essentially the same place. One would think that McDonald [2011] UKSC 33 will be as significant a case after 1st April as before. The duty to assess will be triggered in the same way, and the interim power to provide services pending assessment is markedly similar. Safeguarding is put on a statutory footing, but is essentially the same as before. 8. So one gets to the heart of the issue very quickly. First, what is changing? More precisely, how will our jobs change? The aim of this seminar is to help answer that question, but the following may help as a starting point for discussion. a. At present many of your core obligations can be summarised in 1 sentence, in 4 words. Meet the assessed need. (Meaning, of course, assessed eligible need.) b. After 1st April the summary would be longer: set goals to promote wellbeing; prevent need arising; meet the assessed need; and involve others as appropriate in achieving the above. 9. A second important question will be: what does that change involve? a. The immediate fear would be that it will involve more tasks, therefore more work and more decisions on more issues. And more co operation with more people, therefore more emails and more information to harness; and more things to get right therefore more, or at any rate more wide ranging or prolix, claim forms landing on your desk. b. But that need not necessarily prove to be the case. A need prevented from arising is a need which does not need to be met. Help and co operation from other partner agencies may lighten the burden on adult social care departments. c. Thus, some of the innovations of the Act can be seen as a strategic opportunity as well as a risk: take, for example, market shaping and commissioning. d. It remains to be seen what the courts will make of the more aspirational aspects of the Act. Will the duties to promote well-being and to prevent need, together with the reshaping of “care and attention” into “care and support”, prove to be merely cosmetic? Or will they provide a platform for driving through a change of culture? 10. Thirdly, are there any issues of particular complexity or difficulty which arise out of the wording of the Act? 11. There will be a section in each talk exploring these issues. 12. There is a growing list of questions: we have been listening to you, talking to you, and advising you and will continue to do so. The members of the LGA Steering Group, experienced specialist social care solicitors who have watched developments closely, have helped us maintain a sharp focus on the areas of greatest complexity or uncertainty. Several local authorities have assisted us by providing lists of difficult questions which have arisen in discussion. 13. Our aim is to maintain and update a list of the questions we receive during the course of our seminar programme in coming weeks, and to make it available to you all before 1st April 2015. 14. We hope you will find the seminar stimulating and informative, and we look forward to chatting to you during the course of the day. These materials are provided for educational purposes only. They do not constitute legal advice that is endorsed by DH/LGA/ADASS, nor are they a statement of policy. Importantly, these notes have been prepared before Parliament has indicated which provisions of the existing legislative framework have been repealed and without the benefit of transitional provisions. Nothing herein is intended or should be construed as legal advice. Should you require advice about the Care Act 2014 and its implications, please contact Cornerstone Barristers on [email protected]