One-off payment for each local authority in England
Released On 27th Sep 2023
The Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) has announced it will allocate a £26,730 one-off payment for each local authority in England. The payment sets out to support the process of engaging with the forthcoming Care Quality Commission (CQC) review and assessment.
This follows the changes made under the Health and Care Act 2022 which placed a duty on the CQC to review and assess local authorities’ delivery of their functions in relation to adult social care under part 1 of the Care Act 2014 commenced in April 2023. This grant is worth £4.1m.
According to the DHSC, the new CQC assessments will provide greater transparency over how adult social care is delivered at a local level. In addition, the DHSC has outlined that the new CQC assessments will make good practice, positive outcomes and outstanding quality easier to spot and share nationally, while also identifying where improvement and additional support is needed.
The non-repeating grant will be provided to local authorities in the 2023 to 2024 financial year. The grant sets out to cover the time and resource required by local authorities to familiarise themselves and effectively engage with their first formal assessment.
In response to the funding announcement, Professor Martin Green OBE, Chief Executive of Care England, said, 'It is positive to see the Department of Health and Social Care recognising, and providing support for, the additional pressures that will be borne by the Care Quality Commission’s assessment of local authorities.
'It is disappointing though that no such recognition or support has been afforded to the adult social care sector. We are now just over a month away from the new assessment framework going live for the adult social care sector and yet we remain largely unsighted on what will be expected from care providers and how care providers can ensure they are amply prepared.
'The Care Quality Commission is still consulting on crucial parts of the new assessment framework, despite announcing the Single Assessment Framework over a year ago. With the go-live date so soon, care providers are quite rightfully concerned. This brings about questions as to whether the regulator needs to assess its own performance.'
