Letter from the Secretary of State to
the Chairman of the Committee (PC 25B)
Dear Archy,
I agreed, during Wednesday's Select Committee
hearing, to write to you with more details on the interaction
between Pension Credit and Department of Health charging systems
for residential and domiciliary care.
As I pointed out during the hearing, the assessment
of the amount that people should pay towards their care costs
is a matter for Local Authorities and the Department of Health.
In respect of charging for residential care
services, the Department of Health is currently considering the
best way forward and is working closely with the Department for
Work and Pensions on the links between Pension Credit and its
charging policies.
As regards domiciliary care the Department of
Health published, on November 23, 2001, new guidance for local
councils setting out a fairer charging framework for home care
services. Although councils will still have discretion on whether
to charge at all—the new guidance provides clear objectives
to councils who do charge, to ensure more consistency and fairer
charging systems.
The guidance recommends that, from October 2002,
charges should not reduce users' incomes below basic levels of
Income Support, plus a margin of 25 per cent. This will be a significant
improvement for many users—for example, the Audit Commission
study Charging with Care, found that one third of councils
levy a charge on recipients of Income Support.
The guidance will be updated by Autumn 2003
to reflect the introduction of Pension Credit, but the current
guidance should ensure that the vast majority of Pension Credit
recipients (around ninety per cent of those entitled to Pension
Credit) will also be entitled to free home care. The Department
for Work and Pensions will continue to work with the Department
of Health to ensure that developing policy on home care charging
is as "joined up" as possible and that few pensioners
are subject to a "postcode lottery" when it comes to
home care charges.
The Government also recognises the fact that
many care users are being charged without getting good advice
about other benefits they may be entitled to. Together with the
Department of Health we are aiming to tackle this failing. For
example, the new guidance for local councils on charging for home
care services expects, from April 2003, councils to provide joined-up
benefits advice along with an assessment of ability to pay charges,
to the benefit of users. In addition, the new Pension Service
local service will provide a framework for the Government, working
in partnership with local authorities, to ensure that pensioners
are encouraged to claim all the benefits and services to which
they are entitled.
I look forward to reading the Report of the
Select Committee.
Rt Hon Alistair Darling MP
15 March 2002
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