Clause 53 - Funding by resident etc. of more expensive accommodation
Health and Social Care Bill
9:15 pm
Mr. Swayne
: I beg to move amendment No. 315 in page 46, line 13, at end insert—
`(2A) Nothing in this section shall prevent or preclude any local authority from meeting any costs which exceed the cost it would usually expect to pay in order to provide suitable Part III accommodation.'.
At another hour there would have been a debate arising out of the questions that were prompted by this probing amendment, but that is not the case now. There is a key question, however. Are the provisions specifically limited to the examples in the explanatory note—those waiting for three-months disregard, or those expecting deferred payment arrangements as set out in clause 54. Are they the only ones who will be able to avail themselves of the provision of the clause? Would a resident who has no property—but who has more than £18,500 capital— be able to use that capital to top up their additional payments, if there was no third party?
Moving closer to amendment No. 315, if a resident has lived in a home for some time, having made their own arrangements and the costs are more than the local authority would ordinarily have been prepared to pay for someone with those assessed needs, what will happen when that person exhausts their funds and has to rely on the local authority? Would such a person be able to use their remaining resources to make up the difference, or would they to have to move?
The amendment raises the question of those who choose a home that costs more than the local authority's level of expected payments, and what happens to them when they run out of money and need help. The amendment would enable the local authority to continue to make those payments, if it so wishes. We see no reason why it should not be able to do so. It prompts a wider debate, surrounding the complex interaction between local authority fees and the fees set by homes. There is a body of evidence to suggest that homes do tend to charge self-funders more than local authority residents, but I will not go further down that road now.