Change care eligiblity system, says LGA

The current four-tier eligibility system for adult social care should be scrapped and replaced with two broader categories, the Local Government Association.

It said the replacement for the current rationing system – known as Fair Access to Care Services (FACS) – should be a national standard and transferrable between councils.

The LGA’s third discussion paper on funding adult social care, ahead of the government’s pending green paper, condemned FACS, which currently sees the majority of councils only offering services to those residents with ‘substantial’ or ‘critical’ needs.

Advice services, meals-on-wheels, and low levels of support at home should be “mostly free” under the LGA plan. Services for those whose needs ranged from more complex home support to care home places would be means tested, with information and advice still being provided to those who did not qualify for financial help.

Report author and LGA policy consultant Matt Hibberd cautioned that while needs assessments would be standardised, those who moved to different parts of the country would not necessarily receive identical care packages.

“Input from family and friends would vary, as would the specific conditions between cities, towns and rural areas,” he said.

The LGA said that despite national standards, local authorities should be able to take account of local market costs in the way resources were allocated.