Care Act 2014
| Jurisdiction | England & Wales |
| Citation | 2014 c. 23 |
Care Act 2014
2014 CHAPTER 23
An Act to make provision to reform the law relating to care and support for adults and the law relating to support for carers; to make provision about safeguarding adults from abuse or neglect; to make provision about care standards; to establish and make provision about Health Education England; to establish and make provision about the Health Research Authority; to make provision about integrating care and support with health services; and for connected purposes.
[14th May 2014]
Be it enacted by the Queen's most Excellent Majesty, by and with the advice and consent of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal, and Commons, in this present Parliament assembled, and by the authority of the same, as follows:-
PART 1
Care and support
General responsibilities of local authorities
1 Promoting individual well-being
(1) The general duty of a local authority, in exercising a function under this Part in the case of an individual, is to promote that individual's well-being.
(2) "Well-being", in relation to an individual, means that individual's well-being so far as relating to any of the following-
(a) personal dignity (including treatment of the individual with respect);
(b) physical and mental health and emotional well-being;
(c) protection from abuse and neglect;
(d) control by the individual over day-to-day life (including over care and support, or support, provided to the individual and the way in which it is provided);
(e) participation in work, education, training or recreation;
(f) social and economic well-being;
(g) domestic, family and personal relationships;
(h) suitability of living accommodation;
(i) the individual's contribution to society.
(3) In exercising a function under this Part in the case of an individual, a local authority must have regard to the following matters in particular-
(a) the importance of beginning with the assumption that the individual is best-placed to judge the individual's well-being;
(b) the individual's views, wishes, feelings and beliefs;
(c) the importance of preventing or delaying the development of needs for care and support or needs for support and the importance of reducing needs of either kind that already exist;
(d) the need to ensure that decisions about the individual are made having regard to all the individual's circumstances (and are not based only on the individual's age or appearance or any condition of the individual's or aspect of the individual's behaviour which might lead others to make unjustified assumptions about the individual's well-being);
(e) the importance of the individual participating as fully as possible in decisions relating to the exercise of the function concerned and being provided with the information and support necessary to enable the individual to participate;
(f) the importance of achieving a balance between the individual's well-being and that of any friends or relatives who are involved in caring for the individual;
(g) the need to protect people from abuse and neglect;
(h) the need to ensure that any restriction on the individual's rights or freedom of action that is involved in the exercise of the function is kept to the minimum necessary for achieving the purpose for which the function is being exercised.
(4) "Local authority" means-
(a) a county council in England,
(b) a district council for an area in England for which there is no county council,
(c) a London borough council, or
(d) the Common Council of the City of London.
2 Preventing needs for care and support
(1) A local authority must provide or arrange for the provision of services, facilities or resources, or take other steps, which it considers will-
(a) contribute towards preventing or delaying the development by adults in its area of needs for care and support;
(b) contribute towards preventing or delaying the development by carers in its area of needs for support;
(c) reduce the needs for care and support of adults in its area;
(d) reduce the needs for support of carers in its area.
(2) In performing that duty, a local authority must have regard to-
(a) the importance of identifying services, facilities and resources already available in the authority's area and the extent to which the authority could involve or make use of them in performing that duty;
(b) the importance of identifying adults in the authority's area with needs for care and support which are not being met (by the authority or otherwise);
(c) the importance of identifying carers in the authority's area with needs for support which are not being met (by the authority or otherwise).
(3) Regulations may-
(a) permit a local authority to make a charge for providing or arranging for the provision of services, facilities or resources, or for taking other steps, under this section;
(b) prohibit a local authority from making a charge it would otherwise be permitted to make by virtue of paragraph (a).
(4) The regulations may in particular (in reliance on section 125(7)) make provision by reference to services, facilities or resources which-
(a) are of a specified type;
(b) are provided in specified circumstances;
(c) are provided to an adult of a specified description;
(d) are provided for a specified period only.
(5) A charge under the regulations may cover only the cost that the local authority incurs in providing or arranging for the provision of the service, facility or resource or for taking the other step.
(6) In cases where a local authority performs the duty under subsection (1) jointly with one or more other local authorities in relation to the authorities' combined area-
(a) references in this section to a local authority are to be read as references to the authorities acting jointly, and
(b) references in this section to a local authority's area are to be read as references to the combined area.
(7) Sections 21 (exception for persons subject to immigration control), 22 (exception for provision of health services) and 23 (exception for provision of housing etc.) apply in relation to the duty under subsection (1), but with the modifications set out in those sections.
(8) "Adult" means a person aged 18 or over.
3 Promoting integration of care and support with health services etc.
(1) A local authority must exercise its functions under this Part with a view to ensuring the integration of care and support provision with health provision and health-related provision where it considers that this would-
(a) promote the well-being of adults in its area with needs for care and support and the well-being of carers in its area,
(b) contribute to the prevention or delay of the development by adults in its area of needs for care and support or the development by carers in its area of needs for support, or
(c) improve the quality of care and support for adults, and of support for carers, provided in its area (including the outcomes that are achieved from such provision).
(2) "Care and support provision" means-
(a) provision to meet adults' needs for care and support,
(b) provision to meet carers' needs for support, and
(c) provision of services, facilities or resources, or the taking of other steps, under section 2.
(3) "Health provision" means provision of health services as part of the health service.
(4) "Health-related provision" means provision of services which may have an effect on the health of individuals but which are not-
(a) health services provided as part of the health service, or
(b) services provided in the exercise of social services functions (as defined by section 1A of the Local Authority Social Services Act 1970).
(5) For the purposes of this section, the provision of housing is health-related provision.
(6) In section 13N of the National Health Service Act 2006 (duty of NHS Commissioning Board to promote integration), at the end insert-
"(5) For the purposes of this section, the provision of housing accommodation is a health-related service."
(7) In section 14Z1 of that Act (duty of clinical commissioning groups to promote integration), at the end insert-
"(4) For the purposes of this section, the provision of housing accommodation is a health-related service."
4 Providing information and advice
(1) A local authority must establish and maintain a service for providing people in its area with information and advice relating to care and support for adults and support for carers.
(2) The service must provide information and advice on the following matters in particular-
(a) the system provided for by this Part and how the system operates in the authority's area,
(b) the choice of types of care and support, and the choice of providers, available to those who are in the authority's area,
(c) how to access the care and support that is available,
(d) how to access independent financial advice on matters relevant to the meeting of needs for care and support, and
(e) how to raise concerns about the safety or well-being of an adult who has needs for care and support.
(3) In providing information and advice under this section, a local authority must in particular-
(a) have regard to the importance...
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