Reforming adult social care in England

Public Accounts Committee Closed Inquiry
Opened: 13 Dec 2023 Closed: 28 May 2024 Parliament page
The Government promised to “fix the crisis in social care” in 2019. In June 2021, the Committee’s ‘Adult social care markets’ report found that the Department for Health and Social Care (DHSC) had poor oversight of the system, and seemed complacent about the risk of market failure. The report called … Read more
12 Recommendations
15 Conclusions
1 Report
1 Oral session
2 Letters
1 Event
Activity timeline 5 events
28 May
2024
Report published
20 Mar
2024
Report published
19 Feb
2024
Correspondence
6 Feb
2024
Correspondence
24 Jan
2024
Oral evidence
Oral evidence sessions 1 session
24 Jan 2024
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Reforming adult social care in England
Catherine Frances · Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities Michelle Dyson · Department for Education Sir Chris Wormald · Department of Health and Social Care
Title HC No. Published Items Response
Twenty-Second Report - Reforming adult social care in England HC 427 20 Mar 2024 27 Responded
Recommendations & Conclusions
3 results
Clear
6 Recommendation Rejected
Twenty-Second Report - Reforming a…
Set out and publish a roadmap with KPIs for delivering the adult social care vision.
The Department faces significant challenges in delivering its ‘vision’ for adult social care reform, and Parliament and the sector must be able to hold it to account for its progress. It is worrying that the Department has no roadmap for … Read more
Government Response
The government disagrees with the recommendation to publish a roadmap with KPIs and six-monthly updates, stating it cannot commit to this approach. It will set out details of the next phase of reform following the next spending review and will consider the value of publishing regular progress reports.
HM Treasury
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26 Conclusion Rejected
Twenty-Second Report - Reforming a…
Social care charging reform remains unfunded, despite revised October 2025 implementation date
We challenged the Department on how it was applying lessons from its earlier attempt at charging reform to meet the revised implementation date of October 2025. The Department told us that charging reform was “not a delivery challenge; it was … Read more
Government Response
The government disagrees with the committee's implicit recommendation regarding applying lessons and funding charging reform. It cannot commit to an approach now, deferring details of the next reform phase until after the next spending review, and will only consider publishing regular progress reports.
HM Treasury
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27 Conclusion Rejected
Twenty-Second Report - Reforming a…
Local authority capacity and sequencing of reforms are not adequately addressed by DLUHC.
We asked the Department and DLUHC what they were doing to ensure that local authorities could deliver charging reform alongside system reform, with all the other pressures on them. The Department told us one of the reasons for delaying charging … Read more
Government Response
The government disagrees with the committee’s implied recommendation regarding sequencing reforms for local authorities. It states it cannot commit to the approach now, deferring details of the next reform phase until after the next spending review, and will only consider publishing regular progress reports.
HM Treasury
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Government Response AI assessment · 25 of 12 classified
Accepted 16
Accepted in Part 1
Acknowledged 1
Deferred 4
Rejected 3
Total 12 recs + 15 conclusions
Correspondence 2 letters
19 Feb 2024 Correspondence from Shona Dunn, Second Permanent Secretary, Department of Health and Social Care, re Public Accounts Committee Hearing – 24 January 2024, dated 6 February 2024
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6 Feb 2024 Public Accounts Committee hearing: Reforming Adult Social Care in England, 24 January 2024
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