The Care Act

The Care Act is a new law about care and support for adults in England. Before the Care Act, there were many different laws and pieces of government guidance about how care and support should be delivered. These could be confusing and made it difficult for people to find out what they are entitled to. The Care Act brings everything together under a single law.

The Care Act places new duties and responsibilities on councils for care and support for adults in their area.

Some key aims of the Care Act are to make sure that:

• Everyone can get the information, advice and guidance they need to make good decisions about care and support.
• People are supported to keep as well and independent as possible for as long as possible.
• People can get the services they need to help prevent or delay their care needs from becoming more serious.
• People can achieve the needs and goals that matter to them, and their wellbeing is the driving force behind their care and support.
• There is a range of good-quality care providers to choose from.
• The same eligibility threshold for receiving funded social care is applied across the whole country.
• Different agencies co-operate and work together to improve people's wellbeing.

The Department of Health has produced a series of fact sheets to explain different parts of the act. There is also an Easy read booklet about the act.

Here is a short film about the Care Act.

Information and advice about care and support is available to all Hampshire residents. You can get information in a number of ways, such as this website, publications and leaflets, by contacting your Adult Social Care department or through independent organisations such as Citizens Advice.

You can have an assessment of your social care needs regardless of your financial position. The assessment will focus on your strengths and abilities and what you want to achieve.

If you are a carer, you can have an assessment of your needs and you may be eligible for support.

If someone has significant difficulty being involved in discussions about their care needs, and they have no one appropriate to support them, your adult social care department will arrange an independent advocate for them.

The national eligibility threshold will be used to decide who is entitled to funded social care support. If you have eligible needs you will be given a support plan showing how these needs will be met. If your needs cannot be met in any other way, then you will be given a personal budget to cover your agreed care costs.

If you own a house and pay for your own care in a care home, you can ask your local authority for a deferred payment agreement so that you don’t have to sell your house immediately to pay for your care. See our information about paying for care.

Your local authority will make enquiries if they think an adult may be at risk of abuse or neglect.