Personal Care at Home Bill

My Lords, the noble Lord, Lord Best, has succinctly summed up the case. The Government’s timetable for implementing the Bill is unrealistic in the extreme; in fact, I am afraid that I go so far as to say that it is grossly irresponsible. Local authorities have already set their budgets for the coming financial year, which already include substantial efficiency savings. They are therefore coming at this exercise not only not knowing how they are going to find the money to fund free personal care but completely unprepared for the practical aspects of implementation, as the noble Lord rightly said—never mind having to get used to a new system of assessment, which is a major task in itself. They will have to have enough people on the ground capable of responding to what in some areas will be a tidal wave of applications. In many councils, those trained people on the ground are simply not there. We know—and the Government themselves admit—that the costings underpinning this policy are of the weakest kind. They are based almost entirely on assumptions which themselves rest not even on vague data but on no data at all. Even supposing that areas for further efficiency savings can be identified, the Government themselves concede that such savings do not just happen overnight. They happen gradually, over a period of years. Therefore, to expect councils collectively to find £125 million as from October this year, and £250 million per year thereafter, is to place upon them a burden which not even the most well managed of them will be able to sustain. Make no mistake, this is a new burden. It defies belief that the Minister can claim that it is not. It would not be a new burden if central government were funding the whole policy, but they are not. Central government have limited their own liability, while at the same time inflicting unlimited liability on to local government. The result of that is likely to be that councils will find themselves making ill thought-through and perhaps arbitrary decisions in order to achieve instant savings. These rushed decisions are almost bound to impact adversely upon council residents. We cannot predict in what ways, because that will depend on the budgets that are cut, and/or the new charges that are levied. Even then, councils will still be groping about in the dark prior to 1 October as regards the costs of implementation. London councils have pointed out that if the Government’s estimates are incorrect even by 1 per cent in the first year, the additional costs nationwide could amount to another £40 million. The Minister knows, without me telling her, that introducing any new policy brings with it upfront costs. It is no different here; upfront costs will be incurred at the precise time when councils are expected to make savings. What estimates have the Government made about the additional manpower resources needed to deliver reablement on the scale envisaged? If no such estimate has been made, do we not owe it—at the very least—to local authorities to think about this in a measured and considered way? The money for reablement is one thing, but you need trained people to deliver it to the right standard of quality. If you do not have that, you are creating false expectations among the public. The Royal College of Nursing is very concerned about this, as is the United Kingdom Homecare Association. I have seen some of the responses from local authorities to the department’s consultation exercise and a note of panic is detectable in some of them. This is not just on the funding question but also on the issue of manpower resources. Again, I say that it is irresponsible of the Government to take things at this breakneck pace. It is not being straight with the public. There is only one logical way forward, which is to revise the timetable for implementing this Bill and the regulations. The Government need to get round a table with local government and to put together a more robust impact assessment based on much more accurate and reliable figures. This can be done. Only then, when proper costings are in place, and everyone agrees that the plans are workable and affordable, should the policy be implemented. Whether the policy can ever be made workable and affordable has to be a matter of doubt but it is certainly neither of those things at the moment. I very much hope that the Minister will take on board the very serious concerns expressed on this issue and be prepared to act accordingly.