Personal Care at Home Bill

My Lords, I am grateful for support for this amendment from right round the House. The Minister’s point that the excellent concession that would allow councils to phase in the assessment of eligibility over a period time and then later on pay the individual the sums back to the date when they applied does not unfortunately negate the need for councils to complete a vast range of other preparatory activity of the kind that I listed earlier. It would be wrong to assume any less pressure on councils to complete all these tasks by 1 October simply because they can backdate individuals’ entitlements. I can see local authorities incurring a good deal of opprobrium if the implementation date remains 1 October but nobody gets any cash for several months. The complaints that councils would receive would be very unfair when they are making it clear in advance that these deadlines are quite unrealistic. The noble Baroness, Lady Barker, explained the huge changes that are overloading those in local authorities. The noble Earl, Lord Howe, noted how the financial burden of this measure will force a number of councils to make horrible choices on what to cut elsewhere in their budget. The noble Baroness, Lady Howarth, expresses her anxieties that others in real need of care will suffer. The noble Lord, Lord Sutherland, adds that this amendment does no harm to the Bill’s direction of travel. If there are technical flaws in the wording, I apologise. No doubt, if passed by your Lordships, this can come back to us from the other place with a better turn of phrase. I detect widespread agreement that more time is needed before this Bill should be implemented. I would like to test the opinion of the House. Division on Amendment 2 Contents 208; Not-Contents 127. Amendment 2 agreed. Moved by