Personal Care at Home Bill

I support the amendment tabled by the noble Baroness, Lady Masham. This Bill clearly seeks to achieve a laudable and desirable end and we have heard articulated a small number of the very serious issues that have arisen in our contemplation of it. Those affected by the legislation will by definition include those most seriously ill and disabled in our society, each of whom may present with a wide range of issues requiring an equally wide range of responses. They will inevitably include those with the most serious communication and access difficulties, as referred to by the noble Lord, Lord Low, in the context of those who are both deaf and blind. The critical nature of those conditions will necessitate a speedy response to an application and to any appeal. Pending the resolution of a dispute—there will inevitably be disputes, as we have seen in the other sectors, on the objectivity and fairness of what has been decided—the people will have to cope without help. We have heard this afternoon that those who are subsequently accepted for free personal care at home will have the money backdated, but that comes too late for those who have no money. The result of not having a speedy and effective disputes resolution mechanism may drive them into residential care. I suggest that any dispute resolution must be accessible, open and easily understood by those who seek to use it. People must be able to find out what it is and they must be able to take part in the process. The system must be timely and effective and it must be operated by those with sufficient training in the matters related to the dispute. The noble Baroness, Lady Masham, referred to those matters of training and specific issues that will be raised by applicants in this situation. For those reasons, we must contemplate the possibility that a new disputes resolution is necessary.