Councils can’t take Cost of Living payments in charges

Protesting at Greenwich Town Hall against care charges

People feared that the cost of living payments were going to be taken by Councils for care charges, as they take our disability benefits without caring whether we can afford it.

Now, the government Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) has confirmed that cost of living payments under the Social Security (Additional Payments) Bill 2022 can’t be included in the financial assessment for care charges. They have changed the Care and Support charging regulations accordingly.

For anyone who needs to use it officially to fight charges from the payments, the regulation is called The Care and Support (Charging and Assessment of Resources) (Amendment) (No. 2) Regulations 2022 – UK Statutory Instrument- 2022 No. 743- Regulation 2: There will be an amendment of the Care and Support (Charging and Assessment of Resources) Regulations 2014. In Schedule 2 to the Care and Support (Charging and Assessment of Resources) Regulations 2014(1) (capital to be disregarded), after paragraph 40(2) insert— “41.  Any payment made to the adult which would be disregarded under section 8 of the Social Security (Additional Payments) Act 2022 (3) (payments to be disregarded for the purposes of tax and social security).”. https://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2022/743/contents/made

DHSC say:

“to allow for the payments to be used in line with the Government’s policy intention i.e. to meet cost of living expenses, we are setting the sums awarded, outside the financial assessment undertaken to determine what someone should contribute towards care costs. This means any cost of living payments (£650.00 in 2 instalments) and disability cost of living payments (£150 one-off payment) awards made, are to be disregarded from a financial assessment – this is the legal position is set out in a statutory instrument . . . to come into force by the 14th July (the announced date of the first payment)”.

Read our info about the cost of living payments here.

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