Question
To ask Her Majesty's Government why staying safe from abuse or neglect has been omitted from the list of specified care outcomes in the new draft eligibility criteria for the Care Act 2014 Part 1 regulations; and whether there are any plans to address the issue elsewhere in the regulations.
Answered on
2 July 2014
The Care Act for the first time will put adult safeguarding on a legal basis. The new measures require local authorities to carry out a safeguarding enquiry where they suspect a person is at risk of abuse or neglect and consider what if any actions are needed, and who should carry these out.
The safeguarding duties are triggered on the basis of suspecting that an adult with care and support needs may be at risk of abuse or neglect. This rightly does not have an eligibility threshold, or require a particular level of need before the duty to carry out an enquiry is required. If we were to treat the risk of abuse and neglect separately in the eligibility criteria, then a person's level of risk would have to meet the eligibility threshold before they became eligible for the local authority to meet their need.
The Act is clear that safeguarding responsibilities sit alongside the other elements of the care and support system, including assessment of needs. The draft guidance clarifies that where a local authority has started a safeguarding enquiry, it should continue the needs assessment for care and support in parallel, and determine whether the person has eligible needs which it must meet.
This approach will ensure that the local authority identifies both risks of, and responses to, abuse or neglect, as well as identifying the person's eligible needs which must be met through care and support.
The draft regulations and guidance which support implementation are subject to public consultation until 15 August 2014.