Law Commission Recommends Radical Overhaul of Adult Social Care Law

The Commission’s recommendation for a single, clear, modern statute and code of practice would pave the way for a coherent social care system. For the first time, older people, disabled people, those with mental health problems and carers will be clear about their legal rights to care and support services. Local councils across England and Wales will have clear and concise rules to govern when they must provide services.

Included in the Commission’s recommendations are:

• putting the individual’s wellbeing at the heart of decision-making, using new statutory principles
• giving carers new legal rights to services
• placing duties on councils and the NHS to work together
• building a single, streamlined assessment and eligibility framework
• protecting service users from abuse and neglect with a new legal framework, and
• for the first time, giving adult safeguarding boards a statutory footing.

The Final Report, and a summary of the report, is available here. The summary of the Final Report is available in Welsh, large print, easy read and audio versions.