Care Act - legislation

The Care Act is built around people’s needs and what they want to achieve in their lives. It seeks to rebalance the focus of care and support towards promoting wellbeing and preventing or delaying needs, putting people at the heart of the system.

Phase 1 of The Care Act was implemented in 2015.

Now, phase 2 of The Care Act is going to come into effect in October 2023. The Government has a new long-term, national vision for reforming adult social care in England to make sure that it is fit for the future and fairer for everyone.

The Adult Social Care Reform White Paper “People at the Heart of Care” was published in December 2021 and is part of a wider set of mutually reinforcing reforms including the Health and Care Act 2022 and the Integration White Paper “Joining up care for people, places and populations”.

The Adult Social Care Reform White Paper builds on the Care Act 2014 implemented in 2014 with its focus on wellbeing to ensure fully personalised, user-led social care is embedded for everyone. The White Paper sets out a 10-year vision for a more sustainable, affordable care system that effectively works with other public services and is based on the following person-centred objectives:

• People have choice, control, and support to live independent lives
• People can access outstanding quality and tailored care and support
• People find adult social care fair and accessible

The Health and Care Act 2022 received Royal Assent in April 2022 and passes major changes to the NHS by removing many changes introduced in the Health and Care Act 2012, such as the establishment of Clinical Commissioning Groups (CCG) and puts Integrated Care Systems (ICS) into law.

The Act also makes important changes to the Care Act to support the implementation of Part 2 of the Care Act, which has been delayed since 2016, including the cap on care costs. It also introduces the regulation of local authority functions relating to adult social care which underpins the new Assurance Framework.