Market sustainability and fair cost of care
On 16 December 2021, the government announced the Market Sustainability and Fair Cost of Care Fund. The purpose of the fund is to support councils to move towards paying providers a fair cost of care and to prepare their local markets for the adult social care reform, such as the introduction of the £86,000 cap on care costs. The care cap takes effect from October 2023 and will mean that no one in England will have to pay more than this sum towards meeting their care costs in their lifetime.
Fair cost of care exercise
Hillingdon Council are required to complete a fair cost of care exercise, so that we can:
- arrive at a shared understanding with providers of the local cost of providing care
- see how far away, on average, providers' current rates are from the fair cost of care
- to create and publish a market sustainability plan, which details how we plan to move towards a fair cost of care (where this is not already being paid).
Please note: For the purposes of the exercise, the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) consider 'fair' to mean the median actual operating costs for providing care in the local area (following completion of the exercise). 'Fair' also means what is sustainable for the local market. This is, on average, what Councils are required to move towards paying providers.
Our ambition is for as many providers to engage in this exercise as possible. This is your opportunity to put across the actual costs of delivering care in Hillingdon. We would encourage any provider, regardless of whether they contract with the council, or not, to participate in the exercise.
The 65+ care services involved in this exercise are:
- standard residential care
- residential care for enhanced needs
- standard nursing care
- nursing care for enhanced needs
This exercise and the funds being made available to councils are designed to support:
- preparation by councils of their markets for reform, including the further commencement of Section 18(3) of the Care Act 2014 in October 2023
- councils moving towards paying provides a fair cost of care.