Greater cooperation between local authorities 'will improve social care'

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Representatives from the Law Commission presented a simpler, more efficient legal framework to the health committee, which they hope will make it easier for patients and carers to receive consistent needs assessments for social care.

Frances Patterson QC, the Law Commission'scommissioner for public law, explained that they had sought to provide a clear and modern legal framework that will be flexible to accommodate government policy on issues of social care.

The report defines the principal objective of adult social care as "to promote or contribute to the wellbeing of the individual", and emphasises the involvement of care recipients in the care assessment process.

Beyond this, the Commissionhas given broad scope for the government to determine specific policy guidelines, such as whether or not they wish to introduce a cash payment system.

"We're giving the tools to policymakers to recommend the best policy for assessments," explained Richard Percival, the head of the Commission's public law team.

The report places an increased responsibility on local authorities to cooperate and ensure consistency of service delivery and care assessment.

While Patterson stressed that it would be outside the Commission's remit to recommend a nationally portable service, they had endeavoured to make it easier for people to move between authorities.

Under their proposed framework, it would be possible to request an assessment from new authorities when moving, to determine whether you would be eligible to receive the same level of care as in your existing authority.

"We have deliberately set a very low threshold for care assessment," said Patterson, which would benefit patients and carers alike.

In turn Patterson demonstrated how local authorities themselves could also reap rewards from the Commission's recommendations, as the increased simplicity of the assessment process may yield cost savings.

The Law Commission were questioned rigorously around the timing of the report's release, and whether this prevented them from fully taking the Health and Social Care Bill into account.

Patterson explained that the Commission were aware of what the bill's contents were likely to be, and therefore incorporated key aspects in the final stages of preparing their report.

Moreover, she admitted that the Commission had been asked by the Department of Health to accelerate the release of their report to May, so they were able to consider their findings before the Dilnot Report was released.

Following further pressure from the committee, Percival conceded that it "makes sense for us to revisit the report", given the evolution of the Health and Social Care Bill.