Consultation Response to The National Assembly for Wales (Legislative Competence Order) (No.4) Order 2008 relating to charging for Non-Residential Social Care (Domiciliary Care)

Domiciliary Care Legislative Competency Order

We welcome the opportunity to respond to this consultation

Mencap Cymru is the loudest voice for people with a learning disability, their families and carers in Wales. For several years we have been campaigning, as part of the Coalition on Charging Cymru, on the issue of charging for non-residential domiciliary care. This is a system that, we feel, is unfair, unbalanced and discriminatory. We welcome the Welsh Assembly Governments request to have further legislative competence in this area and see this as an exciting opportunity to improve the lives of people with a learning disability, their families and carers in Wales.

We hope that Assembly Members will find the following comments useful:

The current charging system in Wales is leading to a post-code lottery, with the amount a person is charged for care varying widely depending on the local authority in which they live. In some areas the cost exceeds £100 per week.
The Welsh Assembly Government needs to create far more equal statutory guidance for local authorities on rates. This should be developed in concurrence with people with learning disabilities, families and carers, as well as other concerned parties like elderly people.
Free home care would avoid costly and intrusive practices of assessing individuals for how much they should pay, based on general income and disability related expenditure.
The Joseph Rowntree Foundation’s research into Scotland’s policy of providing free home care for elderly people has shown that it has been successful without undue extra public expenditure.
The research also found that providing services that assist with washing, grooming and dressing has not, as was feared, reduced the level of informal care by friends and relatives.
Free home care must also apply to carers of people with learning disabilities. This must happen under the Carers and Disabled Children Act. Charging them for services that support them in their, often unpaid, caring is unfair and unacceptable.
Gaining legislative competence in the area of domiciliary care and then putting the appropriate policy into practice could potentially take years. This would mean a continued hardship for many people with learning disabilities, their families and carers. There is a dire need for the Welsh Assembly Government to take a stand and make changes now to caring costs, at a local authority level, and really make a huge difference to so many lives.

We hope that all Assembly Members will vote for legislative competency in this area. We hope that any new legislation that is made as a result of this LCO is made in the best interests of those with learning disabilities, as well as their families and carers.

Simon Stranks

Campaigns Officer