Frequently Asked Questions

You will have received a letter if any of the following apply:

• You receive a non-residential service from KCC
• You act on behalf of someone who receives a service
• You represent a user or carer group
• You receive one or more of the following benefits:
  • Attendance Allowance (AA) for those receiving night care provided by KCC. 
  • Care component of the Disability Living Allowance (DLA) for those receiving night care provided by KCC. 
  • Daily living component of the Personal Independence Payment (PIP).
• You are known to adult social services and might need a service in the future or have received a service in the past

If you have not received a letter and you believe you should have, please contact the ASC consultation team using the contact details under Q11 or in the ‘Who’s listening’ section on the main webpage. 

KCC has already made substantial improvements and efficiencies to the way social care is delivered in Kent and this has achieved significant savings, alongside trying to limit the impact on the people that draw on care and support. 

Whilst KCC continues to strive to provide the best services we can, we continue to have the following growing pressures: 

• Significantly less government funding compared to nine years ago and we are expected to fund services through council tax contributions and income from other sources such as charging.
• Increasing demand for adult social care services, including people having complex care and support needs. 
• Significant annual increases in the National Minimum Wage (NMW) since 1999, which have impacted on the fees charged by care and other providers. 
• Continuing impact of inflation, which means we face growing pressures in the care market, including workforce challenges and rising costs for delivering care packages.

Alongside making our own savings, we need to look at the amount of income we can generate by people contributing towards the cost of their own care. This is why we are proposing a change to the charging policy. 

More detailed information on the above can be found in the consultation document. 

The proposal is fully in line with the Care Act 2014 and clarified guidance released by the Department for Health and Social Care. The Care Act is the law that sets out how adult social care in England should be provided.

Your own personal circumstances will be very specific to you, so we recommend that you read through the consultation document and supporting information for further details. If you need any help understanding how this proposal could affect you, please contact us using the details in the ‘Who’s listening’ section or under Q11.

The proposal may affect you should you need to pay for your care in the future. For examples of how the proposal would affect different people please see appendix 2 on pages 23-28 of the Consultation Document.

Your next invoice will not include a new charge.

A decision about the proposed changes is expected to be taken in late May 2024 after the consultation responses have been fully analysed and considered. If the changes go ahead, you will be notified before any changes would be applied to your bill from July 2024.

The current financial assessment (April 2023) for people receiving care and support in their own home or in the community follows these rules: 

The first step is to consider a person’s savings:

• If the person has more than £23,250 in savings and other capital (not including the value of their main or only home) they must pay the full cost of their care and support.
• If someone has less than £23,250, we calculate their weekly income from benefits, savings, and other sources. 

 The second step looks at income:

• When we consider income, we do not include:
  • certain housing costs such as a mortgage, rent, council tax (after any benefits are paid for these)
  • a protected amount of income called the Minimum Income Guarantee (MIG) for basic living expenses such as utility bills and food for which the Councill uses the statutory figure and is not proposed to change
  • an amount for expenses related to a person’s disability called Disability Related Expenditure (DRE)
  • higher rate benefit payments for Attendance Allowance (AA), Personal Independent Payment (PIP) and Disability Living Allowance (DLA).
• After we have identified all of the disregarded income, a person will be left with an amount that is identified to pay towards their care and support, this is the person’s maximum ability to pay.

Once we have worked out a person’s maximum ability to pay, the third step is to:

• Charge whichever is less out of the following two amounts: 
  • their maximum ability to pay
  • or the cost of their support.
• If they are assessed as able to pay the full cost of their care due to having more than £23,250 in savings and other capital, then they may be given the option to pay for the care directly to a provider.

It is worth checking regularly if you are getting all the benefits you are entitled to. The benefits are provided to support you and your situation and assist to pay for any care that you may require.

For further advice on your benefits and where you can seek help, please visit this website: www.kent.gov.uk/social-care-and-health/care-and-support/benefits

This consultation is taking place before any decisions have been taken. It provides the opportunity for us to tell people about the proposed change and for them to be able to tell us their views and how the change could affect them. 

KCC will fully analyse and consider the responses to the consultation. These responses will be used to help us understand the potential impact any change could have. 

The views expressed in this consultation are expected to be reported to Members at the Adult Social Care Cabinet Committee in May 2024 and will be taken into consideration before a decision is taken by the Cabinet Member for Adult Social Care and Public Health.

This is a proposed change to an existing charging policy, which is subject to legislation. The proposal will also bring us in line with other councils. This means that there is not the opportunity to undertake meaningful co-production.

If anything is unclear, or if you have any further questions on the proposal, you can contact the ASC consultation team on the following details:

Telephone: 03000 422557

Please note that this number will be open on Monday – Friday between the hours of 9am-5pm

Email: adultsocialcarecharging@kent.gov.uk

Care provided overnight between the hours of 8pm and 8am. If a carer comes in the evening to help get the person ready for bed only this is not night care.