§ Baroness Greengrossasked Her Majesty's Government:
Whether the funding for the transfer of people with preserved rights to income support from the Department for Work and Pensions to local authorities includes an amount to meet the shortfall between what was paid in income support and the full cost of the nursing or residential home without local authorities requiring a third-party payment. [HL4359]
§ The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department for Work and Pensions (Baroness Hollis of Heigham)The transfer of resources in respect of people with preserved rights was calculated by deducting ongoing benefit liabilities from the expenditure the Department for Work and Pensions would have incurred if the changes had not been implemented.
The transfer was supplemented by an additional sum of £100 million per year for Great Britain to cover the additional costs faced by local authorities; that is, the shortfall between care home fees and preserved rights limits.
Under the residential care means test, local authorities will receive further contributions to the cost of the care home fees from the normal income support personal allowances and appropriate premiums to which many residents continue to be entitled.