§ Martin LintonTo ask the Secretary of State for Health how many adults resident in Battersea pay for non-residential social services; and how many will no longer have to pay after April 2003. [92131]
§ Jacqui SmithThe information requested is not held centrally.
The Department issued statutory guidance to local councils for home care charges in November 2001. This guidance does not seek to change councils' power to charge or not, but seeks to ensure that, where councils do charge, this will be based on fairer well designed charging policies. An important principle of the guidance is that people whose incomes fall below basic levels of income support plus a 25 per cent. buffer will not be charged for their home care services.