War pensions in social care financial assessments

There are 2 schemes that make payments to armed forces veterans who have been injured during their service. Currently, the 2 schemes are treated differently by local authorities when making a financial assessment to determine what a person can afford to contribute to the costs of their care and support.

In the 2016 Budget, the government announced that a change would be made to the care and support charging arrangements in England to treat the schemes more consistently. This will be done by requiring regular payments made to veterans under the War Pensions Scheme to be disregarded (i.e. not taken into account) when local authorities conduct the financial assessment. This will come at a cost to local authorities through reduced income from charging.

This consultation seeks local authorities’ views on the formula by which the £14 million funding to cover these costs in 2017 to 2018 should be allocated to individual local authorities.