Adult Social Care - The Law Commission's Report

In this report, the Law Commission makes recommendations for a single, clear, modern statute and code of practice that would pave the way for a coherent social care system. Under the reforms proposed in this report, older people, disabled people, those with mental health problems and carers will, for the first time, be clear about their legal rights to care and support services. Local councils across England and Wales will have clear and concise rules to govern when they must provide services.

Included recommendations are:

• putting the individual's wellbeing at the heart of decision-making, using new statutory principles
• giving carers new legal rights to services
• placing duties on councils and the NHS to work together
• building a single, streamlined assessment and eligibility framework
• protecting service users from abuse and neglect with a new legal framework, and
• for the first time, giving adult safeguarding boards a statutory footing.