With a social care white paper for England promised in "the spring", but not expected until after the May local elections, the devolved administration in Wales has got in first with its proposals for reform legislation.
Much of the social services (Wales) bill, which is out for consultation for 12 weeks, foreshadows what ministers at Westminster have indicated will be in the white paper and is in line with recommendations by the Law Commission.
Key proposals include introduction of national eligibility criteria for care and support, "ensuring people are assessed on what they need rather than just on what services are available locally"; making assessments of need portable, so that people could move around Wales without losing eligibility; and requiring local authorities to provide carers with information on their rights and on what services are available for them.
One key difference in the Welsh plan, however, is the absence of the words "personal budget". Unlike the English government, which is committed to offering personal budgets to all adults eligible for state-funded social care, the Labour administration in Cardiff has eschewed the term – if not necessarily the idea.
One of the key planks of the Welsh proposals is development of "a model of self-directed support that is consistent with our principles of social care and ensures that service users and their carers have a much stronger voice and control over their services".
The bill consultation document says: "It is not an approach driven by the market or by consumerism, but by a wish to enable people to achieve their goals and live their lives in the way they choose for themselves."
A separate, detailed consultation on development of the model will start in May. But the bill anticipates the outcome by seeking to widen government powers to enable more people to be given support in the form of direct payments, for services up to and including residential care. At present, only 3,000 of 150,000 state-funded users of services in Wales receive a direct payment, fewer than 200 of them being aged 85 or over.
While advocates of personal budgets will see this as Wales falling into line, others will see a template for revision of the model in England in response to growing doubts about the suitability of personal budgets for all people.
Gwenda Thomas, deputy minister in Wales for social services and children, said the bill – the first use by the Welsh government of its extended powers - aimed both to give people voice and control and to reform the system so that it could better meet changing needs.
"We are not prepared to sit by as fewer and fewer people receive the support they need," Thomas said. "The bill will drive the development of new models of service that maintain and improve the wellbeing of people in need."
Mario Kreft, chair of Care Forum Wales, which represents care providers, welcomed the bill as an historic opportunity for the 22 Welsh councils to reform social care in the principality.
"The current postcode lottery is simply not acceptable," Kreft said. "With a population of just 3 million, Wales does not need 22 variations on a theme with different councils doing things differently."
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