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<p>In 2013, Government carried out a public consultation (‘Oversight in Adult Social
Care’) on a detailed set of proposals for market oversight and provider failure.</p><br
/><p>The feedback from stakeholders including individual local authorities, local
authority membership organisations, individual care providers, provider representative
organisations and commercial experts formed the basis of a number of reforms in the
Care Act 2014 that ensures people do not go without the care they need when their
providers’ business fails. This includes:</p><br /><ol><li>Duties on local authorities
to temporarily meet the needs of individuals and their carers where their provider
is unable to carry on because of business failure. Statutory guidance to support local
authorities to discharge these functions was subject to a full public consultation
and can be found at:</li></ol><br /><p><a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/care-act-2014-statutory-guidance-for-implementation"
target="_blank">https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/care-act-2014-statutory-guidance-for-implementation</a></p><br
/><p>The Department also worked with the Association of Directors of Adult Social
Services, the Local Government Association, and the Local Government Information Unit
(LGiU) to produce a guide to support local authorities to develop contingency plans
for provider failure in the social care market. Numerous stakeholders, including local
authorities, providers and insolvency practitioners were involved in the development
of the guide and participated in the LGiU consultation exercises.</p><br /><p>The
guidance can be found at:</p><br /><p><a href="http://www.lgiu.org.uk/report/care-and-continuity-guide/"
target="_blank">http://www.lgiu.org.uk/report/care-and-continuity-guide/</a></p><br
/><p>The Department commissioned the consultancy Cordis Bright to produce guidance
to support local authorities with market oversight at the local level to enable them
to meet their new responsibilities under the Care Act for ensuring continuity of care
in the event of a provider business failure. The materials were produced following
extensive input from both councils and providers.</p><br /><ol start="2"><li>New duties
for the Care Quality Commission (CQC) to oversee the finances of care providers which
are either large or whose provision is geographically concentrated as their financial
failure would make it difficult for local authorities to discharge their statutory
responsibilities.</li></ol><br /><p>The CQC oversight function will provide early
warning to relevant local authorities in the event that one of these providers is
likely to fail and their services cease. This will allow local authorities time to
implement contingency plans.</p><br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br
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