Trailblazer funding grant determination letter
Updated 27 September 2024
Applies to England
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This publication is available at https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/adult-social-care-charging-reform-early-assessment-and-trailblazer-support-funding-grant-determination-2022-to-2023/trailblazer-funding-grant-determination-letter
Following an announcement by the Chancellor of the Exchequer on 29 July 2024, the planned adult social care charging reforms, which were inherited from the previous government, will not be taken forward in October 2025.
Adult social care charging reform trailblazer initiative grant determination for ‘early assessments and trailblazer support funding’ 2022 to 2023 (No 31/6185)
Citation
1) This determination may be cited as the Charging Reform Trailblazer Initiative Grant Determination 2022 to 2023 (No 31/6185).
Purpose of the grant
2) The City of Wolverhampton Council, the London Borough of Newham, Cheshire East Council, Blackpool Council and North Yorkshire County Council will implement the government’s reforms to the adult social care charging system 9 months earlier than other local authorities.
3) This grant comprises 2 strands that will be paid in June 2022.
Early assessment funding
4) Funding to enable trailblazer local authorities to conduct additional needs and financial assessments of their local population. This funding will be distributed using the early assessments funding formula (‘epidemiology approach’) which was selected for use following a government consultation in 2014.
5) The funding set out for early assessments in this grant determination represents 50% of the total funding trailblazers would receive under the 2014 formula in the financial year 2022 to 2023.
6) Further funding will be paid later this financial year through a second grant. The government intends to consult further on the approach for distributing early assessments funding in 2022, and trailblazers’ allocations in the second grant will reflect the outcome of that consultation to ensure the total amount trailblazers receive for early assessments in the financial year 2022 to 2023 reflects the updated approach. This will ensure that trailblazer authorities will receive the same amount of funding for early assessments as if they were not a trailblazer.
Trailblazer support funding
7) A non-ringfenced grant to help trailblazer authorities fund the costs associated with implementing charging reform to an accelerated timeframe, and the requirements to work closely with the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) to regularly feedback learning and insight.
8) DHSC had £805,500 to allocate for trailblazer support funding. To calculate how much local each local authority will receive, an allocation of £110,000 for all trailblazer authorities was assumed (£550,000). The remaining funding available to support trailblazers (£255,500) was split among the cohort based on the 2014 early assessments funding formula. This produced a baseline of funding for each local authority.
9) This was triangulated with soft intelligence from Trailblazers about their challenges in implementing reform earlier and their individual circumstances. Minor adjustments were made to individual local authority allocations based on these individual circumstances. These adjustments were no more than 10% more or less than the baseline of funding for each local authority. After these adjustments the trailblazer support funding totals £805,011.
Grant conditions
10) If a trailblazer authority withdraws from the initiative before it begins conducting early assessments from September 2022, then it is expected to return this funding to DHSC or use it to carry out early assessments in the financial year 2023 to 2024, when non-trailblazer authorities will conduct early assessments.
Determination
11) The Minister of State determines the authorities to which the grant is to be paid and the amount of grant to be paid. The authorities and the amounts are set out in Annex A, below.
Treasury consent
12) Before making this determination in relation to local authorities in England, the Minister of State obtained the consent of the Treasury.
Signed by authority of the Minister of State for Care and Mental Health, Gillian Keegan
Elinor McDaniell, Deputy Director of Social Care Charging Reform Implementation
Annex A: early assessment funding allocation funding in June 2022 and trailblazer support funding allocations in June 2022
| Trailblazer local authority | Early assessment funding allocation June 2022 | Trailblazer support funding 2022 | Total of funding per local authority |
|---|---|---|---|
| Blackpool Council | £167,135 | £143,080 | £310,215 |
| Cheshire East Council | £584,784 | £162,211 | £746,995 |
| London Borough of Newham | £140,717 | £139,591 | £280,308 |
| City of Wolverhampton Council | £277,499 | £157,661 | £435,160 |
| North Yorkshire County Council | £957,216 | £202,468 | £1,159,684 |