The Care and Support (Charging and Assessment of Resources) (Amendment) (No. 2) Regulations 2026
Excluded Irish Mother and Baby Institutions redress payments from local authority social care financial assessments.
These regulations amend the financial assessment criteria used by local authorities in England when determining how much an individual must contribute toward their care and support.
They direct local authorities to ignore any payments received from the Irish Government’s Mother and Baby Institutions Payment Scheme when calculating a person’s total income and capital.
The instrument applies to all local authorities in England carrying out financial assessments under the Care Act 2014, ensuring that survivors receiving these specific redress payments do not lose social care funding as a result of that compensation.
Arguments For
The instrument states that payments from the Irish Mother and Baby Institutions Payment Scheme must be disregarded to ensure they do not reduce a person's eligibility for local authority care funding.
The Explanatory Note indicates that the regulations are intended to ensure consistent treatment of these specific redress payments across social care financial assessments.
Proponents may argue that failing to disregard these payments would effectively penalize survivors of institutional abuse by using their compensation to pay for social care services.
Arguments Against
Legal scholars might note that the regulations only apply to England and Wales, potentially creating different financial assessment standards if other UK jurisdictions do not adopt similar disregards.
Affected local authorities may face administrative burdens in updating their assessment criteria and identifying these specific payments within a claimant's finances.
Some observers might question the selection of specific redress schemes for disregard while other forms of international compensation may remain subject to inclusion in resource assessments.
Citation, commencement and extent
- -(1) These Regulations may be cited as the Care and Support (Charging and Assessment of Resources) (Amendment) (No. 2) Regulations 2026.
- (2) These Regulations come into force on 30th October 2026.
- (3) These Regulations extend to England and Wales.
This section establishes the official name of the regulations and sets the date they become legally active as 30 October 2026.
It specifies that the legal reach of the instrument covers England and Wales, although the underlying charging framework primarily impacts English local authorities.
Amendment of the Care and Support (Charging and Assessment of Resources) Regulations 2014
- -(1) The Care and Support (Charging and Assessment of Resources) Regulations 2014( 2 ) are amended as follows.
- (2) In Schedule 1 (Sums to be disregarded in the calculation of income), after paragraph 44 insert-
'44A.
Any payment made under the Mother and Baby Institutions Payment Scheme established by the Irish Government under section 5 of the Mother and Baby Institutions Payment Scheme Act 2023 (Ireland)( 3 ).'.
- (3) In Schedule 2 (Capital to be disregarded), after paragraph 43( 4 ) insert-
'44.
Any payment made under the Mother and Baby Institutions Payment Scheme established by the Irish Government under section 5 of the Mother and Baby Institutions Payment Scheme Act 2023 (Ireland).'.
This section modifies the existing 2014 Regulations to add a new category of excluded funds for financial assessments.
It requires local authorities to disregard payments from the Irish Mother and Baby Institutions Payment Scheme when calculating both a person's regular income and their total capital (assets).
In plain language, this means money received from this specific Irish redress scheme will not be counted when the council decides how much a person must pay for their social care.
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