Shake-up in adult placement rules

The Department of Health has published new minimum standards to
shift the burden of adult placement care regulation from carers to
council-run placement schemes.

The current process was seen as too onerous by carers because it
made them accountable for tasks that were the responsibility of the
schemes, said the DoH.

Increased regulation had forced a quarter of adult carers to either
leave the service or reduce the care they provided in the past two
years. It had also led to nearly two-thirds of carers being
unregulated (news, page 11, 10 June).

Sian Lockwood, chief executive of the National Association of Adult
Placement Services, said the new standards should improve practice
and help attract more carers.

“We hope it will bring back some carersÉand we anticipate it
will be easier to recruit and retain new staff,” she said.

“Next, we are going to develop detailed good practice guidelines so
that local authorities can see what exactly the adult placement
model can do.”

The new rules, to be enforced from 31 August, will ensure all
carers are assessed, selected and trained to the same standards in
the UK.