Reasons for Not Adopting COVID-19 Permitted Changes to Legal Duties: Accounts from English Local Authorities

TY - JOUR

T1 - Reasons for Not Adopting COVID-19 Permitted Changes to Legal Duties: Accounts from English Local Authorities

AU - Baginsky, Mary

AU - Thomas, Emily

AU - Manthorpe, Jill

PY - 2023/6/1

Y1 - 2023/6/1

N2 - In England, “easements,” introduced via the Coronavirus Act 2020, were brought in at the start of the pandemic to support English local authority adult social care services. They enabled local authorities to suspend some of their mandatory duties under the Care Act 2014. Easements were only adopted by eight local authorities and for short periods, and the provision was rescinded in late 2021. This article examines why a sample of 16 local authorities, some of which were statistically close to the eight local authorities that did decide to use easements, decided not to do so. It draws on data from interviews undertaken in 2021 with Directors of Adult Services and Principal Social Workers that explored their decision-making about using easements. It also outlines their preparations prior to the pandemic reaching England, how they had operated using “flexibilities” within the Care Act thus not needing to adopt easements, and their views on those authorities that had adopted them.

AB - In England, “easements,” introduced via the Coronavirus Act 2020, were brought in at the start of the pandemic to support English local authority adult social care services. They enabled local authorities to suspend some of their mandatory duties under the Care Act 2014. Easements were only adopted by eight local authorities and for short periods, and the provision was rescinded in late 2021. This article examines why a sample of 16 local authorities, some of which were statistically close to the eight local authorities that did decide to use easements, decided not to do so. It draws on data from interviews undertaken in 2021 with Directors of Adult Services and Principal Social Workers that explored their decision-making about using easements. It also outlines their preparations prior to the pandemic reaching England, how they had operated using “flexibilities” within the Care Act thus not needing to adopt easements, and their views on those authorities that had adopted them.

U2 - 10.1155/2023/8447118

DO - 10.1155/2023/8447118

M3 - Article

SN - 1365-2524

JO - Health & social care in the community

JF - Health & social care in the community

M1 - 8447118

ER -