The Department of Health and Social Care has made a targeted amendment to adult social care charging rules under the Care Act 2014. The Care and Support (Charging and Assessment of Resources) (Amendment) (No. 2) Regulations 2026 were made on 15 September 2026, laid before Parliament on 16 September 2026 and come into force on 30 October 2026. The policy effect is narrow but clear. Local authorities must disregard any payment made under the Irish Government's Mother and Baby Institutions Payment Scheme when deciding what resources a person has for social care charging purposes.
According to the statutory instrument, the change is made by amending the Care and Support (Charging and Assessment of Resources) Regulations 2014. A new paragraph 44A is inserted into Schedule 1, which lists income that must be left out of an assessment, and a new paragraph 44 is inserted into Schedule 2, which does the same for capital. That drafting matters because local authority means tests consider both forms of resource. By placing the same scheme in both schedules, the Regulations make clear that the payment is protected whether it would otherwise be treated as income or as a capital asset.
For people receiving care and support, the practical consequence is that a payment under the Irish scheme should not increase an assessed contribution and should not affect a calculation by being counted towards capital. In plain terms, the amendment stops that payment from being absorbed into the charging system. This point is especially important where a financial assessment takes account of lump sums as well as regular receipts. Without an express disregard in both schedules, a payment of this kind can change what a person is asked to pay. The amendment removes that ambiguity for this scheme from 30 October 2026.
The instrument refers specifically to 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. The Department of Health and Social Care has therefore chosen to recognise that statutory scheme directly within the English care charging rules. In legal terms, this is a mandatory disregard rather than a discretionary concession. Councils are not being invited to take the payment into account differently on a case-by-case basis; they are being instructed by regulation to leave it out of both income and capital assessments.
For local authorities, the administrative change should be limited, but it will still require implementation. Financial assessment guidance, staff instructions, standard letters and case management systems will need to reflect the new disregard so that assessments completed on or after 30 October 2026 apply the amended rules consistently. For affected individuals, the immediate issue will be identification of the payment during a means test. Where evidence is provided that a sum was paid under the Irish scheme, that amount should be excluded from the charging calculation rather than treated as available resources.
The explanatory note states that no full impact assessment has been produced because no significant effect is expected for the private, voluntary or public sectors. That suggests the number of affected cases is likely to be limited, even though the financial effect for those cases may be material. Signed by Alison McGovern on behalf of the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, the Regulations are technical in form but important in outcome. From 30 October 2026, local authorities applying the 2014 charging rules must disregard payments made under Ireland's Mother and Baby Institutions Payment Scheme in both income and capital assessments.