Welsh Ministers have made the Health and Social Care (Wales) Act 2025 (Consequential Amendments) (Wales) Regulations 2026 to update statutory cross‑references affected by the 2025 Act. The instrument is made under section 28 of the 2025 Act, which enables consequential amendments by regulations subject to the Senedd’s affirmative procedure, and it takes effect from 1 April 2026. (legislation.gov.uk)
Regulation 2 updates the Care Act 2014 so that references in section 49(2)(b)(i), section 51(2)(b)(ii) and paragraph 9(2)(a) of Schedule 1 no longer point to sections 50 or 52 of the Social Services and Well‑being (Wales) Act 2014. Instead, they now refer to section 49A(1)(a) or (c), or to Schedule A1 of that Act, ensuring England’s cross‑border provider‑failure and placement duties continue to map correctly to Wales’s direct payment and after‑care regime. (legislation.gov.uk)
The adjustments flow from the 2025 Act’s restructuring of Welsh direct payments. That Act inserted new section 49A into the 2014 Act to govern direct payments for care and support and created Schedule A1 for direct payments relating to after‑care under section 117 of the Mental Health Act 1983. It also amended section 117(2C) to recognise the new framework. Without these consequential regulations, several cross‑border pointers in the Care Act 2014 would have led to outdated provisions. (legislation.gov.uk)
Regulation 3 makes a linked technical correction in the Regulation and Inspection of Social Care (Wales) Act 2016. Section 47(d) (the offence of making a false or materially misleading statement) is updated to reference section 32(1A) or (1B), reflecting the 2025 Act’s changes that split the Welsh Ministers’ power to require information into new subsections and introduced a privilege against self‑incrimination in new section 32A. (legislation.gov.uk)
For English local authorities, the practical effect is continuity in provider‑failure responses when a person’s care was arranged or paid for by a Welsh authority. Section 49 of the Care Act covers cross‑border cases, including co‑operation and cost‑recovery, while disputes are handled under Schedule 1; the refreshed citations ensure these mechanisms continue to align with Wales’s revised direct payment provisions. (legislation.gov.uk)
Health and Social Care trusts in Northern Ireland are similarly covered via section 51 of the Care Act, which mirrors the temporary‑duty arrangements for cross‑border cases. Updating the Welsh references avoids ambiguity for trusts acting under section 51 where Welsh law defines the relevant direct‑payment route. (legislation.gov.uk)
Local authority legal teams and providers should ensure internal guidance, cross‑border placement documentation and ordinary‑residence dispute scripts are updated with the new statutory pin‑points by 1 April 2026. Ministers have already signalled that a package of instruments would be laid in early 2026 to support the Act’s April commencement. (gov.wales)
These changes sit alongside new direct payments for health care under sections 10B–10C of the National Health Service (Wales) Act 2006 and the detailed after‑care direct‑payment regime in Schedule A1 to the 2014 Act. Practitioners should distinguish Local Health Board direct payments under NHS legislation from local‑authority direct payments under section 49A and Schedule A1 when planning section 117 packages. (legislation.gov.uk)
Taken together, the amendments provide legal certainty for cross‑border placements, provider‑failure contingencies and s117 financing as the new financial year begins. They are a targeted tidy‑up to keep inter‑UK duties workable after the 2025 Act’s renumbering and new direct‑payment powers. (legislation.gov.uk)