Three years have passed since the UK government implemented emergency legislation in response to the COVID pandemic. The Coronavirus Act 2020 made amendments to laws affecting many aspects of society, including the duties and powers incumbent on England’s local authorities to provide adult social care under the Care Act 2014.
The Coronavirus Act 2020 set out legislative changes to statutory requirements, known as Care Act “easements”, which provided local authorities with a legal avenue to operate with reduced workforce capacity. The easements allowed care and support provision to be changed or, in extreme circumstances, withdrawn to meet more urgent needs elsewhere in the system.
