National Audit Office, 11 November 2014
- This study examines the objectives, evidence, value‑for‑money risks and management of the Better Care Fund (Fund).
- The Fund requires local bodies to:
- bring health and social care planning together;
- support people’s health and independence in the community; and
- meet the challenges of increasing demand for care and constraints on public funding.
- Guidance on the Fund was first issued in December 2013. All local areas submitted plans by April 2014 however planning for the Fund paused between April and July 2014 when NHS England and the Local Government Association issued new guidance on the Fund’s objectives and a revised timetable requiring local areas to submit new plans in September 2014.
- This report discusses the reasons for changing the Fund, the consequences and implications, and challenges and risks to implementing it.
