Schedule 12 of the Coronavirus Act 2020 included the unprecedented power for local authorities to suspend the majority of their adult social care duties under the Care Act 2014. The suspensions are known as “easements”. Eight local authorities triggered easements at the height of the pandemic, and many others withdrew services nevertheless. Under the pandemic, triggering easements remains part of the strategic planning of a number of authorities. Yet we know very little about the consequences for people with high levels of need, such as older carers of partners with dementia at home. This research investigates these consequences. We want to compare experiences in different local authorities for older carers, and investigate this issue also from the point of view of safeguarding and social work leads, who were making difficult decisions in crisis circumstances. Through doing this we seek to understand in a balanced way the wider social impacts and legal implications of this suspension of legal rights.

We will provide internal briefings to the Department of Health and Social Care and partner organisations, interim reports for legislative reviews, briefing notes and lay summaries for stakeholders, and blogs/videos for public access on the project webpage, with two substantial online dissemination events, and three peer-reviewed journal articles.