Regulation 1 Citation, commencement and interpretation

These Regulations may be cited as the Care and Support (Disputes Between Local Authorities) Regulations 2014 and come into force immediately after section 40(1) of the Care Act 2014 comes fully into force.

In these Regulations—

• “the Act” means the Care Act 2014;

• “the appropriate person” means the person by whom a dispute is to be determined pursuant to section 40(1) of the Act;

• “dispute” means a dispute—

  1. (a)

     about where an adult^f1 is ordinarily resident for the purposes of Part 1 of the Act;

  2. (b)

     between local authorities^f2 under section 37 of the Act (continuity of care) about the application of that section; or

  3. (c)

     between local authorities about the application of section 48 of the Act (provider failure: temporary duty on local authority);

• “the lead authority” means, in relation to a dispute, the local authority which—

  1. (a)

     is meeting the needs of the adult or carer^f3 to whom the dispute relates at the date on which the dispute arises; or

  2. (b)

     if no local authority is meeting those needs at that date, is required to do so by regulation 2(3);

• “referred” means referred for determination by the appropriate person, and “refer” and “referral” are to be construed accordingly.

References in these Regulations to the date on which a dispute arises are references to the first date on which a written communication is sent by one of the local authorities (“the first authority”) to another of the local authorities (“the second authority”) which (as the case may be)—

In these Regulations, a reference to “the authorities” is a reference to the local authorities who are parties to a dispute and includes (where different) a reference to the lead authority in relation to that dispute.