Commentary on Sections Imposing charges and assessing financial resources Section 16 - Cap on care costs: annual adjustment
131.This section requires annual adjustments in order to ensure that the level of the cap and an adult’s accrued costs keep pace with inflation.
132.Subsection (2) ensures that an adult’s accrued costs are adjusted by the same measure as the cap, so that if someone was previously 50% of the way towards the cap, then they will remain so after adjustment. Subsection (3) specifies the meaning of “average earnings” for the purposes of this section and subsection (4) requires adjustment to be considered annually following commencement of the section.
133.Subsection (5) makes it clear that the power to set the level of the costs cap in section 15 is not restricted by the annual adjustment.