Deferred Payment Agreements 2021-22

A deferred payment agreement (DPA) is an arrangement with the local authority that enables people to use the value of their homes to help pay for care home costs. If eligible, the local authority will help to pay a client’s care home bills on their behalf. The client can delay repaying the local authority until they choose to sell their home, or until after their death.

More information on a deferred payment scheme can be found at https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/social-care-and-support-guide/money-work-and-benefits/paying-for-your-own-care-self-funding/

DPAs have been available from all local authorities across England since April 2015.

This publication provides analysis of the Deferred Payments Agreement (DPA) collection, and concentrates on five main areas:

1. Activity Data - the number of new and outstanding DPAs, DPAs written off, and DPAs recovered.

2. Finance Data - the value of new and outstanding DPAs, DPAs written off, and DPAs recovered.

3. New requests for DPAs and sequel to the request.

4. Nature of current DPAs.

5. Recovery of ended DPAs.

The publication consists of:

• Data tables - providing data at national, regional and local authority level.

• CSV pack - Machine readable open data (csv file), data dictionary, UUID file, DPA rates and fees.

• Data quality summary - showing submissions made, validation breaches and reasons given, calculated vs reported outstanding DPAs.

• Data quality statement – assessing the quality of the DPA collection return.

In order to prevent the disclosure of individuals, DPA data relating to client numbers have been rounded to the nearest five. Any figures 0, 1, 2, 3 and 4 has also been suppressed and displayed as [c]. Monetary values of less than £10,000 have been suppressed and displayed as [c]. All other monetary values will be rounded to the nearest £10,000 in the Data Tables and csv file. Any missing data is displayed as [x], in accordance with Government Statistical Service guidelines on best practice for accessible spreadsheets. Proportions (percentages) are calculated on the unrounded figures.

The publication was previous labelled as Experimental Statistics, following a review this badge has been removed for the 2021-22 publication and the publication is now labelled as Official Statistics.

Missing Data

Luton Council and Swindon Council have been unable to submit DPA data to NHS Digital in 2021-22.

In order to present England level statistics that can be compared to previous years, NHS Digital added 2020-21 data for these local authorities to 2021-22 regional and national totals. Estimates are presented in the web page Key Facts and all other detailed data tables and charts at regional and national level. The detailed data tables display Luton and Swindon data as [x], denoting missing data. 

Issues

Several inconsistencies within the 2021-22 collection have been identified. For example, local authorities advised that 2,645 new DPAs had been agreed (this is the number we use when referring to the total number of DPAs). When analysed by whether a top-up had been provided or not, the total was also 2,645, however there were discrepancies at local authority level. When split by the reason for the request, the total was 2,440. These values are still informative due to the additional detail provided however users should be aware of the slight discrepancy with overall numbers reported.

Using inbuilt validation checks within the data templates and post-submission data quality reports for each collection, NHS Digital looks to identify logical inconsistencies in the data or where the data submitted is an outlier against local and national data. Local authorities can then review and resubmit data ahead of the deadline or provide explanations for any identified issues. NHS Digital works with the DPA Working Group, with local authorities and with other stakeholders to ensure that the data template and the accompanying guidance document are clear to understand.

As per last year, some local authorities have advised NHS Digital that the COVID-19 pandemic continues to impact new DPAs being offered. Some parts of the process (e.g. property valuations, paperwork being signed, properties registered with Land Registry) were subject to delays compared with previous years pre-covid.

Further detail on these data quality issues can be found in the data quality statement and summary. NHS Digital will continue to work with local authorities to enhance and improve the completeness and quality of the publication.

Comparison to previous years

We recommend caution when making year on year comparisons. For example, when considering the data collected against that submitted last year: (rounded to the nearest five).

Therefore:

The difference between calculated and reported numbers in 2019-20 was 75, in 2020-21 it was 10 and this year it is increased to 540. Several local authorities reported large differences and confirmed this is due to previously unreported outstanding DPAs. There were also instances of data recording issues from new systems. Further details can be found in the supporting data quality outputs.