No. Existing commissioning relationships are not determinative for choice of accommodation rights, subject to the ordinary rules of top ups.
Commissioning policy, and a care home’s being in a contractual relationship with a local authority, is specifically not relevant to the choice of accommodation and top ups and as such, cannot be relevant for respite arrangements either.
Under the Guidance and Regulations a person may choose and require a local authority to place them in a home, anywhere in the country, and that could not be the law if being on a framework or in an existing commissioning relationship was determinative for choice of accommodation rights.
Annex A of the Care Act 2014 Statutory guidance will be helpful. It states “Where a local authority is responsible for meeting a person’s care and support needs and their needs have been assessed as requiring a particular type of accommodation in order to ensure that they are met, the person must have the right to choose between different providers of that type of accommodation” Also that subject to specific conditions “This choice must not be limited to those settings or individual providers with which the local authority already contracts with or operates or those that are within that local authority geographical boundary.”
