Issue - meetings

Background:

From 1 April 2015, Local Authorities were required to implement part 1 of the Care Act 2014.  Whilst fundamental reforms in the way people pay for their care do not become law until April 2016, the Care Act provides the opportunity to implement changes to the way that charging for care and support operates from 2015. 

This report provided an overview of the proposed changes to the charging arrangements for Adult Social Care in Medway, together with feedback from the four weeks’ public consultation relating to the proposals. It was noted that a total of 88 people responded to the consultation and the report and appendices detailed the feedback as it related to the following proposals:

·         to follow Care Act regulations and charge an administration cost to reclaim some of the cost incurred in setting up and monitoring a deferred payment scheme.

·         to extend the current Deferred Payments Scheme to people moving to Flexicare Housing and Supported Living accommodation.

·         to follow Care Act regulations and charge for all care from the date care starts, to ensure everyone is charged in a fair and consistent manner.

·         to charge those who have been assessed to pay the full cost of their non-residential care fees and ask the Council to set up their care packages an administration fee.

It was noted that a Diversity Impact Assessment had been undertaken in conjunction with the consultation. This was attached at Appendix E to the report. The outcome of the assessment was that service users would be impacted by the proposals and details of the actions that would be implemented to mitigate adverse impacts were set out.

The report considered the feedback and comments received, setting out recommendations to each of the proposals. In relation to reviewing charging support for carers, it was recommended not to go ahead with this proposal at this time, as further work was needed in this area to determine the increase in support needed from the Local Authority for carers and the impact of support provided by carers should they be charged.

Reasons:

The Care Act enables Local Authorities to apply charges to avoid additional costs arising as a result of some of the new requirements of the Care Act.  It was imperative that to enable care and support services to be provided to Medway’s most vulnerable people that income was maximised and additional costs avoided.