Issue - meetings

This report sets out proposed changes to the council’s policies on charging contributions for non residential Adult Social Care services, following consultation, for approval.

Discussion:

This report provided details of the final outcome of consultation regarding proposed changes to the Council’s policy on charging contributions for non residential Adult Social Care services.

This report set out the background to the proposal together with details of the consultation process which ran from 12 December 2011 – 9 February 2012. The consultation programme included writing to existing service users, carers and families, Medway Council Members, Medway Members of Parliament, Medway LINk, NHS partners and Social Care staff.  It also included presentations to the Health and Adult Social Care Overview and Scrutiny Committee, on 26 January 2012, the comments of which were set out in Appendix 1 to the report.  In addition a total of five consultation meetings were held as part of the listening exercise.

The outcome of consultation was included in paragraph 5 of the report and a Diversity Impact Assessment screening forms had been completed on the proposal as set out in Appendix 3 to the report followed by a full Diversity Impact Assessment in Appendix 4 to the report.

The Cabinet had considered this issue on 14 February 2012 and its recommendation to Council was set out in paragraph 11 of the report.

Councillor Brake, Portfolio Holder for Adult Services, supported by Councillor Mason, Portfolio Holder for Corporate Services, proposed the recommendations set out in the report.

Councillor Murray, supported by Councillor Igwe, proposed the following amendment:

Delete recommendation 11.1 and replace with:

Council notes that a number of groups are acknowledged within the report as being adversely affected by the proposals advocated.

In order to avoid adverse negative impacts, and provide a more sustainable long-term strategy, Council agrees to:

1. Extend the consultation until 31 March 2012;
2. Ask officers to:
   1. conduct a full review of the likely level of impact on adults, both current and future – including an analysis to predict future disability need;
   2. compile a mitigation strategy to prevent discrimination.

3. Accept that the current recommendations do little to improve housing or promote independence in the long term for disabled groups. As such, Council asks officers to investigate the Council’s ability to build lifetime housing for disabled people to provide a more sustainable alternative for those unable to adapt their own homes using the Disabled Facilities Grant or loan scheme, or those in rented accommodation unsuitable for adaptation.

On being put to the vote, the amendment was lost.

Decision:

The Council noted the issues identified in the full Diversity Impact Assessment as set out in Appendix 4 to the report and:

(i)                 Agreed to the Fairer Contributions Policy as set out in the report being adopted and;

(ii)               agreed the Implementation Plan as set out in the full Diversity Impact Assessment as set out in Appendix 4 to the report.

Background:

This report provided details of the outcome of consultation regarding proposed changes to the council’s policies on charging contributions for non residential Adult Social Care services and the Major Adaptations Policy relating to the Disabled Facility Grant for adaptations, following Cabinet’s earlier decision to approve consultation on 29 November 2011.

This report set out the background to each of the proposals together with details of the consultation process which ran from 12 December 2011 – 9 February 2012. The consultation programme included writing to existing service users, carers and families, Medway Council Members, Medway Members of Parliament, Medway LINk, NHS partners and Social Care staff.  It also included presentations to the Health and Adult Social Care Overview and Scrutiny Committee, on 26 January 2012, the comments of which were set out in Appendix 1 to the report.  In addition a total of five consultation meetings were held as part of the listening exercise.

The outcome of consultation was included in paragraph 5 of the report and Diversity Impact Assessment screening forms were undertaken on both of the proposals as set out in Appendices 3 and 4 to the report followed by a full Diversity Impact Assessment in Appendix 5 to the report.

The Cabinet accepted this as an urgent item to enable its views to be reported to Full Council on 23 February 2012.

Reasons:

Fairer Contributions Policy

The proposed changes to this policy will ensure that all people with eligible needs are treated equally but there is a recognition that some groups that will be financially assessed for the first time may be disproportionately and adversely impacted by the changes if reasonable adjustments are not put in place.

The personalisation agenda is such that the current approach to charging in relation to services rather than a personal budget will perpetuate an output-led rather than an outcomes-focused approach to adult social care.

The completion of a full diversity impact assessment, which takes into account the information gathered from the consultation process as well as intelligence gathering by officers, demonstrates that any disproportionate and adverse impact can be mitigated against.

Major Adaptations Policy

The policy will enable people to proceed with adaptations that are in excess of the £30,000 limit of the Disabled Facilities Grant so that they can live independently in their own home.