Meeting documents

Adult, Community Services and Health Overview and Scrutiny Panel
Tuesday 9 February 2010

ADULT, COMMUNITY SERVICES & HEALTH OVERVIEW & SCRUTINY PANEL


9 FEBRUARY 2010

PRESENT: Councillors Mrs Endacott (Vice-Chairman – in the Chair), Baskerville, Mrs Evans, Lenton, Mrs Napier, Mrs Proctor and Mrs Yong.

Non-Member: Councillor Dudley

Officers: Mr Abrahamson, Mr Herlinger, Mr A Scott and Mrs Shawcross.

PART I


88/09 APOLOGIES FOR ABSENCE

Apologies for absence were received from Councillor Meadowcroft.

89/09 DECLARATIONS OF INTEREST

Councillor Mrs Napier declared a Personal and Prejudicial Interest in Agenda Item 3 - Charging and Contribution Policy within Adult Social Care - as her son was in receipt of a care package.

90/09 CHARGING CONTRIBUTION POLICY WITHIN ADULT SOCIAL CARE

Members considered the report that was due to be submitted to Cabinet on 11 February 2010 on the Charging Contribution Policy within Adult Social Care. The report detailed the proposed new policy for determining how much a resident could afford to contribute towards the cost of their social care, together with proposed new charges for Council run social care services. Members were advised that both the proposed new policy and new charges arose from the implementation of the Department of Health policy of ‘Transforming Social Care’.

The officers and the Lead Member for Adult and Community Services responded to a number of questions/comments raised by Members of the Panel. In particular, Members were advised that it was unlikely that a change in Government would affect the implementation of the Transforming Social Care policy. The Officers explained the procedures in place to identify people that may attempt to hide savings in order to avoid paying charges. The Officers commented upon the assessment process and explained how the direct payments system would operate, how service users would be made aware of the changes and how the payments would be monitored. The officers also explained the reasons for the reduction in the take up of meals on wheels.

Arising from the general discussion, the Panel made the following comments on the report.

· it was suggested that particular engagement be undertaken with carers of people with learning disabilities that lived at home. Although it was stressed that the proposals had been discussed at the Learning Disability Partnership Board, the Lead Member indicated that he would be willing to meet with the representatives of those families as appropriate. It was also pointed out that part of the communication strategy for transforming adult social care would involve learning disability users and carers.
· Appendix A, Paragraphs 2.6.6 and 2.6.7 - the date when a revised contribution was to be applied following the review of the person's circumstances should be the consistent whether the contribution increased or decreased.
· Appendix A, Paragraph 3.6.1 - an amendment be made to the 6th bullet point to make it clear that the £11.00 was a weekly allowance rate.
· Appendix A, Paragraph 2.13 - the heading be renamed "Self-Deprivation"
· As people with more complex needs received support from the in-house homecare service, it was suggested that it be made more explicit why the charge for that service was more than the charge for the private sector supplied homecare.

    RESOLVED UNANIMOUSLY: That the Panel’s comments on the Charging Contribution Policy Within Adult Social Care Report, as outlined above, be forwarded to Cabinet for consideration.

91/09 MEETING

The meeting, which began at 7.00pm, ended at 8.10pm.