Agenda item

6.1    Joan Hutton (Head of Adult Assessment and Care Management) introduced the report. The following key points were noted:

·      There is a work programme in place to support the implementation of the Care Act. Phase two of the implementation was due to come in in April 2016 but this has been postponed until possibly 2020.

·      The Care Act requires Councils to provide assessments and support services for carers equal to those given to service users. There has been an increase in the number of requests for assessment, but not the massive increase that was originally expected. This reflects the national picture.

·      Officers are developing quality assessments of providers in the market for adult social care services as part of the Council’s responsibilities for adult safeguarding. This allows officers to identify possibly vulnerable providers.

·      Work is being to prepare for the implementation of the Dilnot reforms, in case the date for implementation is pushed forward from the currently expected date in 2020.

6.2    Joan Hutton (Head of Adult Assessment and Care Management) answered questions from the Committee. The following key points were noted:

·      Officers are focused on developing relationships with the people that require care services so that assessments are done in an appropriate way. The new ways of working under the Care Act enable problems for people to be solved in ways they prefer them to be solved.

·      The Council works with a charity called My Support Brooker who advises on improving access to digital services for people who aren’t used to using the internet.

·      Prevention services are provided by Linkline services, enablement services and the support and advice provision amongst others. Sometimes improvements in someone’s physical environment can add to prevention of further problems, so the Council doesn’t just offer advice to increase prevention. There is a GP referral system where GPs can refer residents to these services, which is more proactively used in some areas of the borough than others.

·      The support services provided to carers depend on the type of carer. Paid carers do not qualify for an assessment and any subsequent support. Volunteers also do not qualify, but family and friends do.

·      Advocacy is provided by an independent service. The uptake of the service wasn’t that high and work is being done to promote the service amongst practitioners so they can advise people of the service. The uptake has slowly increased over time.

·      The Council has regular contract and quality control meetings with the services it commissions. To date the feedback received by the Council has been good.

6.3    The Committee made the following comments:

·      There had been an announcement in the Local Government Chronicle that day that the Better care fund £1bn payment for performance scheme was being stopped. It was agreed that further information on the implications would be provided to the Committee after the meeting.

·      Paragraph 6.2.6.1 showed that due to a delay in the award of contracts spend of the increased budget in adult social care for £2.2m for the payment of travel time to home carers would not be spent until 2016/17. The question was raised why the payment of travel time could not occur earlier. It was resolved that the Committee would be provided with information about whether travel time was being paid for before 2016/127.

·      There was a query about how the travel time paid to care workers in agencies would be calculated. It was resolved that the Committee would be provided with details about the calculation of travel time.  

6.4    RESOLVED: that the Committee noted the report, and the Committee would be provided with the information listed in paragraph 6.3