Agenda item

Report from the Strategic Director of Adult Care, Housing and Public Health.

Recommendations:

That approval is given to consult on a new Adult Care Charging Policy, that includes both non-residential and residential charging and will include consideration of the following areas:

1. The removal of the maximum charge for non-residential care, while maintaining the minimum charge of £1. Recommended.

2. The introduction of an administrative charge for organising care for people who fund their own care. Recommended.

3. The inclusion of all disability benefits when carrying out non-residential financial assessments for services. Not Recommended.

Consideration was given to the report which provided an update on the proposed review of the Non-Residential Charing Policy. The Policy was last reviewed in 2019 and focused on ensuring ongoing compliance with charging regulations and to ensure equity in approach to charging for all who received services and required a financial assessment. A review by legal officers had highlighted the need for a joint non-residential and residential charging policy. Therefore, it was proposed that a new Adult Care Charging Policy be produced that combined the two.

The aim of the report was to seek approval to produce and then carry out a consultation on a new Adult Care Charging Policy. It would set out the options available for the Council to consider, including options for the financial assessment. An initial review had been undertaken on the current Non-Residential Charging Policy and had identified three areas for consideration. The report referred to the current policy, when benchmarked against other authorities in the region.

The three areas for consideration were:

The Minimum/maximum charge - Currently Rotherham Council had in place a maximum charge of £689 per week per individual for non-residential charges. Of the other Councils in South Yorkshire, only Sheffield currently had a maximum charge. The current minimum assessed contribution was £1 per week for Rotherham. There were currently nine people who paid the maximum charge. Removing this could generate an additional £3,300 a week.

The option was to remove the maximum charge so as to charge up to the

full cost of the care, and to retain the minimum charge of £1 per week.

Introduction of an administrative charge for organising care for self-funders - Currently Rotherham Council organised care for self-funders if requested to do so without charging. Both Barnsley and Doncaster charged an administrative fee to do this. Self-funders were customers who had capital assets over £23,250 (or £46,500 as a couple) or customers who had chosen not to be financially assessed. There were currently 224 customers who fell into this category. An annual charge of £350/yr could increase income by over £70,000 a year. The option was to introduce an annual charge to self-funders to organise their care, estimated at circa £350 a year.

Inclusion of all disability benefits in the financial assessment - Currently in Rotherham the process for carrying out the financial assessment took into consideration only the lower or middle rate of Attendance Allowance and Disability Living Allowance, and the standard rate of Personal Independence Payments where services were only received during daytime hours; this was the case even where the service user was in receipt of the higher and enhanced rates of these payments.

There were currently 2,713 non-residential customers, of which 1,291 received a high-rate disability benefit. A sample of 39% would generate an additional £11,000 a week so the full cohort was likely to be significantly higher. The option was to include all legally admissible income when the financial assessment was completed. It was not recommended that this option be included in the consultation because of the detrimental and disproportionate impact on people with the highest care and support needs.

Consultation was to be carried out with stakeholders through an online

questionnaire and face to face sessions over a 12-week period. This

consultation would be planned for summer commencement 2025, with letters

being issued prior, to advise service users of their opportunity to feed back.

The outcome of the consultation exercise would inform the future joint residential and Non-Residential Charging Policy for Adult Social Care subject to further Cabinet approval by the end of 2025.

The report was considered by the Overview and Scrutiny Management

Board (OSMB), who advised that the recommendations be supported.

Resolved:

That approval is given to consult on a new Adult Care Charging Policy, that includes both non-residential and residential charging and will include consideration of the following areas:

1. The removal of the maximum charge for non-residential care, while maintaining the minimum charge of £1. Recommended.

2. The introduction of an administrative charge for organising care for people who fund their own care. Recommended.

3. The inclusion of all disability benefits when carrying out non-residential financial assessments for services. Not Recommended.