Agenda item

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

Recommendations:

That Cabinet:

1.    Approve the permanent funding of the schemes that were previously part of the Discharge Grant commitments for 2026/27 and recurrently from 2027/28.

2.    Note the cost of extending the schemes will be £838k in 2026/27, reducing to £624k on a recurrent basis from 2027/28. Funding has been made available as part of the Council budget and provision has been made in the Medium Term Financial Strategy.

Consideration was given to the report which provided an update on the Local Authority Better Care Fund Discharge Grant. In January 2023, Central Government announced additional funding through a new £200m Discharge Grant for Local Authorities. The fund was intended to increase capacity in post discharge care and support and improve discharge performance, patient safety, experience and outcomes.

From 2025/26, the grant had been included in the Local Authority Better Care Fund at the same level as the 2024/25 allocation which was £3,383,583 for Rotherham. However, in effect the fund that was the Discharge Grant no longer existed. The ringfence for the grant had been removed but national conditions and use of the funding still needed to be reported through the Better Care Fund governance into the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) and NHS England. This was executed through the Health and Wellbeing Board, Better Care Fund Partnership Agreement and Section 75. Section 75 of the NHS Act 2006 enabled NHS bodies and local authorities to establish formal partnerships to pool budgets and resources, enabling joint commissioning and integrated health and social care services.

The report identified a number of adult social care commitments that should continue to be delivered on a permanent basis due to the removal of the grant ringfence. The Schemes/Services were: S117 Mental Health Reviews; Provider Services; Integrated Discharge Team; Enablement Service; Continuing Healthcare; Mental Health; Quality and Contract Compliance and Adult Contact Team. Additional details were set out in paragraph 2.3 of the report. The Schemes would require a funding commitment of £838k in 2026/27 and £624k in 2027/28 on a recurrent basis. Provisions had been made available for this in the Council’s budget and Medium-Term Financial Strategy.

It was noted during the meeting that schemes being funded were on-going schemes and the purpose of the report was to ensure that they continued to be funded following the removal of the ring-fenced funding.

Resolved:

That Cabinet:

1.    Approve the permanent funding of the schemes that were previously part of the Discharge Grant commitments for 2026/27 and recurrently from 2027/28.

2.    Note the cost of extending the schemes will be £838k in 2026/27, reducing to £624k on a recurrent basis from 2027/28. Funding has been made available as part of the Council budget and provision has been made in the Medium-Term Financial Strategy.