Further to Minute Nos. 57 and 211 of the Cabinet Member - Health and Social Care and the Cabinet at their meetings held on 16 and 17 February 2011 respectively, the Cabinet Member considered the report of the Adult Social Care Director requesting that a recommendation be submitted to Cabinet on revised charges for users of non-residential services.
The report indicated that the Cabinet (Minute No. 211) had resolved that a further report be submitted to this meeting to:
(i) agree the maximum amount to be charged for day centre placements and other care services provided by the Council;
(ii) agree the increase in the percentage of disposable income from 65%; and
(iii) consider the financial implications of (i) and (ii) above to the budget target saving of £635,000.
The report also provided information that detailed the impact upon savings achieved if different average day centre charges were implemented; and the percentage of disposable income, charged as part of the financial assessment, was increased from 65%.
The report concluded that it must be noted that any shortfall in the projected income must be met from within other budget areas available to the Council.
The Cabinet Member indicated that the shortfall should be met from other budget areas available to the Council including Health and Social Care.
RESOLVED: That
(I) Cabinet be recommended to approve the following with an implementation date of 11 April 2011:
(1) that service users who have in excess of £23,250 capital or those who refuse to divulge their financial details be charged a maximum amount of £45 towards the actual cost of their day centre place and other care services provided by the Council; and
(2) that the percentage of disposable income charged against as part of the financial assessment be increased from 65% to 80%;
(II) the Adult Social Care Director be requested to monitor and review the impact of the increases referred to in (1) and (2) above and submit a report thereon to the Cabinet Member in 6 months; and
(III) it be noted that the proposal was a Key Decision but, unfortunately, had not been included in the Council's Forward Plan of Key Decisions. Consequently, the Chair of the Overview and Scrutiny Committee - Health and Social Care had been consulted under Rule 15 of the Access to Information Procedure Rules of the Constitution, to the decision being made by the Cabinet Member/Cabinet as a matter of urgency on the basis that it was impracticable to defer the decision until the commencement of the next Forward Plan because the savings targets contained within the report are a component in achieving the setting of the Council's balanced budget for 2011/12. The item was not included on the Forward Plan because of the timescales dictated by the Transformation Agenda to achieve significant budget savings across the Council.