Issue - meetings

Anne Bristow (Corporate Director, Adult and Community Services) gave a presentation to the Board which:

·  Set out the passage of the Bill through Parliament and timeline for implementing the reforms

·  Recapped the provisions of Bill and explained the new system for funding

·  Provided case studies to show how the capping system will work in practice

·  Explored issues and challenges in delivering the reforms*

(*The presentation slides are published with the minutes to give further detail).

In response to the presentation, the Board raised the following issues/comments:

·  A London-wide joint working party has been established to work through the challenges presented by the legislation. Guidance, information and resources/tool-kits are expected to support local authorities through implementation. Other boroughs are anticipating the same cost impacts and sharing the same concerns as LBBD.

·  Self-funders will have an interest in coming forward to be assessed. The Council estimates that an additional 5,600 assessments may need to take place in the period from 2015 to 2017 in order to assess hitherto un-assessed needs.

·  Fundamental changes are needed for IT systems to manage records, assessments, and calculate care costs.

·  If presented with legal challenges the established case law might be superseded by new interpretations of the legislation. Until new case law is established the Council’s legal position on complex matters might be unclear.

·  It is uncertain whether the public will realise they are liable for their costs or take suitable measures (personal savings or an insurance product) to plan for their care in later life.

·  A large scale national communications campaign is needed to ensure good public understanding of changes and in particular the cost contributions of people to their care. Furthermore, the need to develop independent financial advice services is critical as currently the provision of such advice is very limited.

·  The changes have major workforce impacts in terms of training front line social care staff. It will be important that NHS staff have necessary training in order that they can give consistent messages on care options.

·  The Bill places too much strength on residential care as a care option and that this may not facilitate a balanced approach when individuals and their families are making difficult decisions on care. It would be more helpful if guidance and information related to the modern social care agenda and supporting people to remain in their homes for as long as possible.

The Board agreed to:

·  Note the wide ranging implications of the social care funding reforms put forward in the Care Bill for individuals, their families, the local authority and other partners.