Agenda item

Anne Bristow, Corporate Director of Adult and Community Services, presented the report on the adult social care reforms following the Care Bill being granted Royal Assent.  The report provided reminders of the thrust of the Care Act and its major provisions and also alerted the Board to the draft statutory guidance and secondary legislation that was currently out for consultation.  Mrs Bristow advised that this consultation was of some magnitude, as over 500 pages of draft regulations had been received and changes were still occurring.  The Act, guidance and regulations would certainly have a significant impact on the Council or relevance to partner organisations. 

There were also a number of operational challenges that would need to be worked through, such as:

·  informal carers provisions

·  assumptions about rational decisions being made by people for their own care

·  an explicit duty to cooperate

·  local authorities being bound to ensure provision of service choices for individuals to purchase under personal budgets,

The aim was to provide a seamless delivery of the Care Act and its funding reforms to residents who have eligible for unmet social care needs.

The changes would be in two phases, April 2015 and April 2016, with the funding reforms being in the 2016 phase. 

Councillor Butt asked how much it would cost to implement, and was advised that as the Regulations were still being changed or clarified there were a number of different models for assessing the costs, however, the ball park figure was £6m to £8m, but with the phasing this could in the order of £4.5m on 2015.  As a result negotiations on funding are being undertaken at national level with the Department of Health.

Councillor Carpenter drew the Boards attention to the support required for job and training opportunities and the provisions available within the Borough to assist with this aim.

The Chair then drew the Board’s attention to the details that appear to be required for the personalised statements and the potential for this provision to be resource heavy.

Dr Goriparthi commented that the estimated cost of unpaid carers nationally was estimated to be in the region of £111b.  If that was the case then the £4.5m may not be enough.

The Board received the report and following discussion:

(i)  Noted:

(a)  The need to support carers to remain in employment and the potential for the Adult College to be able to assist in this area.

(b)  The challenges in regard to advocacy numbers and training of the advocates to levels envisaged by the draft Regulations within the voluntary sector.

(c)  The high level of administration that would be needed to produce personalised statements.

(d)  There were a number of variables that will affect the potential cost of implementation to the Council and currently the best estimates had averaged around £4.5m, but could be as high as £8m.

(e)  The Carers Strategy was currently being refreshed and it was anticipated this will be reported to the Board on 28 October 2014.

(ii)  Approved the response of the Board, to the consultation on the Care Act draft guidance and regulations, as set out in Appendix 2 to the report.

(iii)  Agreed the actions to be undertaken by partner organisations to contribute to the implementation programme.

(iv)  To a schedule of further Care Act programme implementation reports to ensure the Board is well-sighted on issues and to further explore issues or parts of the implementation that impact on partner organisations.