Issue - meetings

[Report of the Assistant Director for  Commissioning. To be introduced by the Cabinet Member for Adult Social Care and Culture.]As set out in the Medium Term Financial Strategy, the Council is considering withdrawing subsidy from the Meals on Wheels Service. This report presents the findings of the public consultation and in light of these makes recommendations on the budget proposal to end the subsidy for meals on wheels.

The Cabinet Member for Adult Social Care and Culture introduced the report which outlined the outcome of the consultation on the proposed withdrawal of the meals on wheels’ subsidy. The report recommended the withdrawal of the subsidy for the meals on wheels’ scheme and also considered the mitigations that would be put in place to support users following withdrawal of the subsidy.

The Leader and Cabinet Member for Adult Social Care and Culture responded to questions from Councillor Engert and Cllr Ejiofor. The following information was noted.

• The saving had been delayed as alternative savings had been identified to fill the temporary gap, but the savings to the base budget were still required.

• All the 110 users would receive an assessment review and support plan to ensure they were supported to get the best alternative option for delivery of their meals.

RESOLVED

1. To take into account the detailed feedback of the consultation undertaken with users of the Meals on Wheels service, as set out in appendices 1 and 2 of this report.

2. To take into account the equality impact assessment of the proposals on the protected groups, i.e. service users, and the proposed mitigations in appendix 3.

3. To approve the withdrawal of the subsidy for the Meals on Wheels service.

4. To approve the future service arrangement with the Council acting as a facilitator and navigator and helping service users to decide which community alternatives meal options available they want to take up.

Reasons for decision

In delivering the Corporate Plan, the Council aims to enable all adults to lead healthy, long and fulfilling lives through a strong emphasis on promoting independence, personalisation and choice and control. There is no statutory requirement for local authorities to fund the costs of food or meals directly and a significant proportion of other Councils have withdrawn from delivering or subsidising a meals service over the past five years or so.

The current arrangements for meals on wheels, where a subsidy is paid by the Council towards the cost of each meal delivered through a contract with an external supplier, are taken up by approximately 110 users at any one time. This is a significant reduction from the 300 users accessing the service in 2010 reflecting changing user preferences and habits.

There has been no increase in client contributions to the service since 2012/13 and the contribution has only increased by 20p per meal from £3.20 to £3.40 since 2010. However, as the volume of meals has decreased the cost of the meals has increased each year with a standard meal now costing £7.60. The Council now contributes at least £4.20 as subsidy towards the cost, costing the Council over £140,000 each year.

The responses to the consultation demonstrate that the vast majority of users disagreed with the proposal to withdraw the subsidy and highly value the current subsidised meals on wheels’ service. However, half of respondents indicated that they would be able to afford to pay more than the current contribution level with 39%  ...  view the full minutes text for item 87