Issue - meetings

[Report of the  Assistant Director for Adults and Health. To be introduced by the Cabinet Member for Adults and Health.]

This paper proposes a period of statutory consultation on the plans to introduce fees for the administration of accounts for clients who are self-funders and those for whom the Council has appointeeship.  This proposal is put forward as part of the Medium Term Financial Strategy (MTFS) for 2019/20.

The Cabinet Member for Adults and Health introduced the report which sought agreement to a period of consultation on the introduction of fees for the administration by the Council of accounts for clients who are self-funders and those for whom the Council has appointee-ship. As part of ensuring the long-term sustainability of administrative support to these clients, these measures were being consulted on before Cabinet takes a view as to whether they should be implemented. The Cabinet Member encouraged stakeholders to respond to the consultation to inform Cabinet’s decision on the outcome of the consultation findings.

Further to a question from Cllr Cawley- Harrison on the impact of the proposals on residents with protected equalities characteristics of age, disability and ethnicity, it was noted that the Council were not happy about putting these proposals forward but would endeavour to put in mitigations to prevent financial harm or ensure that this was minimised. The Council would be asking people affected by the proposals to provide their comments in the consultation period.

The proposal was also enshrined as part of Fairer Charging policy so the Council were looking to ensure that anyone affected by the policy was able to pay and Council would need to be aware if they were disadvantaging anyone through this process. The mitigations would also be set out in the final proposals to Cabinet.

RESOLVED

1. To approve for consultation with service users, carers and other stakeholders the proposal to introduce administration fees for self-funders and the management of Department of Work and Pensions (DWP) appointeeship clients.
2. To agree that a report on the findings of the consultation and the proposed recommendation be brought back to Cabinet for a decision.

Reasons for decision

As part of the MTFS [Medium Term Financial Strategy] for 2019/20 the Council has recommended to take forward the proposals made to introduce a fee for the administration of accounts, which would generate income of approximately £120K p.a. in relation to self-funders and the management of Department for Work and Pension (DWP) appointee-ship clients. In order to take forward these proposals, a period of consultation with users, carers and other stakeholders is required to inform a Cabinet decision on any proposal to implement.

Alternative options considered

The Council has a statutory duty to consult on these proposals and there is therefore no alternative to the proposals to consult set out here.