Agenda and draft minutes

Venue: Urgent

Items
No. Item

55.

Apologies for absence

Minutes:

There were no apologies for absence.

56.

Declaration of interest

A member with a disclosable pecuniary interest or a prejudicial interest in a matter who attends a meeting of the authority at which the matter is considered:

 

(i) must disclose the interest at the start of the meeting or when the interest becomes apparent, and

(ii) may not participate in any discussion or vote on the matter and must withdraw from the meeting room.

 

A member who discloses at a meeting a disclosable pecuniary interest which is not registered in the Register of Members’ Interests or the subject of a pending notification must notify the Monitoring Officer of the interest within 28 days of the disclosure.

 

Disclosable pecuniary interests, personal interests and prejudicial interests are defined at Paragraphs 5-7 and Appendix A of the Members’ Code of Conduct

 

Minutes:

There were no declarations of interest.

57.

Approval of Discretionary Payment Policy for those Self-Isolating during the Covid-19 pandemic pdf icon PDF 224 KB

The Chair of Overview and Scrutiny has agreed that the decision is both reasonable in all the circumstances and that it should be treated as a matter of urgency. The decision is deemed urgent in that any delay in implementation caused by the call-in procedure would seriously prejudice the Council's response to the COVID-19 pandemic and the wider public interest. The decisions will ultimately ensure that residents on low incomes can access funding to self -isolate and slow the transmission of the virus.  The call-in procedure rules do not apply when the decision being taken is urgent or time critical as set out above. This is in accordance with Part 4, Section H Call-In Procedure Rules Paragraph 18 (a) and (b) of the Council Constitution.

 

 

Additional documents:

Minutes:

The Assistant Director  for Commissioning  outlined that The Department of Health and Social Care had recently published guidance to local authorities to deliver a Test and Trace Support Payment Scheme to cover the period 28th September to 31st January 2021. The Test and Trace Support Payment scheme was designed to support people on low incomes and who have been asked to self-isolate by NHS Test and Trace, if they will lose income as a result of self-isolating, and to encourage them to get tested if they have symptoms.

 

In this guidance, local authorities were permitted to develop a Discretionary Scheme setting out their  approach to supporting people who are self-isolating during the Covid-19 pandemic but are not eligible for the Department of Health and Social Care’s Test and Trace Support Payment as they are not in receipt of qualifying benefits or are not able to demonstrate their eligibility in the prescribed ways.

 

The Cabinet Member noted that both the national and local schemes were designed to support residents and other members of their household to self-isolate as restricting contact was an important measure to help stop the transmission of COVID-19 and avoid further economic and societal restrictions.

 

The resolutions were seeking approval of the Council’s proposed Discretionary Policy, attached, in order for the discretionary scheme to become operational.

 

The Department of Health and Social Care’s Test and Trace Support Payment Scheme (the Scheme) started on 28th September 2020 and local authorities were expected to have arrangements in place to administer the payments by 12th October 2020.  The recommended decision was intended facilitate the discretionary payments arrangements under the Scheme. The decision and its implementation was therefore urgent and time critical.

 

The Cabinet Member  noted that, as of 12th October, local residents are approaching the Council for support under the Scheme. There had been  8 applicants put forward on Friday 16th of October and  completion of their applications delayed until  today. 

 

The Cabinet Member noted that where residents find that they are not eligible for the Scheme, the Council still wished to offer support within an agreed Policy framework to facilitate self-isolation and to slow the transmission of Covid-19.

 

Given the rapidly growing incidence of Covid-19 in the community, with pressures now being felt on local acute hospital settings, the Council wished to facilitate residents who have been asked to self-isolate to do so and thereby to ensure that as few people as possible suffer financial hardship as a result of self-isolating. In the Council’s view, it was desirable to set in place this measure urgently as one of several already being introduced to slow the spread of the virus and to reduce the risk of further community transmission.

 

The Cabinet Member considered the report and recommendations and noted that there had been no  queries from her councillors colleagues on the  proposed urgent decision. The Cabinet Member,

 

 

RESOLVED

 

1             To adopt the Self-Isolation Payment Discretionary Policy attached at Appendix 1.

 

2             To delegate authority to the Assistant Director Commissioning, in  ...  view the full minutes text for item 57.