Agenda item

Report of the Director of Environment and Neighbourhoods. To be introduced by the Cabinet Member for Tackling Inequality and Resident Services.

The redesign of the Resident Carers' Permit to ensure that it meets the complex needs of those being cared for at home.

The Cabinet Member for Tackling Inequality and Resident Services introduced the report which took forward the next steps in the development of a redesigned parking permit offer to support residents being cared for in their homes.

The Cabinet Member described the changes to the social care landscape and the complex array of professional caregivers providing older people, disabled people and terminally ill residents with a range of services, meaning some residents were seeing between five and six caregivers a day.

The proposed resident carers permit responded to these growing care needs and the Cabinet Member was glad that residents had asked for a change in policy and had also helped co – develop this product. This would be a free physical and transferable permit that would be given to the resident to pass to their carers when visiting and then be passed back to them. This would significantly help residents with care needs living in CPZ areas.

In response to questions from Cllr Connor the following information was noted:

• Very few residents would have more than one person coming to their home to give them care at any one time. There would not be booklets available and a single transferable permit provided. However, it was recognised that there will be situations that two carers may be needed for example for manual handling and this issue would be addressed in the next development stage of carer permit which would be co – designed with residents. It was firstly a priority to ensure that there was an easy application process with one step evidence and then there would be an assessment of the anomalies that occur and the flexibility needed in the application process. This would be explored at the next stage of development.

• The cost to the budget outlined was £20,000 and this was associated with the loss of income from residents paying for visitor permits and not the new policy.

• The service would be working on the design of the permit with residents and looking at a hologram style and exploring if technology would allow a barcode to be added to help PCO officers understand if a stolen permit was being used more quickly.

RESOLVED

1.    To note the outcome of the consultation on the parking needs of residents being cared for in their homes set out in section 7 of the report and agrees for the Council to proceed to statutory consultation on the Proposed Care at Home parking permit set out in Appendix 2.

2.    To approve that the existing Resident Carer Permit scheme be replaced with a new Care at Home parking permit that offers one free transferable permit to residents living within a Controlled Parking Zone (CPZ), who require essential home visits by a doctor, district nurse, similar healthcare professional or voluntary carers.

3.    To approve that the Care at Home Permit:

(a)  is limited to the CPZ in which the applicant resides

(b)  may be used only in resident permit holder and shared use (permit holder or pay by phone) parking bays

(c)  is in paper form, allowing it to be transferred between vehicles for use solely by carers

(d)  may be used without time limit, whilst care is being provided

4.    To approve that the entitlement is limited to one free Care at Home permit per applicant and that the permit will be valid for 3 years; and that residents requiring more than one carer at a time can access paper visitor parking permits at the concessionary charge.

5.    To agree that a further report be brought back to Cabinet for a final decision following the statutory consultation.

Reasons for decision

The Council is committed to supporting people who are cared for at home. The Council’s consultation and engagement with those residents, carers and representative groups has highlighted the challenges that current parking arrangements can present to those individuals.

Parking policies have not kept pace with changes in how personal care arrangements are now provided. This often involves a range of carers attending to an individual, where car use is common and considered, by some, as essential. Proposals in this report aim to address those challenges and remove barriers and seeks approval to proceed to the formal process make changes to the traffic management orders.

Alternative options considered

Consideration was given to relying on existing parking permit schemes. In addition to the Resident Carer and Essential Service Permit schemes, elderly and disabled residents may purchase visitors permits without an upper limit at a reduced charge.

Consideration was given to arrangements involving more than one carer attending an individual at the same time and allowing more than one free permit in those circumstances. The engagement with stakeholders and professionals indicated that more complex care needs requiring more than one carer at the same time are less common. It was considered that residents requiring this level of support may be entitled to housing adaptations and assistive technologies that are on offer. It was therefore felt that that one free permit would be a reasonable offer and that residents needing more than one career at any one time can still access visitor (paper) permits at a concessionary rate.

Consideration was given to widening the scope of this new arrangement to foster carers. Foster carers appear to have a particular problem in parking outside the Maya Angelou Contact Centre in Wood Green, when dropping off or picking up children in their care. Those concerns will be addressed through the provision of additional short-stay parking facilities at that location.

In addition to feedback given through this consultation, the Council also received representations for a range of support, including free parking for foster carers. Their position is that this concession is required when taking children to their many appointments, for example with doctors, family contact centres and court hearings. This new permit offer would not meet the needs of Foster Carers and the design and management of such a scheme would be challenging as there is no practical means of limiting the use such a concession to when looked after children are being transported. Those venues are all supported by short term parking arrangements. Those arrangements can be extended if needed.

The Chair of Overview and Scrutiny has been informed that it was impracticable to give 28 days’ notice of the decision. This decision was originally included on the Forward Plan for decision at the Cabinet meeting on 8 November 2022 (Review of the Care at Home Parking Permit). This amended notice provides an updated title and description which more accurately reflects the decision. It has been identified that there is an urgent need to assist those caring for residents who need to use their cars in order to provide care and, therefore, it was not possible to comply with the usual 28 day notice period.

Given the reasons above, it is not practicable to comply with the 28-day notice requirement in Part Four, Section D, Rule 13 of the constitution. This is set out in Part Four, Section D, Rule 16, of the Constitution