Presentation by Barbara Nicholls – Head of Adult Services on the impact on carers of Care Act assessments.
Minutes:
The Head of Adult services explained that the Care Act had received Royal Assent in May 2014 and that the legislation would be enacted from April 2015. The associated funding reforms would take effect from April 2016. The Act put carers on the footing as those they cared for and placed upon the Council a new duty to support carers. Personal budgets, a form of direct payments were also now on a legislative footing.
The funding system for care and support was being reformed by the Act with a cap introduced on care costs and a much higher threshold for care payments. These changes would have a lot of implications for Havering. The universal deferred payment scheme was also being extended which allowed Councils to reclaim care costs from a person’s property after they had died.
Also being introduced was a continuous duty of care if people moved between boroughs as well as new duties to ensure care was still provided if a provider failed. Transition arrangements between children’s and adult care were also strengthened by the Care Act. Safeguarding adults would also now be placed on a statutory footing. The Council already had a Safeguarding Adults Board which met bi-monthly and the Council was required to ensure that the Board had a proper workplan. The Council and partners were also required to cooperate when conducting investigations and partners could not demand any payment for doing this. A process was being for the Board to conduct safeguarding reviews and advocacy for safeguarding was also required to be supported.
Regulations covering the duties and responsibilities of the Council had been published in October 2014. A lot of current adult social care legislation, some of which was contradictory, was being replaced by the Care Act.
The current position was that people with savings in excess of £23,250 would have to pa\y the full cost of their care but under the Care Act, this would be raised to £118,000. The maximum contribution paid towards care would also be capped at £72,000. This did not include up to £12,000 per year on ‘hotel costs’ such as food and accommodation, which still have to be paid, even if the maximum cap had been reached.
The average cost of a Havering care placement was £550-600 per week and people reaching the age of 18 with care and support needs would have a zero cap and hence would not be expected to make any payment. The situation for people who were already in the system or who entered care just before the funding reforms commenced was unclear and further guidance from central Government was awaited.
It was expected that more assessments of care needs would be required under the Care Act but it was not possible to be certain of numbers at this stage. Draft guidance on the funding reforms was expected in December (2014) but it was noted that there were 41 older people’s care homes in Havering with a total of 1,550 beds. Currently 64% of residents were self- funding or from other boroughs and this could have serious implications for Havering. There was a likelihood that other Councils would seek to use Havering care homes and there had been a lot of lobbying on this issues by the Local Government Association and the Association of Directors of Adult Social Services.
A series of work streams had been set up in Havering to manage the introduction of the Care Act. A Programme Board chaired by the Group Director – Joy Hollister oversaw the process. Emerging concerns and priorities included affordability, modelling and estimating (for example how many people in Havering were self-funding as well as capacity issues such as the amount of infrastructure needed for the Care Act. Signposting and front door issues were also a concern as were required changes to the practice of social workers.
It was emphasised that there were a number of good points regarding the Care Act such as the bringing of all adult social care legislation into one place for the first time. The new rights for carers were a positive as was the putting of safeguarding of adults onto a statutory footing. Officers felt however that the funding reform remained a problem.
There was no change to the Deprivation of Liberty and Safeguarding (DOLS) procedures which were already carried by the Council although there could be some financial implications as DOLS now also applied to community settings such as supported living. There had been a total of 120 DOLS referrals so far this year which had a significant cost implication.
Literature for residents on the Care Act was currently being developed. An article had been put in Living magazine and weekly staff bulletins were produced for staff which it was suggested Members may also benefit from receiving. A series of factsheets on the Care Act had been produced by the Department of Health and officers would distribute these to the Committee.
The Chairman pointed out that residents were likely to approach Councillors for advice concerning aspects of the Care Act and it was confirmed that further briefings for Members were planned. Engagement work was also under way with care providers. A representative from NELFT added that she would draw on Council teams for social work support if required. It was also noted that it would be necessary to improve IT systems in order to support implementation of the Care Act.
The Committee NOTED the position with the Care Act and thanked offices for the update.