Agenda item

To submit a report by the Interim Head of Adults’ Services.

The report of the Interim Head of Adults’ Service wh with regard to setting the level of the Authority’s Standard Charge for local authority care homes for the year April, 2020 to March, 2021 was presented for the Executive’s consideration.

The Chair and Portfolio Member for Social Services reported that Local Authorities are required under Section 22 of the National Assistance Act 1948, to set the Standard Charge for their homes. She referred to the basis for calculating the Standard Charge as outlined in the report and highlighted that based on the table therein, the estimated cost per resident week for the year to 31 March, 2022 is £786.50. The Executive has previously made a decision to increase the fees in line with the actual cost of provision gradually over a 3 year period with 2021/22 being the final year. The fee for 2020/21 was set at £722.21 per week. The recommendation of the report is that given 2021/22 is the final year of the 3 year plan, the fees be set to reflect the full cost of the service i.e. £786.50 per week.

The Director of Function (Resources)/Section 151 Officer advised that the standard fee is that which the Authority is obliged to charge those residents who have the financial means to pay the full cost of their residential care. The running costs for 2021/22 have increased by 1.033%, but due to reduced occupancy levels, the standard charge increases by 3% or £26.12 from £760.38 for 2020/21 to £786.50 for 2021/22. The Executive has sought to bring the fees charged to self-funding clients into line with the cost of provision over a three year period with that due to be achieved in 2021/22. However, that would entail a significant rise in the fee level from £722.21 per week to £786.50 per week. The Executive will need to consider whether it wishes to adhere to the 3 year policy and implement the increase in full to achieve parity between fees and costs in 2021/22 or to extend the timeline by which that is to be achieved and if so, by how much.

The Director of Function (Resources)/Section 151 Office confirmed in response to the Chair and Portfolio Member for Social Services that Welsh Government has raised the savings threshold for paying care home fees meaning fewer people are affected; the decision would  therefore apply to in the region of 25 or 30 individuals. The Officer further clarified that extending the 3 year plan by an additional year which the Chair and Portfolio Member for Social Services was minded to propose as reasonable in the circumstances, would because of the numbers involved, have minimal impact on the Budget and the service’s income and does not represent a financial risk.

The Chair and Portfolio Member for Social Services therefore proposed that the 3 year plan be extended by one year and that the full cost of provision should not be reflected in the fees for 2021/22. The Executive was in agreement with the proposal.  The Director of Function (Resources)/Section 151 Officer confirmed that the one year extension means that the fee level for 2021/22 will be £754.36.

It was resolved –

·        That the standard charge for the Authority’s care homes for the financial year 1 April 2021 to 31 March 2022 be set at £786.50 per week.

·        To defer increasing fees to the full cost of the service for a further year and,

·        That the full fee per resident per week for the Authority’s homes is set at £754.36 per week.