Agenda and minutes

The Chairman welcomed everyone to the meeting and thanked colleagues for their best wishes following his accident in April.

None.

Members of the public wishing to take part should notify the Head of Legal and Democratic Services, in writing or by email indicating the nature and content of their proposed participation no later than 9.00am on the working day before the meeting (in this case 12 July 2016). Enquiries can be made through the telephone number/email address below.

None.

Previously circulated

The Minutes of the Meeting held on 23 May 2016 were agreed as a correct record and signed by the Chairman.

Attending for this Item were:

Worcestershire County Council

Richard Keble, Strategic Commissioner

Age UK, Herefordshire and Worcestershire

Jane Longmore, Business Development Manager

The Strategic Commissioner gave a presentation which outlined the background to Social Impact Bonds (SIBs) and in particular focussed on the SIB in Worcestershire on tackling loneliness.  The Business Development Manager provided practical examples of the work being undertaken and the operational aspects of the SIB.

Social Impact Bonds are a way of providing outcome based commissioning, where there are no set up costs, no activity payments and payment is only due when and if outcomes are delivered.  Social Investors pay for the activity and are 'rewarded' on delivery of outcomes.  This shifts the risk to the Social Investor and its delivery partners.

In Worcestershire, the process of developing the SIB to tackle loneliness was initiated over two years ago.  A development grant was awarded in February 2014 and the formal contract with the Social Investor (Reconnections Ltd) started in May 2015.  Reconnections Ltd sub contract the delivery of the programme to Age UK, Herefordshire and Worcestershire.

Worcestershire continues to see a rise in the number of people aged over 50 and evidence suggests that loneliness increases the likelihood of deterioration in health and well-being.  It is suggested that around 12,000 older people are socially isolated and it is hoped that this programme will provide cost avoidance to the health economy of up to £36m.  It was noted that this figure was not a cash saving, rather cost avoidance.

The extent to which any individual is classed as lonely is determined using an internationally recognised scale devised by the University of California Los Angeles (UCLA).  In Worcestershire, 4 standard questions are used and these form the baseline for the programme.  Participants have to score a minimum of 8 (on a 12 point scale) and be representative of the population of Worcestershire.

Payments are made at 2 points, after 6 months and 18 months of engagement with the programme and the aggregated point score from the cohort is expected to have dropped to achieve payment.

The maximum amount of funding available over the 2 year programme is £2m split between the Public Health Ring Fenced Grant (25%), the three Clinical Commissioning Groups (25%) and the Big Lottery/Cabinet Office (50%).

To date, 19 individuals had been engaged in the programme and after 6 months, 21 UCLA loneliness points had been reduced.  It was suggested that some individuals scored more points from the baseline questions, however, it was recognised that perceptions changed.

Age UK had achieved representative participation and exceeded the target of 20% of referrals being from the areas of highest need.  24% of referrals had loneliness scores of 11 and 12 (out of 12) suggesting that these individuals were chronically lonely.

As the programme is now underway, there is the opportunity to reflect on previous practice.  Due to the number of referrals being lower than anticipated, Age UK had changed their marketing strategy accordingly.  In addition, the initial assessment  ...  view the full minutes text for item 230.