Agendas, Meetings and Minutes - Agenda and minutes

Agenda and minutes

Venue: County Hall, Worcester

Contact: Emma James /Jo Weston  Overview & Scrutiny Officers

Items
No. Item

411.

Apologies and Welcome

Minutes:

Cllr Jo Monk welcomed everyone to the meeting and explained that the Chairman of the Panel, Cllr Shirley Webb was unable to attend, therefore she would be chairing the meeting.

 

Apologies had also been received from panel members David Chambers, Adrian Kriss and from the Strategic Director for people, Paula Furnival.

412.

Declarations of Interest

Minutes:

None.

413.

Public Participation

Members of the public wishing to take part should notify the Assistant Director for Legal and Governance in writing or by e-mail indicating both the nature and content of their proposed participation no later than 9.00am on the working day before the meeting (in this case Thursday 13 January 2022).  Further details are available on the Council's website.  Enquiries can also be made through the telephone number/e-mail address listed in this agenda and on the website.

Minutes:

None.

414.

Confirmation of the Minutes of the Previous Meeting

Previously circulated

Minutes:

The Minutes of the Meeting held on 15 November 2021 were agreed as a correct record and signed by the Chairman.

415.

Budget Scrutiny 2022/23 pdf icon PDF 232 KB

Additional documents:

Minutes:

In attendance for this item:

 

Michael Hudson, Chief Financial Officer

Steph Simcox, Head of Finance

Kerry McCrossan, Assistant Director of Adult Social Care

Adrian Hardman, Cabinet Member with Responsibility for Adult Social Care

 

As part of the Budget scrutiny process, the Panel considered the draft 2022-23 budget for areas within its remit. The Chief Financial Officer (CFO) highlighted the main points to note from the draft budget and the medium-term financial plan including:

 

·      The 2022/23 Draft Budget report to Cabinet on 6 January set out the proposed budget, and the discussion with this Scrutiny Panel formed part of broader engagement, with feedback from Scrutiny due to be discussed by the Overview and Scrutiny Performance Board on 26 January.

·      The overall net Council budget for 2022-23 was £373.2m, compared to the gross budget for 2021-22 of £349.7m.

·      The most significant pressures on the budget included £15.7m for People Services, £10.3m for pay and contract inflation and £5.9m (£7.9m gross) for Worcestershire Children First (WCF) relating to social care.

·      Several Government grants had been received for 2022-23 including a further £6.1m in recognition of the pressures in Adults and Children’s social care, which totalled £12.6m in additional grant funding.

·      The final settlement from the Government was expected in early February.

·      There remained an efficiencies programme of £8.1m, of which around £3m had already been identified and for the remainder of the efficiencies, Directorates would look at general good housekeeping of budgets for example staff travel expenses.

·      The Panel received a graph benchmarking Council Tax for County Councils in 2021-22 (without Fire). The Panel noted that Worcestershire’s average Council Tax (£1,344) was at a lower level than the average, but highlighted the graph was difficult to breakdown in terms of area.

·      An increase in Council Tax of 3.94% was proposed. This comprised 2% ring-fenced for adult social care services, carried forward from 2021/22 plus a further 1% Adult Social care Levy for 2022/23 in order to contribute to existing cost pressures due to Worcestershire’s ageing population - together with 0.94% increase to provide financial support to continue to fund investments in areas highlighted by the public as important.

·      Worcestershire’s Council Tax was likely to remain in the lower quartile when compared with comparable councils.

·      The Council’s reserves were assessed by the CFO as adequate.

 

The Head of Finance drew the Panel’s attention to the position for Adult Social Care. The £17.1m pressures from demand and growth increases in Adult Care would be funded by the 3% Adult Social Care Council Tax Precept of £8.1m, the increase in the social care grant of £3.5m, the increase in the Improved Better Care Fund income of £0.5m and the Market Sustainability and Fair Cost of Care Fund of £1.6m. Investment in Adult Social Care resulted from detailed assessments carried out in liaison with partners and providers, with staffing costs being a priority for providers.   The funding to be bridged was £3.4m and the potential for joint funding with health was being explored.

 

It was clarified that  ...  view the full minutes text for item 415.

416.

Fair and Transparent Care Project pdf icon PDF 262 KB

Additional documents:

Minutes:

In attendance for this item:

 

Kerry McCrossan, Assistant Director of Adult Social Care

Adrian Hardman, Cabinet Member with Responsibility for Adult Social Care

 

The Assistant Director of Adult Social Care provided a summary of the review of funding arrangements between the Council and Herefordshire and Worcestershire Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG), as set out in the Agenda report, following an earlier overview to the Panel on 15 March 2021.

 

The Council had initiated the Review in September 2020, which was carried out by a specialist organisation, Liaison Care.  A series of engagement sessions had been held with managers to understand fully the current position, and use the findings to agree new and effective ways of working with the CCG to ensure there was fair, equitable and transparent approach to funding of Continuing Health Care (a package of care for people who are not in hospital and have been assessed as having a primary health need), joint packages and S117 cases (aftercare funding designed to cover the cost of meeting all a person’s mental health related support needs).   Live sample cases were reviewed for 170 service users across these categories.

 

The aim was also to ensure people regardless of user group had fair and transparent funding through the correct route, to agree simple methods of apportioning costs for joint funding and to ensure best practice in all areas.

 

The Review had required some challenging discussions, but the Directorate was very pleased with the progress made, as set out in the report - not purely for the budget implications, but for the individuals and families involved where decisions about funding could not be reached and had often gone on for months and months, therefore delaying decisions around organising care.

 

As a consequence, there had been a significant reduction in inter-agency disputes, an increase in numbers eligible for CHC funding and an increase in fast track funding eligibility. In terms of finance, the Council’s income related to CHC has increased by £1.1m and an additional £1.6m one-off income has been achieved for backdated claims/recharges, from reducing and resolving disputes.

 

An agreement had been made with the CCG that all clients under S117 of the mental Health act 1983 (mental Health and Learning Disabilities) would be funded – as a 60:40 split from 2021/22 with the Council picking up 60% and the CCG 40% for all clients, compared with the previous split of 50:50 split for mental Health clients only.

 

The Chairman invited discussion and the following main points were made:

 

·      When asked whether the Liaison report had been shared with councillors, the Assistant Director explained that it had been shared with the Directorate Leadership Team and with health colleagues; due to level of detail it was not appropriate to share the full report more widely, however highlights would be provided to the Panel.

·      An independent organisation had been asked to carry out the Review in order to have an independent view on the position and numbers in Worcestershire compared to nationally. The original cost  ...  view the full minutes text for item 416.

417.

Work Programme pdf icon PDF 131 KB

Additional documents:

Minutes:

The following items were suggested for the Work Programme, which would be incorporated into agenda planning with the Chairman and Vice-Chairman:

 

·         Assistive technology update

·         Update on Learning Disability Services following implementation of outcomes from the Council’s Review

·         Fair and transparent funding -  review outcomes in 6 months

·         Update on the domiciliary care market