Agenda item

The Committee considered the People Directorate - Debt Position Statement.

In the ensuing debate, the following points were made:

·         Mark Fitton, Strategic Director for People explained that increasing levels of Adult Social Debt was not unique to this Council. It was only the size and scale of debt that varied nationally. It should be noted that the key focus for a social worker at the point of delivering social care was the health of the service user. The Council had a duty of care to the service user and could not withdraw the service whether or not a service user or their family could or would not pay

·         Concern was expressed at the trend of debt level increases, the approach taken to debt recovery and the timeframe for sending invoices following the financial settlement. Mark Fitton acknowledged that processes needed to be improved and made the following points:

o   At the point of assessment, the social worker should be able to provide the service user with written information about service charges. Social workers needed to understand that part of their role was to ensure value for money. A process was in place to engage with social workers accordingly.

o   Some of the current telephony and IT processes did not allow for a conversation to be held with service users about payment arrangements. Ideally the Council needed to reach a point where the majority of payments were made by direct debit.

o   The whole process for adult social care payments was being mapped to establish where improvements could be made.

o   Currently charging started 90 days from receipt of care. The aim was to reduce this timeframe to 30 days

o   At present, some service users were paying as requested whilst others either could not or would not pay. It was important that everyone was treated equally and required to pay on time

o   Where clients lived in residential care homes, the onus should be on the resident care home to arrange payments for care thereby taking this risk away from the Council

·         Jane Way, FOS Operational Manager explained that service users were provided with a leaflet explaining the care costs at the initial contact but given the difficult circumstances, the message about payment was not necessarily acknowledged or recognised. The aim was to complete an assessment of the cost of the service within 6 weeks although this did not always happen for various reasons. The billing process could then take a further 4 weeks

·         Concern was expressed that the Council was always saddled with an approximate 10-week level of debt from the outset irrespective of how wealthy the client was. Mark Fitton responded that if the client was wealthy then it was likely that they would be a self-funder and could enter into a deferred payment scheme whereby the debt was accrued against the value of their property

·         Direct debit was clearly the best and most effective way of arranging payment. Nicky Hardman, FOS Manager - Income and Debt Team indicated that at present direct debits were set up at the point of the receipt of the first invoice. Michael Hudson added that work on improving the invoicing process had been impacted by Covid. The process needed to be improved significantly before direct debits became the main means of payment

·         It was queried whether it was possible to introduce an interim assessment process to speed up the receipt of payment. Jane Way indicated that the Ombudsman had deemed this approach unlawful following a case involving Cornwall County Council,

·         Would it be possible to make the leaflet handed over at the point of contact into a legally binding contract? Michael Hudson responded that it should be borne in mind that social workers were dealing with the most vulnerable members of society and therefore a softer engagement was required at the initial point of contact. However, he acknowledged that the charging processes needed to be improved

·         In response to a concern about the 6-week period needed for the completion of an assessment, Jane Way explained that the majority of assessments were completed within 4 weeks. Efforts were being made to speed up the assessment process

·         It was important that processes were improved to avoid debt accumulating in the first instance and that historic debt was chased

·         It was queried whether the use of an external collection service had been ruled out. Michael Hudson advised that the Council was looking at perhaps using debt collector headed paperwork as a means of encouraging payment or passing the work to a debt collecting agency. There were sensitivities to bear in mind particularly in the case of a service user passing away or sending a bailiff into a residential home. The Council was looking at all options to find the best approach

·         It was requested that a further report be brought to the July Committee which would give officers time to complete the mapping exercise. The report should focus on setting out details of progress of the plans in place to prevent social care debt accumulating from the initial point of contact with the service user receiving the care.

RESOLVED that:

a)    The Debt Position Statement for the People Directorate be noted; and

b)   An update be brought to the Committee meeting of the Committee on 21 July 2023.