To note and approve the publication of the Local Account of Adult Social Care and Support 2014/15.

The Committee received a report on the Adult Social Care Local Account.  The Director of Adults & Wellbeing highlighted the following issues:

·         Work undertaken as part of the implementation of the Care Act 2014.

·         Safeguarding work that had been undertaken as part of the work delivered by the Local Authority.

In the ensuing discussion, the following points were raised:

·         That the work that the Making it Real Board had oversight of had been completed and was an indication that the Authority was moving in the right direction.

·         That the communication and engagement officer was overseeing the promulgation of information concerning the wellbeing, information and signposting hub (WISH), and would engage local Members in specific wards wherever possible.

·         That one of the purposes of the Local Account was to facilitate challenge of the Service, and this had been undertaken as part of the external Peer Review processes that had taken place twice over the previous 18 months.  Significant progress had been achieved over the previous year and there were currently no areas for concern.

·         That there was a new independent Chairman of the Adult Safeguarding Board, and that membership of the Board had been restructured and was more representative across the community.   It was working to make safeguarding a more personal issue under the guidance of the Board and other agencies.

·         That a case audit had been undertaken, and whilst there had been significant improvement, there was scope for further progress.

·         Members asked for more granularity of the figures around the quality of life survey in order to be better able to understand what the issues were.

In reply to a question from a Member, the Director said that the Independent Living Fund (ILF) had been closed by Government at the end of June, and funding for the rest of the year had been received, less 5%, which had been calculated as a reduction in the number of people in the system.  It was unclear at this stage as to what changes to funding would be made from 2016/17 onwards. The ILF rules had been different from the national eligibility criteria under which adult social care was administered.  Therefore, in moving from one system to the other, a number of individuals were experiencing changes in the level of care to which they were entitled. Work was in hand to make the direct payment system simpler to use, but it should be remembered that as this was still public money, so controls were required to ensure it was spent on the appropriate areas.

·         That it was clear that there was insufficient financial resources for all those who had previously been in receipt of care, and further work was being undertaken as to how care in the home was provided, with a view to ensuring resources were closely targeted on meeting needs.

In reply to a question, the Director said that that the costs of some elements of residential and home care were higher in the County than the national average. This might reflect the fact that as the delivery of these services in a rural area was sometimes higher than in an urban one.  Travel time between appointments and staff recruitment were both more problematic in the County.  The percentage of those who paid for their own care was also higher in Herefordshire, which meant that the council’s ability to control the prices in the local care market was limited. 

Resolved: that the report be approved.