Invitees:

Susan Cooper Corporate Director – Wellbeing

Cllr P White - Cabinet Member Adult Social Care Health and Wellbeing

Jackie Davies, Head of Adult Social Care

Aaron Norman - Finance Manager, Social Services, Wellbeing, Resources and LARS

The Scrutiny Officer introduced a report, the purpose of which was to present the draft Medium Term Financial Strategy 2016-17 to 2019-20, which includes a financial forecast for 2016-20 and a detailed draft revenue budget for 2016-17. 

The Corporate Director Social Services and Wellbeing set out the context for the draft budget proposals in Adult Social Care.  She stated that the majority of the budget reduction proposals will happen over a period of time due to the need to transform services and not solely in 2016-17.  The Corporate Director Social Services and Wellbeing informed the Committee that the biggest issue in making budget reduction proposals was to ensure sustainability of services.    

The Committee requested an explanation of the effects of the more favourable Local Government Settlement on the budget reduction proposals.  The Corporate Director Social Services and Wellbeing informed the Committee that in relation to ASC1 which related to the focus of local authority homecare on specialist and complex care, the budget reduction proposal had been reduced by £107k due to it being a complex service.  She stated that a framework agreement had been approved whereby the Council had 13 providers of homecare services.  The Council would however retain the more complex homecare cases, with the more generic and less complex homecare cases having the support of external providers from the framework agreement.  The Corporate Director Social Services and Wellbeing informed the Committee that two companies on the framework agreement are new to the Council.  She also informed the Committee that the tenders had been evaluated with a greater emphasis placed on quality as opposed to price and that it was essential that providers arrive with service users on time.  All providers will use a call monitoring system.  The Committee questioned why the Council could not retain all its homecare services in-house as the Social Services and Wellbeing Act promotes direct payments.  The Corporate Director Social Services and Wellbeing informed the Committee that steps had been taken to transform and re-model homecare services for some time and there remained significant work to be done in relation to direct payments.  She stated that there is a vibrant market of homecare providers the Council can call on and the remodelling of homecare services is part of the Medium Term Financial Strategy (MTFS) proposals.  The Cabinet Member Adult Social Care and Health and Wellbeing informed the Committee that maintaining homecare services would not realise the savings required in the MTFS. 

The Corporate Director Social Services and Wellbeing informed the Committee that in relation to ASC2 which related to support to increased independence through enablement and progression of Learning Disability Services that the budget reduction for 2016-17 was now £40k and not £180k as originally forecast.  She stated that it was important that time is taken so that service users can make the right choices on the support they require.  The Corporate Director Social Services and Wellbeing also informed the Committee that the Learning Disability Services team had recently been the subject of an inspection and it was hoped that the inspection would have a positive outcome. 

The Corporate Director Social Services and Wellbeing informed the Committee that in relation to ASC3 which related to linking the work on the new assessment framework to the new eligibility criteria as part of the Social Services and Wellbeing Act this had been given a real focus of attention and that the targets set had been high.  She stated that the budget reduction proposal prior to the settlement would have been £1.1m but had now been revised to £662k in 2016-17.  The Committee questioned whether this linked with budget reduction proposal ASC12 of making continued efficiencies in Learning Disability Services.  The Corporate Director Social Services and Wellbeing stated that following the introduction of the Act, the previous eligibility criteria would no longer apply and service users who come into managed care would have to be assessed as being substantial and critical in order to receive support.  Service users who have been assessed as needing moderate care would be signposted to the most appropriate services.  She stated there is a commitment and energy from the team with the introduction of the Act.  All social work staff are fully on board with reviewing care packages and they share good practice and mentor colleagues in making assessments.  The Finance Manager informed the Committee that the reduced budget target would still be challenging for the Directorate.  The Committee questioned the communication channels in operation in the Directorate.  The Corporate Director Social Services and Wellbeing informed the Committee that there is a small team in the Directorate which is responsible for championing change.  She stated that she communicates with all staff within her Directorate by sending out messages during the year.  The Corporate Director Social Services and Wellbeing also informed the Committee that she holds regular meetings with managers and had recently met Social Workers to discuss social work practice.  She stated that she had embedded a culture of staff being able to have access to her and managers. 

The Corporate Director Social Services and Wellbeing informed the Committee that budget reduction proposal ASC6 which related to management, administrative and training had been reduced from £153k to £76k by rationalising Learning Disability services.  The Corporate Director Social Services and Wellbeing and Heads of Service would be reshaping the senior management team in the Directorate.  She stated that there would be a need for managers to implement changes and the new Act, the introduction of the Welsh Community Care Information System and requirements of the Welsh Language Guidance would bring about a great deal of transformation. 

The Committee questioned in relation to budget reduction proposal ASC19 the income stream from selling 4 weekly placements at the Bridgend Resource Centre.  The Corporate Director Social Services and Wellbeing informed the Committee that there is considerable downtime at the Bridgend Resource Centre at certain times.  She stated that there is a need to ensure better use of the building and it was intended to arrange for the building to be managed by a third party who will have greater experience in managing such facilities.  Discussions had taken place with both Neath Port Talbot and the Vale of Glamorgan Councils whether they wished to purchase placements at the Centre.  In response to a question from the Committee whether the selling of placements would be to the detriment of BCBC residents, the Corporate Director Social Services and Wellbeing informed the Committee that it would not be to their detriment.  She stated that revised hours for the operation of the Bridgend Resource Centre would need to be looked at and a business case to be developed with a partner to manage the building and terms and conditions of staff would need to be revised. 

In response to a question from the Committee on budget reduction proposal HL5 relating to the dual use of the hall to school management at Porthcawl, the Corporate Director Social Services and Wellbeing undertook to raise concerns regarding its availability to the community with the Group Manager Sports and Physical Activity. 

The Committee questioned the impact of introducing charges for supplementary holiday support in Learning Disabilities in ASC20.  The Corporate Director Social Services and Wellbeing informed the Committee of the need to introduce a consistent model across all learning disability supported living services in that service users who live in Council accommodation would pay for themselves and the Council would pay for a member of staff to go with them.  In the independent sector, the service user would pay for themselves and also pay for the member of staff accompanying them.  

The Committee requested further information on the income generation proposal at Bryn y Cae to include further development of reablement beds referred to in ASC22.  The Corporate Director Social Services and Wellbeing informed the Committee that discussions would shortly be commencing with the ABMU to reconfigure the reablement part of Bryn y Cae so that more people could be moved to transitional beds to release capacity on hospital beds.  She stated that a paper on reablement at Bryn y Cae would be brought to the Committee at a future date.

The Committee referred to the Intermediate Care Fund increasing from £20m to £50m allocated to the NHS to manage and questioned how this Council would benefit.  The Corporate Director Social Services and Wellbeing informed the Committee that Intermediate Care Fund had shifted to the NHS and that spend by the ABMU from this fund would require the approval of the Western Bay Partnership Board.  Bridgend would receive £370k this year to be allocated to Social Services.  The Corporate Director Social Services and Wellbeing also informed the Committee that some funding from the ICF is joint funding whilst other funding is solely for health.  She provided the Committee with details of a specialist scheme known as Better at Home and that Bridgend Care and Repair receive funding to enable them to provide handrails on the day a person is discharged from hospital.  The Cabinet Member Adult Social Care and Health and Wellbeing informed the Committee that better use of ICF had been raised in meetings with the Minister and the Corporate Director Social Services and Wellbeing will be writing to the Minister in relation to winter pressures.  He stated that there is a need to make improvements to Bryn y Cae. 

The Committee questioned whether the savings target for the current year had been met.  The Corporate Director Social Services and Wellbeing confirmed that the savings for this year had been met and that Director had been asked to bring proposals forward for 2018-19.  She stated that the savings target to date had been £14.1m which had been challenging however there was a need to build on the successes to date and continue to be innovative. 

The Committee questioned whether the recurrent funding of £31k for a carers development officer could instead be spent to provide more activities for carers.  The Corporate Director Social Services and Wellbeing informed the Committee that the new Act strengthens the rights of carers and that the work and role carers provide is significant She stated that there is a need for the carers development officer role to continue as the post holder has been involved in the development of the carers strategy in conjunction with carers and that the number of carers had increased.  The Committee questioned whether it could be evidenced that improvements had been made since the introduction of the carers development officer post.  The Corporate Director Social Services and Wellbeing confirmed that this could be evidenced through the increased support given to carers over a period of 18 months.  The Committee questioned whether carers could receive advocacy services through the Community Health Council.  The Corporate Director Social Services and Wellbeing informed the Committee that she had requested that an audit of advocacy services be provided. 

In response to a question from the Committee, the Corporate Director Social Services and Wellbeing stated that she would re-word the first bullet point in paragraph 4.7 of the report. 

In response to a question from the Committee, the Corporate Director Social Services and Wellbeing informed the Committee that she would make enquiries as to feasibility of including Ael y Bryn on the rota visits. 

Conclusions

The Committee noted the report, which provided Members with the draft Medium Term Financial Strategy 2016-17, including a financial forecast for 2016-20 and a detailed draft revenue budget for 2016-17.

·         Members asked for clarification regarding any changes or omissions to proposals as a result of recent changes to the requirement for savings.  The Officer identified the changes and the rationale for them.

·         Members requested that the paragraph on page 25 of the report on the Medium Term Financial Strategy 2016-17 which relates to the increasing number of young people with complex disabilities is reworded.

·         Members queried whether the savings figures quoted could be perceived as target savings to reach rather than looking at making as much savings as possible, which could be over and above the saving figures quoted.

·         Members were concerned that the Authority would not be in a position to take up opportunities to work with recipients of Direct Payments except in cases of complex care. The Officer responded that provision of specialist care is still in-house, and that there is a need to explore all potential opportunities and to look at the experience of other authorities.

·         Members noted the unavoidable pressure of £31,000 relating to a Carers Development Officer role for which grant funding has ended and queried whether the Authority could find other ways to use the allocated budget to support Carers.

·         Members supported the use of a transitional approach in reconfiguring the use of beds at Bryn Y Cae.

Recommendations

• The Committee recommend that Ael Y Bryn be added to the Rota Visits system.

Further Information requested

The Committee requested further information to show evidence of the impact and outcomes related to the work of the Carers Development Officer.