Agenda item

Robbie Rainbird, Head of Processing was present, and made a presentation to the Committee, copy interleaved. During consideration of the report the following main points were made –

·         Principles of contributions policy – the income Council receives by charging for care services makes a significant contribution to the capacity to help those who need care. The principles of the contributions policy have been developed, in order to make sure that service users are treated equally, and that the public subsidy goes to the people who need it most

·         People are not charged more than reasonably practicable for them to pay

·         Adult Social Care will assess the needs of the user to determine the type of care and support an individual to help them remain living at home or in the community.

·         Financial assessment process – help and advice is available to residents and family members during the process to complete financial circumstances form – this can be receiving form by post, telephone conversation, home visit and by website

·         Resident’s contributions are calculated, and resident’s income is used as part of the calculation of how much they should contribute to their care. If the resident has capital over £23500 they will have to pay for the full cost of their care. If resident’s income is over £14250 there is a scale for how much a resident’s contribution will be

·          Protected income and expenditure – everyone will have a certain level of income protected, so that they can continue to meet basic living expenses. Each service user will receive an individual assessment of their expenditure. This will consider household expenditure i.e. Council Tax, rent that is not covered by benefits, plus an individual disability related expenditure assessment to determine any additional costs due to a resident’s disability

·         All financial assessment outcomes are confirmed in writing, with a breakdown of costs, and identify any unclaimed benefit entitlement, and offer to help them claim. There is a review and appeal process, and a reassessment of the charge can be requested if there is a change in circumstances. All contributions are reviewed annually

·         Invoices for care contributions are issued every 4 weeks, and the Financial Assessment and Income Recovery Team are available via e mail or telephone, and help is available to set up payments for care and support contributions or have debt issues

·         A Member referred to the fact that certain payments received by residents, such as DLA/Attendance allowance should not be taken into account when assessing financial contributions, as these were paid to them to assist with other aspects of their needs. It was stated that contributions were means tested, and that 42% of residents did not contribute to their care

·         Members were of the view that there needed to be a comparison with other Boroughs to ensure that Islington residents were not paying higher levels of contributions than residents in other boroughs

RESOLVED:

(a)  That a report be submitted to the next meeting on comparison of charging levels with other Boroughs, as requested above

(b)  That the notes of the meetings with Carers be noted

The Chair thanked Robbie Rainbird for his presentation