Decision details

Reason for the decision

On 2 November MHCLG wrote to KCC to inform us that there are 60,975 Clinically Extremely Vulnerable (CEV) individuals who would have to take special care during the 4-week period in which the whole country is having to adopt stringent public health measures. Government has provided advice and guidance to CEVs, and is expecting local government to:

-  contact all CEV individuals

-  assess food and basic support needs

-  facilitate the delivery of that support, but with a clear expectation that in the majority of cases the individuals will look to family and friends first, use priority slots supermarket deliveries, etc, so that only a minority will need direct support.

Across Kent, the County Council and Districts and Boroughs are working with the voluntary sector and other partners to step back up some of the community support arrangements which were put in place at the time of the first ‘lock down’.  This time round there are some key differences: there is no formal ‘shielding’ of CEV but rather guidance on how they can keep themselves safe; there is no national food parcel service; arrangements to access food and prescriptions are much stronger now than in the first lock down and individuals more familiar with how to access such arrangements; more local authority staff are continuing to work in their ‘business as usual’ jobs and there is less scope for re-deploying people onto community support.

KCC and the Districts & Boroughs are regularly given lists of the CEV in their area. Since 5^th November, when the new arrangements came into place, all of the CEV who are known to Adult Services have been contacted by their care managers, and all the others have been contacted by their District Council to ask whether they need support.  The Government also wrote to every CEV individual, saying that they could contact their local council if they need help. 

As expected, only a minority of CEV need direct support, and in those cases it is the Districts and Boroughs who are co-ordinating that support, using whatever local means are most effective. Even where CEV are known to adult social care, if they need help accessing food they would still be referred to their District Council for help with that, with KCC addressing their social care needs.

CEV people may contact Kent Together, but if their needs are around help to access food and basic support they would still be referred through to the Districts. KSAS is there to provide help to people on low incomes, not people who are clinically vulnerable.

It therefore makes sense to passport the full amount of this funding through to the District and Borough Councils.

Options (other options considered but discarded)

There is a clear need for some vulnerable CEV individuals to be supported, so the option of not accepting the funding was quickly rejected.  We did explore whether any of the resource should be used centrally to e.g. commission a company to provide emergency food on a call-off basis, but the demand for such action does not seem to be materialising. 

The Leader of the Council agrees to:

1)    Accept the £891,000 Funding for Support to Clinically Extremely Vulnerable (CEV);

2)    Approve distribution of this funding to the District and Borough Councils in Kent according to the number of CEV people in their area to provide the support in line with Government guidance; and

3)    Delegate authority to the Corporate Director of Finance to distribute the funding and take associated relevant actions including, but not limited to, entering into contract or other legal agreements as necessary to implement this decision.