Issue - meetings

Mel Anthony, Commissioning & Development Manager, was in attendance for this item)

The Committee received a report from the Cabinet Member and Corporate Director seeking endorsement of, or comments on, the proposed decision of the Cabinet Member to extend the Kent Support and Assistance Service for another year.

The Cabinet Member introduced the new service, for individuals experiencing crisis, which the Council had taken over from the Department of Work and Pensions (DWP) and explained that it was now delivered differently.  Specifically, cash awards were no longer made, except in certain very limited circumstances.  He reported that this service was established as a one-year pilot with the intention of then procuring for a long term service.  However, there was not considered to be sufficient information available as yet with which to draw up a comprehensive specification for delivery and hence it was proposed that the pilot be extended to collect that information and enable a properly conducted procurement exercise.  

Ms Anthony spoke to the item.  She reported the following information for the Committee:

(i)   That the Council had chosen to not only meet the immediate needs of those presenting by awarding goods and food, rather than money, but was also attempting to identify the cause of the problems being experienced and signpost individuals to services that may help them to avoid further crisis in the future. 

(ii)  She stated that there had been approx 11,000 telephone enquiries in the first five months of the scheme.  The total number of applications received had been 3,483 resulting in 1,817 households receiving 2,921 individual awards.  The remainder had been signposted to other more appropriate services.  Food was the most commonly sought assistance and KCC worked closely with a large supermarket to provide balanced food packages.

(iii)The service had linked with voluntary organisations and other departments and programmes within the council to ensure joined up delivery, 

(iv)That KCC’s delivery was innovative and several other local authorities had been in contact to discuss how things were progressing in Kent with a view to amending their own delivery. 

(v)  The scheme continued to evolve but there had been positive feedback from stakeholders and users and successful outcomes for residents, including one case which she described in more detail. 

Ms Anthony concluded by reiterating the points made by Mr Hill, explaining that in order to allow a robust procurement the Committee was being asked to endorse the proposed decision that the pilot be extended for a further year until 31 March 2015 to allow more evidence to be gathered.  The short time the service had been in place and the fact that it had not been in operation over a winter period meant that the current data was insufficient to allow a properly informed procurement process.

The Committee debated the report received.  A member of the Committee expressed concern about the number of enquiries that were received compared with the number of grants awarded  The Chairman responded that she regarded that as a success of the  ...  view the full minutes text for item 10