Agenda item

To receive a report of the Cabinet Member for Adult Social Care and Public Health reporting the content and potential implications of The Care Act 2014 which received Royal Assent on 14 May 2014 and will establish a new legal framework for adult care and support services. 

(Report of Cabinet Member for Adult Social Care and Health, Mr Graham Gibbens and Corporate Director of Families and Social Care, Andrew Ireland)

Cabinet received a report regarding the Care Act 2014 (The Act), which received Royal Assent on 14 May 2014 and which would establish a new legal framework for adult care and support services. The Care Act, the report informed, was widely considered to be the biggest change to care and support law in England since 1948 and would replace over a dozen pieces of legislation with a single consolidated law coming into effect incrementally between April 2015 and April 2016. The report set out for consideration the work already underway to prepare for implementation and an assessment of the main financial and other implications that the Council may face.

The Cabinet Member for Adult Social Care and Health introduced the report.   In initially referred to an administrative error; the agenda front sheet wrongly referred to The Social Care Act 2014, and should read, as the report, The Care Act 2014.

Having clarified this point Mr Gibbens moved to the substantive issues contained within the report and in particular referred to the following:

       i.        That he welcomed The Act, the changes and clarification it would bring to the arena of Social Care. 

      ii.        That the draft regulations had been issued and Councils were asked to respond by August 2014 part of this consultation would address the financial implications of The Act.  As was customary with consultation responses in the field of social care, he would invite representatives of the opposition groups to join discussions as KCC’s response was finalised.

    iii.        The Transformation Programme in Adult Social Care had pre-empted some of the requirements of The Act such as new rights for carers and as such Kent was well positioned.

    iv.        That the Safeguarding Adults Board would inherit a statutory status and as the Board in Kent had been established for some time this too was a change for which the Council was well prepared.

      v.        One further important consideration that would be assessed in due course would be the capability of the Council’s IT systems to ensure that they were fit for purpose in the future.

The Leader echoed the positive comments of the Cabinet Member for Adult Social Care and Health, agreeing that The Act was good news for families but reminding members that the positive changes must be financed.  The Council was involved in discussions with Central Government to ensure that ensure that not only was additional funding made available but that that funding was distributed in a way which reflected the demographics of each geographical area.

Michael Thomas-Sam, Strategic Business Advisor, was in attendance to present to Cabinet.  The presentation [attached as appendix 3] particularly drew the attention of members to the following information:

         i.        That The Act would replace over forty pieces of current legislation, and would expand the reach of formal social care arrangements, bringing additional people in to the legal care framework.

       ii.        The Act would be implemented in two phases:

·           Phase one would be implemented in April 2015 and would include:

o    One new national minimum eligibility criteria, which on inspection of the draft regulations appeared to be very generous.

o    New rights for Carers.  KCC would be expected to conduct more carer’s assessments and to award financial packages to carers where appropriate.

o    New rights to deferred payment for residential care.  KCC currently offer this service to residents in Kent but it was expected that the number of people applying would increase.

o    A new emphasis on preventative duties, ensuring that local authorities take responsibility for the provision of information and advice to help those people outside of the formal care system to plan and help themselves.

o    The creation of a statutory framework for the Safeguarding of Adults Board, including statutory responsibilities and required partner membership. 

o    Introduction of legal powers to delegate of most Social Care functions

o    New duties relating to Social Care for prisoners. These particular duties were particularly relevant for Kent which had the highest prison population of any local authority area, totally approximately 5000 prisoners.

·           Phase two (the Dilnott recommendations) would be implemented in April 2016 and would include:

o    A lifetime cap on care costs of 72,000 for those over 65.  For those people who develop care needs before the age of 18 that care would be free for as long as they need it and a decision was yet to be made in relation to those people who develop care needs between the age of 18 an 65.

o    Changes to the means-test threshold, currently £23,000 and this will change to £118,000 bringing additional people into the system.

o    Extension of direct payments to those people living in residential care establishments

      iii.        The draft regulations would be brought before parliament in October following the consultation to which the Cabinet Member had referred and should they be approved as expected local authorities would then have six months to prepare for implementation.

      iv.        The changes represented challenges for local authorities, specifically financial challenges but the exact nature of these challenges will not be known until the regulations were approved.

       v.        The government would make additional funding available for local authorities; of particular note were the Better Care Fund of £135m and £60m for the conducting of reviews.  The implications for KCC would rest largely on how funds were allocated.  Previously funding has been distributed equally regardless of authority size but it was not yet known if this approach would continue but there would be a consultation on what the social care funding formula should be and KCC would strive to influence the debate in order to secure a fair and equitable solution.

      vi.        Current projections signalled that all areas of social care commitments for KCC would increase in the next 2 years and work would continue to be undertaken, via the Care Act Implementation Board, to ensure that the service and the Council was prepared for these increases.  

     vii.        In addition there would be policy choices for Members to make in relation to new functions such as charging and potential delegations of duties.

   viii.        That it was important that officers were aware of the wide reaching consequences of the legislation and that all relevant officers; lawyers, practitioners, managers and others were familiar with The Act before it was implemented.

The Leader thanked Michael Thomas-Sam for his comprehensive presentation. He referred to the financial consequences of the predicted increase in state funded social care service users, to which the presentation had referred, and asserted that the allocation of national funds must recognise the demographics of each area accurately and fairly.  He gave as examples the number of people aged 85 and over in Kent being double that of London and the varied wealth profiles of counties such as Surrey and Kent.  The Leader concluded by insisting that if the changes were not to damage local authority budgets beyond repair there must be a sufficient national fund that was allocated equitably.

Andrew Ireland, Corporate Director for Families and Social Care joined the debate.  He agreed with comments received about the potential financial challenges of The Act and in particular he referred to the large number of self-funders in residential care in Kent for whom the change in the cap could be significant.  He also stated that although the position adopted by the Council and its efficiency partner to date had positioned it well to deal with the strategic direction of The Act it would not be until the regulations were approved and published that the full implications for practice would be assessable and at that point issues of training and development for frontline staff would need to be addressed.

Following questions from the Leader regarding plans to inform families in Kent of the changes Michael Thomas-Sam confirmed that a communication plan had been developed to explain to both current and potential social care service users what the impact of The Act might be for them.  The plan included meetings with voluntary sector partners, local area meetings for members of the public and web based activity on the KCC website.

The Cabinet Member for Adult Social Care and Health re-joined the debate to report that he had recently attended a very positive meeting with voluntary sector partners, who had been enthusiastic about the changes and eager to help disseminate important messages to their particular clients.

It was RESOLVED that

1.    The information contained within the report and presentations be noted.

2.    The intention to present a further report to the Adult Social Care and

Health Cabinet Committee on 11 July 2014 be noted

3.    The implementation plan to be presented to the Adults Transformation Board on 23 July 2014 be distributed to Cabinet Members at that time.