Minutes:
(1) Mr Lynes praised the excellent work of the KASS staff at headquarters and the frontline over the past year and said how proud he was of them and their work. He emphasised that, despite the £6m efficiency savings the Directorate had had to identify in the Budget report, at a time of great and increasing demand, both he and KASS remained passionate about service delivery and customer care and Members needed to enable them to carry on delivering an excellent service.
(2) Mr Lynes highlighted the achievements of the Directorate over the last year. Kent Adult Social Services was one of only four local authority Adult Social Services Directorates to retain 3-star status every year since the star ratings began, and had retained ‘moderate’ eligibility criteria for another year when most other authorities had not. Part of Kent’s success was its excellent working relationships with partners in Health and the private and voluntary sectors and the joint working initiatives which were in place. KCC had been successful in a number of bids – the Urgent Care Demonstrator, Brighter Futures, POPPs and the Whole System Demonstrator – but it was important to bear in mind that money won via bids was time-limited. He expressed grave concern about the sustainability of these excellent schemes and initiatives once funding for the pilot schemes came to an end. The POC had also commissioned two Select Committees – Transitional Arrangements and Carers in Kent – whose excellent reports would guide and shape future service delivery.
(3) Staffing Levels
In response to a question put by Mrs Green, and concerns raised by Mrs Green and Mrs Newell, Mr Leidecker explained that it was difficult to give a detailed account of all staff vacancies being held across the County at any one time. Staffing situations in the districts varied, but he assured Members that no one district or team would be holding more than one or two care management vacancies at any one time. The Directorate operated a monthly traffic light system to monitor vacancies and sickness levels within each team. These are assessed by senior managers and used to inform recruitment decisions, with 'red' seen as critical. Mr Mills added that, to ensure maximum capacity, the four acute hospitals in the county, at which KASS care managers were employed in-house, were excluded from any management action.
(4) Legal Costs of PFI arrangements
In response to a question from Mrs Newell, Mr Lynes explained that KCC was working together with district councils on a PFI Initiative ‘Better Homes, Active Lives’. As the time had approached for the final PFI agreement to be signed, some districts had become reluctant to share in the unknown level of risk ahead and so, to avoid jeopardising the future of the project, KCC had taken on a greater share of the risk.
(5) Maximising Benefits
In response to a question from Mrs Newell, Mr Leidecker explained that the likely savings to the KCC arising from maximising benefits for Kent residents was very difficult to estimate. KCC and its partners had initiatives in place to support Kent residents to claim maximum benefits available; Age Concern, for example, had started clinics to give benefit advice. Miss Goldsmith added that the Internal Audit were due to start an audit on maximisation of benefits. It was anticipated that this would evidence the effectiveness of the work being undertaken on this, and would also show up the effectiveness of the KCC’s message. Pilot schemes between KCC and the Department of Work and Pensions (DWP) were in place, using DWP staff seconded to KCC. The problems of identifying and maximising benefits were attached only to existing service users. New service users would have their benefits maximised from the start of their involvement.
(6) Domiciliary Care Charging
In response to a question from Mrs Newell, Mr Mills explained that, once the new domiciliary care charges had been in place for a whole financial year, they would show up as part of the regular base budget and not as a “change”.
(7) RESOLVED that the Budget proposals for the Directorate be noted and agreed, and Members’ concerns (on staffing levels) expressed in paragraph (3) above be taken into account when preparing the final Budget for ratification by the County Council.