Decision details

Proposed decision:

Procurement of External Community Opportunities for People with Learning and Physical Disabilities and delegation of authority to the Corporate Director Adult Social Care and Health and the Corporate Director Children, Young People and Education to take relevant actions, including but not limited to finalising the terms of entering into required contracts of other legal agreements, as necessary to implement the decision.

Reason for the decision:

The current Community Day Opportunities for Individuals with Disabilities framework contract is due to expire end September 2022, new arrangements need to be in place by 1 October 2022.

The new service specification will be outcome focused, based on the Making a Difference Everyday (MADE) and Provider Services design principles (which have been part of a separate engagement process) and align with a Self-Directed Support approach of Adult Social Care. It is recognised that a traditional approach to ‘day opportunities’ is reducing in demand, however it is still an important provision for some individuals and their families. The support through the new Community Opportunities Offer will be a flexible, adaptable and evolving model to include traditional day opportunities and wider community support outside of traditional times and settings. The future support offer will also align with other Adult Social Care Projects such as the Micro-Enterprises development.

Financial Implications:

All current external Learning Disability and Physical Disability Day Opportunities are funded through the operational teams.

The total forecast spend (across Adults and Children’s) for 2021-22 is £10,065,200 for service provisions (see table below for split).

There are associated transport costs which are also funded through the operational teams, the table below outlines the forecast for 2021-22. Again, this is likely to be lower this year due to the pandemic.

Due to the COVID pandemic, the forecast spend during 2021/22 is lower than the allocated budget. This has been a result of some services being closed for periods of time. Client charging has also been suspended which impacts on this commitment.

Through benchmarking other neighbouring Local Authorities, KCC pay lower day and half day rates. A risk of the new procurement will be providers submitting higher fees for support.  It is proposed to mitigate some of this risk through the procurement, by requesting flexible fees depending on the activity/support delivered and to work with providers and people we support through utilising various methods of payment through a self-directed support approach, such as direct payments and individual service funds.

The Council budget was approved at County Council on 10 February 2022.  It is acknowledged that there are significant pressures on the Adult Social Care and Children and Young People’s budgets.  As such there are identified savings for these budgets. The table below sets out the identified savings.

The savings will be realised through the offer of support and choice available and will be tracked through a benefits realisation group, as there is a risk the spend on this type of support could move across various budget lines.

As Cabinet Member for Adult Social Care and Public Health, I agree to:

a) APPROVE the procurement of external community opportunities for people with Learning and Physical Disabilities; and

b) DELEGATE authority to the Corporate Director Adult Social Care and Health and Corporate Director Children Young People and Education to take relevant actions, including but not limited to finalising the terms of entering into required contracts or other legal agreements, as necessary to implement the decision.