Agenda and minutes

The Committee received the consultation on the Social Services Budget and Draft Savings 2018-19 as contained within the circulated report.

Officers introduced the report by stating that some of the savings targets included in the report were challenging and unrealistic and there would be a need to reconsider and re-prioritise elements of the savings strategies.

The savings in relation to SSHH802 Asset Based Approach were stated as being unrealistic targets and that income generation is being considered to alleviate this savings target.

In relation to SSHH801 Direct Payments, it was stated that whilst Direct Payments are statutory there is a need for the personal care elements to be regulated and that Personal Assistants (PA’s) are mainly employed to assist with socialisation. It was agreed that there have been barriers in the system such as delays and payment issues but Members were pleased to note that staff have continually provided feed-back (particularly in line with social work practice) which has helped with reducing bureaucracy and streamlining and officers were confident that the barriers had been removed. 

Officers requested that paragraph 16 on page 6 of the circulated report stating:

‘Work is currently ongoing analysing DP packages provided over the last 6 months, examining what has worked well, are there any barriers and to estimate the levels of savings generated. This information will form the basis for the target number of DPs required to generate £950k savings in 2018/19’ be removed from consideration at the meeting today.

The Committee were concerned at the difference in opinion that had been raised in relation to Direct Payments by Officers today compared to what the Committee had previously heard and asked for further information about why this was. The Cabinet Members stated that they were new to their portfolios and that previous processes and channels of communication may have challenging and that previous figures and processes had been inherited from the previous Director.

The Committee expressed dismay that professional opinion and advice from Officers had not previously been forthcoming and stated that when Members take decisions in Committee they do so in good faith based on the advice presented to them by the Officers. Concern was raised that they had only heard ‘one voice’ and that now it was apparent that there has existed a significant difference of professional views over a long period of time. Members were keen to ensure that in the future all professional views be presented to Members to enable an open, balanced and transparent dialogue.

Due to the significant concern raised in the Committee, Members agreed that a letter be written to Cabinet expressing the concerns raised in this meeting and asking for assurances that this type of situation would not arise again in the future.

The Committee discussed the website where Direct Payment PA’s are advertised and that it seems as though the choice is not with the service user but with the potential PA to pick a service user ‘off a shelf’. Officers explained that the service  ...  view the full minutes text for item 1.