Agenda item

Report of Director of Children and Adult Services

The Director of Children and Adult Services submitted a report (previously circulated) advising Members of a report being considered by Cabinet at its meeting scheduled to be held on 6November 2018, in relation to the Council’s charging policy relating to Non-Residential Services in respect of the treatment of income from eligible benefits.

It was reported that the current policy, approved by Cabinet in 2016, stated that the Council must treat eligible benefits as income when considering what a person could afford to pay towards their care from their income, however, guidance and associated Regulations stated that Councils may have discretion about the treatment of these benefits when completing a financial assessment and it was this element that had been the subject of a four-week public consultation exercise.

The Assistant Director Adult Social Care reported that Cabinet was being recommended to continue to take the income received from benefits into account when completing a financial assessment as to exclude these benefits would have a significant financial impact on the Authority and that, as the previous Fairer Charging Policy and the incorrectly approved current policy did take income from benefits into account, applied assessments of individual contributions would not change and individuals would not be impacted further by the decision to continue to do this. 

It was reported that the Policy was a framework document to be implemented, however, any specific exceptional individual needs and circumstances could be addressed on a case by case basis.

RESOLVED – That the report be received.