Agenda item

‘Supporting People’ as it was originally branded, was launched on 1 April 2003 as the government’s national programme for housing related support.  It was a partnership programme of joint working relationships with service providers and partner agencies such as boroughs, districts, probation and health.  The programme was initially managed by a discrete team of commissioners and a national monitoring system.

The funding was originally ring-fenced by government but this has since been removed.  In 2012 a decision was made to bring housing related support and the associated budget into Adult Social Care.

The County Council provides Housing Related Support funding to providers who then deliver services to their residents.  The current Housing Related Support budget is £9m on rolling contracts. 

Providers are voluntary and community organisations, housing associations, borough and district councils who deliver services to residents via a scheme manager/warden - the Council’s funding is a contribution towards the cost of employing the scheme manager/warden.  Services are delivered in purpose-built schemes or by visiting support in the community.

Housing Related Support services include help with obtaining benefits and managing money; support to improve safety, health and wellbeing; help to avoid social isolation; to access mainstream services, manage everyday tasks, to develop new skills and move into employment.  Housing Related Support services do not provide personal care. There are two streams to which funds flow:

• Older people and people with disabilities
• Socially excluded

Continued cuts to funding, rising costs and increasing demand for key services means the need for Surrey County Council to find savings has reached unprecedented levels.  Adult Social Care has delivered £246m of savings over the last seven years, in order to manage huge pressures on the service including demand in excess of £20m per annum, and has a further allocated saving of £26m for 2017/18.  This has resulted in a continuous focus on efficiencies and changes to delivery to provide the services our residents need within available resources. 

Housing Related Support funding is no longer ring fenced and future practice will be guided by our duties under the Care Act 2014 and the wellbeing principle.  Individuals with an on-going need for support will be able to ask for an assessment and those meeting the Care Act eligibility criteria will receive funding through a personal budget.  This will ensure everyone is treated consistently under the Care Act and is assessed based on their current need. 

By implementing these changes to the future funding of Housing Related Support savings of £3.7m will be achieved.  These changes will mean a shift from the current universal offer, to target the limited funding the Council has available on those adults with eligible needs and the socially excluded.

RESOLVED:

The Cabinet agreed that:

1.               Surrey County Council will no longer provide funding for Housing Related Support for people with learning, physical and sensory disabilities and services for older people; and

2.               That Surrey County Council will continue to fund Housing Related Support for the socially excluded - those with mental health issues, those who are homeless or at risk of homelessness, ex-offenders and the gypsy and traveller community.

Reasons for decisions

The recommendation to cease Housing Related Support funding for older people and people with disabilities is made for the following reasons:

1.              It will deliver an estimated saving of £2.8m (70% of the budget) based on the planning assumption that 30% of the budget will be needed in locality teams to meet an increase in demand from eligible needs of residents.

2.              It will cease any dual funding, where Surrey County Council is funding a care package and Housing Related Support for an individual, and will mean we assess people based on their current need.

3.              Local information and support is available to residents in their communities and online should they need to find out about care, community and health information and support available.

4.              Evidence obtained from all other local authorities that were able to provide benchmarking information demonstrates they have already ceased and/or remodelled provision.

5.              Residents will be able to ask for an assessment; if they have eligible needs they will receive a personal budget.

6.              It is aligned with the Council’s Family, Friends and Communities approach to maintaining wellbeing and independence.

The recommendation to continue funding Housing Related Support servicesfor socially excluded and disadvantaged people is made for the following reasons:

1.               In November 2016, Cabinet agreed housing related support services for socially excluded groups should be protected.

2.               A co-designed, transparent approach has been taken with district and borough colleagues, providers and wider stakeholders.

3.               The recommendation will deliver a saving of £0.9m (20% of budget) to be delivered with the minimum impact on people who use services and carers.

[The decisions on this item are subject to call in by the Adults and Health Select Committee]

Mr Chris Botten, Local Member for Caterham Hill, opened discussions on this item, highlighting that he understood the serious financial challenges facing SCC but  that reductions to Housing Related Support could have a significant impact on vulnerable residents in Surrey. Mr Botten read out a statement from the Chair of Tandridge District Council’s Housing Association which drew attention to the implications that agreeing the recommendations within the report would have on those in sheltered accommodation. The Member further suggested that it would be more productive for SCC to work in collaboration with district and borough councils on the delivery of Housing Related Support. Mr Botten also stressed that blanket cuts to Housing Related Support would ultimately have a detrimental impact on SCC’s adult social care budget in the medium to long term and suggested that Cabinet defer any decision on the recommendations until financial modelling had taken place to understand the future impact of cutting this service on the adult social care budget.

Mr Mel Few, Cabinet Member for Adults, introduced the report on Proposals for the Future Funding of Housing Related Support and began by acknowledging a number of representations from residents and housing associations which did not meet the criteria to be treated as petition but highlighted that the comments made within the representations mirrored those received during the consultation process.

The Cabinet Member advised that requests have been made by some districts and boroughs to delay implementation of the proposed changes and indicated that the service was in discussion with these authorities to understand the impact, if any, on the proposed savings outlined in the report if implementation was delayed.

Mr Few provided some background to the proposed changes to Housing Related Support informing Members that the scheme was introduced in 2003 by the Labour government and, at that time, was funded through a ring fenced grant. This grant was removed leaving the funding entirely to the County Council, thereby making this service non statutory. In light of the allocated savings target given to the Adult Social Care Directorate of £26m this year it had been necessary for the service to once again revisit all non-statutory services.

The Cabinet Member stated that the Council spent approximately £9 million on the provision of Housing Related Support, £4 million on older people and people with disabilities and £4.5 million on socially excluded and disadvantage groups. He advised that elderly and disabled people who received this benefit and required additional support would be met by the service subject to the normal assessment process

Attention was drawn to a  detailed consultation which had taken place with older people and those with learning disabilities who were in receipt of the grants. The results of this can be found in paragraph 17 of the report. Specific mention was made to the response to question 2, annex 3, where 50% of respondents stated that they used the service less than once per week or did not respond whereas 25% used the service weekly and a further 25% on a daily basis. It was highlighted that following the responses to the detailed consultation, it had been decided to retain 30% of grants for older adults. For disabled people and socially excluded groups 80% of the grant would be retained and the service would be reconfigured accordingly.

Cabinet was further informed that a detailed Equalities Impact Assessment had taken place and advised that the results of this could be found within Annex 7 to the main report.

The Cabinet Member for Member for Children indicated that she appreciated the concerns raised by residents about the proposed changes to Housing Related Support but highlighted that it was necessary on account of the serious financial challenges confronting the Council. Ms Curran provided an anecdote about a sheltered housing unit in her ward which had undergone changes similar to those proposed within the recommendations. She stated that residents of this sheltered housing unit had opposed the changes but the concerns they had raised about losing an onsite warden had been mitigated by community groups and residents’ personal budgets which suggested that reductions to Housing Related Support would be less significant than anticipated. The Cabinet Member stated that she had been reassured by the Mr Few’s comments about targeting Housing Related Support towards the most vulnerable and that the service appears to be alert to the potential impacts and risks of reductions in this funding stream.

Ms Curran sought more clarity on the impact that reductions in Housing Related Support would have on health partners. The Cabinet Member for Adults stressed that it was hard to assess what the implications of reducing this impact would be on Surrey’s healthcare providers and commissioners but highlighted the significant progress that had been made in reducing the Council’s contribution to Delayed Transfers of Care (DTOCs) which was helping to save the NHS money.

Mr Colin Kemp, Cabinet Member for Highways, advised that he was Executive Member for Housing at Woking Borough Council which enabled him to see both sides of the debate. He welcomed the extensive consultation that SCC had undertaken regarding the proposed changes to Housing Related Support. Mr Kemp  acknowledged that reductions in funding would present some challenges locally but stressed that SCC would work with district & borough councils to understand how they could work together differently to ensure continued to support for Surrey’s vulnerable residents.

RESOLVED:

The Cabinet agreed that:

1.            Surrey County Council will no longer provide funding for Housing Related Support for people with learning, physical and sensory disabilities and services for older people; and

2.            That Surrey County Council will continue to fund Housing Related Support for the socially excluded - those with mental health issues, those who are homeless or at risk of homelessness, ex-offenders and the gypsy and traveller community.

Reasons for decisions

The recommendation to cease Housing Related Support funding for older people and people with disabilities is made for the following reasons:

1.            It will deliver an estimated saving of £2.8m (70% of the budget) based on the planning assumption that 30% of the budget will be needed in locality teams to meet an increase in demand from eligible needs of residents.

2.            It will cease any dual funding, where Surrey County Council is funding a care package and Housing Related Support for an individual, and will mean we assess people based on their current need.

3.            Local information and support is available to residents in their communities and online should they need to find out about care, community and health information and support available.

4.            Evidence obtained from all other local authorities that were able to provide benchmarking information demonstrates they have already ceased and/or remodelled provision.

5.            Residents will be able to ask for an assessment; if they have eligible needs they will receive a personal budget.

6.            It is aligned with the Council’s Family, Friends and Communities approach to maintaining wellbeing and independence.

The recommendation to continue funding Housing Related Support servicesfor socially excluded and disadvantaged people is made for the following reasons:

1.            In November 2016, Cabinet agreed housing related support services for socially excluded groups should be protected.

2.            A co-designed, transparent approach has been taken with district and borough colleagues, providers and wider stakeholders.

3.            The recommendation will deliver a saving of £0.9m (20% of budget) to be delivered with the minimum impact on people who use services and carers.