Decisions

On 1st March 2022 the Department for Health & Social Care (DHSC) published details of the ADULT SOCIAL CARE OMICRON SUPPORT FUND.  This was the final specific ASC Covid funding stream.

Surrey County Council (SCC) has received £1m of Omicron Support Fund monies.  Funding was provided so that “Local authorities have discretion to use the funding as needed locally, to support the adult social care sector, including relevant local authority staff, in its COVID-19 response, and in particular increased challenges posed by the Omicron variant”.

The funding was unringfenced and did not have to be spent within a set period.  When the funding was received, the Council was paying out the final allocations of the Infection Control and Testing Fund 3 and Recruitment & Retention Fund round 2 funding streams to ASC providers.  It was agreed therefore that Omicron Support Fund monies would be retained on the balance sheet so they could be utilised to support ASC providers in the early part of the 2022/23 financial year.

As with all previous Covid grant funding streams, the Council consulted with the Surrey Care Association to seek views on the best way to dispense the limited grant funds across Surrey’s broad ASC provider base.  Following this consultation the Adults Leadership Team determined that given this funding stream is unringfenced it would be most appropriate to invite all ASC providers to bid for funds against a set of criteria.  Providers were invited to submit applications for a funding allocation towards:

•The cost of staff sickness in April 2022.

•Hardship payments to pass onto staff members who have suffered loss of earnings due to sickness and/or the need to self-isolate.

•The cost of facilitating safe visiting in April 2022, with the option to submit a claim for the period May-June 2022 as well if funds could accommodate.

•Other cost pressures caused by the pandemic in April 2022, with the option to submit a claim for the period May-June 2022 as well if funds could accommodate.

Due to the limited value of grant funds, a decision was taken to prioritise funding for providers who provide services to residents whose care is funded by the Council.  This was made clear on the application form.

An online form was prepared to gather applications and this form was sent to providers on 20th May 2022 inviting them to apply with a deadline of 10th June 2022.

Applications were received from 165 providers, totalling £3.1m.

Decision made:

It was AGREED that:

1.           £100,000k is contributed to the Community Foundation for Surrey to supplement their Coronavirus Response Fund to offer support of up to £5000 to smaller charities and voluntary bodies.

It was AGREED that:

1.           £100,000k is contributed to the Community Foundation for Surrey to supplement their COVID-19 Appeal Fund to offer support of up to £5000k to smaller charities and voluntary bodies.

It was AGREED that:

1.           Financial support of £450 per day (estimated at £33k) be provided to Falcon Buses to support route 461 for three months from April to June 2020.

The Council is responding to the Covid-19 major incident and therefore needs to make urgent decisions to ensure that residents are protected. Urgent decisions taken at the above named meeting are listed below with reasons.

It was AGREED that:

1. Where roles cannot be done from home, involve non-essential services that cannot be delivered following social distancing, or staff are unable to fulfil their contractual hours due to dependent commitments, we will continue to pay employees unable to do their job based on their normal rate of pay and hours of work as set out in their terms and conditions of employment, effective from 23rd March 2020.

Cabinet Member for All Age Learning determined the statutory notice thereby bringing into effect the formal commencement of the expansion of Brooklands School to become a split-site primary special school, providing an additional 70 places from September 2020.

The Cabinet Member for Highways approved the Capital Prioritisation Policy for Highways Assets: Roads, Footways, Structures, Drainage, Safety Barriers & Intelligent Traffic Systems (April 2020) – version 5.0

Surrey County Council has a vitally important role in leading the local response to COVID-19, to save lives, protect the NHS, ensure our residents are protected wherever possible and crucial council services continue to operate in these unprecedented times.

The Chief Executive has decided that it is necessary to appoint a temporary Executive Director to lead Surrey County Council’s response to the Covid-19 pandemic to manage the impacts of the crisis.

The Chief Executive in consultation with the Chairman of the People, Performance & Development Committee, agreed to appoint Rachel Crossley to the temporary role of Executive Director Corporate Resilience for Surrey County Council for a period of six months.

Reasons for Decision:

To appoint to the temporary role of Executive Director for Corporate Resilience to lead the Council’s response to the Covid-19 pandemic.