Agenda and minutes

To be notified of the appointment of Substitute Members.

There were no substitute members.

You are invited to declare any registerable and/or non registerable interests in matters appearing on the agenda, and the nature of that interest.

You are also invited to disclose any dispensation in relation to any registerable and/or non-registerable interests that have been granted to you in respect of any matters appearing on the agenda.

Please complete the Declarations of Interests card available at the meeting and return it to the Democratic Services Officer before leaving the meeting.

There were no declarations of interest recorded.

To Confirm the minutes of the meeting held on 28 November 2024

The Chair referred to the Breast Screening report and presentation provided at the last meeting and confirmed that information relating to: mobile screening van locations, the availability of screening information in particular wards, promotion of services via social media platforms and a breakdown in data for uptake in North Tyneside would be circulated to members once available.

Resolved that the minutes of the meeting held on 28 November 2024 were agreed as a correct record.

A report and presentation will be provided to overview the use of the Disabled Facilities Grant in North Tyneside.

The Sub-Committee received a report and presentation from Sue Graham, Better Care Fund Manager that provided an overview on the use of Disabled Facilities Grant in North Tyneside.

The committee were informed that the Authority received the Disabled Facilities Grant (DFG) from the Government to provide adaptations to older and disabled persons living in homes which, without adaptation, make it difficult for them to undertake everyday tasks like washing and using the bathroom, cooking or getting out and about easily. The grant provides capital funding for the provision of home adaptations.

On 3 January 2025 the Government announced an increase of £0.280m to the current year’s grant taking it to £2.319m. This should be spent by 31 March 2025, but the Authority can carry forward unspent grant to use in following years. The grant value for 2025/26 is also £2.319m.

Disabled Facilities Grant forms part of the Better Care Fund which aims to support an integrated approach to housing, health and social care in a local area. Our approach to using the Disabled facilities Grant is outlined in the Better Care Fund Plan which is agreed annually by Cabinet and the Health and Wellbeing Board and is developed jointly with the ICB.

The Better Care Fund Plan links to the following plans and strategies:

·         Equally Well

·         Better Health for All

·         Our North Tyneside Plan

·         Adult Social Care Strategy

·         Adult Social Care Prevention Strategy

Local authorities have a statutory duty under the Housing Grants, Construction and Regeneration Act 1996 to provide adaptations for those who qualify for a Disabled Facilities Grant (DFG) and this piece of legislation outlines how DFG’s are to be administered.

It was explained to the Committee who was eligible for the DFG, it is available for both adults and children who have an eligible disability. An assessment is carried out by an occupational therapist and then a review of the property is undertaken to ensure adaptations are both reasonable and practicable.

The Government lays down the maximum value of a mandatory DFG as £30,000. This value has been in place since 2008 with no annual uplift for inflation. The Authority’s Policy identifies a further amount of £14,100 (uplifted each year by RPI) of discretionary funding which may be made available to top up the mandatory grant limit. Adaptations for council houses funded through the HRA (Housing Revenue Account) are not means tested.

The Committee were presented with the full application and process overview.

A breakdown was provided of the figures on how many adaptations have been delivered over the last 3 years and the Authority are expecting to deliver approximately 160 applications in 2024/25. An additional £0.280m was announced on 3 January 2025 and the service is looking at the extent to which this can be spent in 2024/25. Any unspent funding can be carried forward to fund adaptations in future years.

The Committee were provided with an update on customer feedback. Following a satisfaction survey there was a response rate of 23% with high levels of  ...  view the full minutes text for item C21/24

A report and presentation will be provided to give an overview of the care conditions relating to members of staff employed by external care providers delivering social care services for vulnerable adults in North Tyneside.

The Sub-Committee received a report and presentation from Scott Woodhouse, Head of Commissioning that provided an overview on Care Worker Conditions in North Tyneside.

The purpose of the report was to provide an overview of the care conditions relating to members of staff employed by external care providers delivering social care services for vulnerable adults in North Tyneside.

The report and presentation covered the following areas:

·         Our commissioning arrangements

·         Provider contracts and fees

·         Skills for Care dataset on care workers across North Tyneside

·         Quality of service provision and user satisfaction.

The key areas of commissioned service activity across all client group areas in Adult Social Care include:

·         Day Services

·         Extra Care

·         Personal Budget inc PA Support

·         Individual Service Fund (ISF Arrangements)

·         Supported Living & Outreach Services

·         Home Care

·         Residential and Nursing Care.

There is significant gross spend associated with the above.  A key component of the Adult Social Care budget is in relation to the income.  This a critical part of the overall budget to ensure the net spend is in line with the budget.

There are general clauses in all contracts relating to employees and this covers:

·         Contractors meeting their statutory requirements, this will include areas such as paying at least the National Minimum Wage, sick pay etc

·         Quality of service and specific reference to the competence and capability of staff delivering the service

·         Safeguarding matters, such as enhanced DBS checks, training that is in line with service and requirements of the service user, i.e. dementia related, dealing with people with a challenging behaviour, moving and handling.

As the Authority are considering annual fee increases, it will gather information from providers and the market generally on the cost pressures they are facing over the last year and an estimate over the year ahead. 

The Authority have been keen to ensure that appropriate cost pressures are identified and acknowledged and we have been able over the last 10 years to ensure that increases do keep track with changes to the National Living Wage and the Real Living Wage.  Clearly, over the last couple of years, CPI has been at a much higher level, and this has further impacted on provider costs and increases to services.

The Authority will Quality Monitor it’s care providers. This is broken down into two main stages:

·         Stage 1 – Desk-top information received in advance

·         Stage 2 – Onsite quality monitoring visit

This is an outcome focussed assessment of the provision of care and support against the main outcome domains in the quality monitoring toolkit.  Appended to the report was an extract from the quality monitoring toolkit that relates to employees.

Once scored, a report is then sent back to the provider and a summary of all providers is sent to Adult Social Care SMT (Senior Management Team) and is shared at the Provider Forums.

The Committee were presented with information on the Skills for Care Workforce Data which looks at various issues including recruitment and retention.

With regards to average pay for direct care workers that  ...  view the full minutes text for item C22/24

To receive an update on the Work Programme and to consider items for future meetings

The Committee considered the work programme report and the outline work programme topics for 2024/25.

Discussion took place regarding the topics and the most appropriate meeting dates for which they should come forward including another date regarding Care Worker Conditions.

Resolved that the work programme be updated to reflect the dates in which the agreed topics will be presented to future meetings of the Sub-Committee.