Issue - meetings

(To receive a report from the Executive Director - Adult Care and Community Wellbeing and the Monitoring Officer which informs the Executive of the actions taken by the Council in respect of charging for short term residential care)

1.    That the report published by the Ombudsman on 16 March 2021 be received.

2.    That the findings and recommendation of the Ombudsman as set out in the Ombudsman report be accepted.

3.    That the actions taken both in respect of the Adult Care Charging Policy and the reimbursement of those affected be confirmed.

The Executive Director Adult Care and Community Wellbeing introduced the report which informed the Executive of the actions taken by the Council in respect of charging for short term respite care.  It was reported that the Council had changed the way it charged for respite care and detailed in the Adult Care Charging Policy, effective 14 April 2020, and had commenced reimbursing those individuals identified as overcharged.

Following discussion by the Executive, the following points were noted:

·         It was highlighted that this report was the opinion of the Ombudsman, and was not an indication that the Council had done anything wrong.  It was further highlighted that no complaints had been received regarding the flat rate charging policy whilst it had been in place.

·         It was noted that there would have been approximately equal numbers of people who were undercharged for their care as well as overcharged under this policy.  The Executive Councillor had previously taken the decision that those who had been overcharged would be reimbursed, but the authority would not seek to recover monies from those who had been undercharged.

RESOLVED

1.    That the report published by the Ombudsman on 16 March 2021 be received.

2.    That the findings and recommendation of the Ombudsman as set out in the Ombudsman report be accepted.

3.    That the actions taken both in respect of the Adult Care Charging Policy and the reimbursement of those affected be confirmed.

(To receive a report by Pam Clipson, Head of Finance – Adult Care, which invites the Committee to consider a report on Flat Rate Respite Care (Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman report) which is due to be considered by the Executive at its meeting on 7 September 2021.  The views of the Committee will be reported to the Executive as part of its consideration of this item)

The Committee was invited to consider a report on Flat Rate Respite Care (Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman Report), which was also due to be considered by the Executive on 7 September 2021.

It was reported that on 16 March 2021, the Local Government Ombudsman published a public report following an investigation into how Lincolnshire County Council charged individuals for respite care.  It had found that the policy of charging a "flat rate" did not accord with the Care Act 2014.  The report set out the actions taken by the Council in respect of charging for short term residential care.

It was also noted that the Council had changed the way it charged for respite care as detailed in the Adult Care Charging Policy, effective 14 April 2020 and had commenced reimbursing those individuals identified as overcharged.  Individuals entering short term care were now charged based on a financial assessment to determine affordability.   There were 1525 individuals who had potentially been overcharged, and the costs of reimbursing these costs was estimated to be around £500,000.  Each person would be written to individually to advise they were entitled to a reimbursement.  So far 72 people had responded, and £25,330 had been paid out.  Work had started to contact those who were impacted the most, and was on track to write to all those affected within the agreed timescale of 31 October 2021.

Members were provided with the opportunity to ask questions to the officers present in relation to the information contained within the report, and some of the points raised during discussion included the following:

·         Concerns were raised in relation to the people who may have been in need of care during this time, and would have been entitled to it, but did not choose to enter respite care due to the costs.  It was queried whether there had been an increase in people seeking respite care since the policy had been changed.  It was noted that if any individual had chosen not to take up respite care it would have been picked up by staff.

·         It was highlighted that Lincolnshire was not the only council to have been in discussion with the Ombudsman about charging policies.  It was noted that this was a policy which changed quite frequently.

·         It was confirmed that of the people who had received the flat rate respite care, some people would have been charged more than they should have paid, and some would have been charged too little.  A decision had been taken to repay those who had paid too much, and not to reclaim from those who had been charged too little.

·         It was queried why it was expected to take three months for the Council to contact all the affected individuals and repay the money.  Members were advised that a lot of the people were no longer in the care of Lincolnshire County Council and so they needed to be tracked down, offered the refund, and wait for them to accept it.  ...  view the full minutes text for item 12