Decision details

That the Leader:-

Agrees that the Council commissions an integrated personal care and   general support service in four extra care housing schemes (Guildford Grange, The Meadows, Roman Ridge and White Willows) via a full tender and procurement process.;

notes that £120,000 per annum will be transferred from the Housing s support subsidy budget into the care purchasing budget to help fund the new integrated service; and

delegates authority to the Director of Commissioning, in consultation with the Director of Finance and the Interim Director of Legal and Governance, to negotiate, agree and complete the contracts for integrated personal care and support services and to take all other steps as (s)he deems appropriate to achieve the aims of this report.

• Sheffield’s population is ageing and living longer.
• Extra Care Housing is a popular option and an important part of our strategy of helping people to stay independent for longer.
• The contracts for the four extra care schemes expire June 2015 and need re-tendering,
• The March 2014 Individual Cabinet Member Report “New Housing Related Support Subsidy Policy” phased out supporting people funding for long term support which will impact on the costs of the scheme to some residents if we do not look at a combined model of service delivery.
• The March 2014 Individual Cabinet Member Report “New Housing Related Support Subsidy Policy” proposed that an appropriate part of the Housing subsidy budget should transfer to the care purchasing budget to help off-set this financial impact on residents.

Ending Council funding for care and support in extra care housing schemes was not considered as an option, They are a cost effective option for the Council to meet its social care duty as they are proven to delay or prevent more expensive residential care.

There was only one alternative option explored.

            Tender for Personal Care only

The existing schemes have different providers for the personal care and general support elements.  It is only the personal care element that requires re-tendering and there was an option to restrict the re-tender to this aspect only.

The main disadvantage of this approach is that it did not take into account of the ceasing of the Housing Related Support subsidy.  This opened the extra care schemes to potential financial risk for residents or a reduction in service once that funding ceased.