Agenda item

An update on the progress with the Living My Life Daytime and Evening Opportunities Alliance.

The Director of Procurement and Commissioning provided an update on the progress with the Living My Life Daytime and Evening Opportunities Alliance. She explained that this was a new approach to commissioning and procurement aimed at transforming how disabled young people, adults and older people access daytime and evenings activities. The director was pleased to report that since the Alliance started, on 1 August, 16 providers had been added to an open framework from which they could bid to provide activities. An evaluation would also take place later in the week to discuss options for how the number of providers could be increased.

The director then outlined plans intended to support the Alliance, including continuing to guide grant funded organisations to join the open framework. In addition, work would be carried out with providers to improve their understanding about the eligibility of potential customers. Since 1 August, two further customers had been assessed as having eligible needs and their care was now being purchased by the Alliance. The two new customers joined the 169 eligible customers already registered with the 16 providers, with more expected to follow.

During the discussion the following points were made:

• Members thanked the director for providing the report and praised the work being done to monitor service provision and expand the opportunities for eligible customers.

• The director noted that some smaller providers had faced challenges in accessing the external portal to register as a provider. However, she reassured the committee that the procurement team had produced a guide on how to access the portal and were also reviewing options for alternative portals. In addition, each provider was allocated a support officer to assist them with the registration process.

• In response to a question about why only three of the 31 grant funded luncheon clubs had joined the open framework, the director noted that a number of the clubs would be attending a review panel at the end of the week. She also highlighted that several clubs had sought alternative forms of funding.

• A question was asked about whether discretionary funding would be available to support luncheon clubs that provided services to older and vulnerable people but only had a limited number of, or no, eligible customers assessed under the Care Act. In response, the Cabinet Member for Adult Social Care, SEND, Transition and Inclusion noted that discretionary funding was available through Area Boards via the Older and Vulnerable People’s Grant Scheme and reported that five clubs had already received support through that route. She underlined that it was the council’s statutory responsibility to support people assessed under the Care Act and encouraged councillors to work with clubs in their areas to get assessments for potentially eligible customers.

• The Interim Head of Service for Whole Life Commissioning clarified that there were not specific criteria that clubs needed to meet in order to bid to join the open framework. However, clubs would be expected to provide costings, safeguarding assurances and outline the services that they could offer. The director added that, once on the framework, clubs could bid to provide services to customers that had been assessed under the Care Act.

• The Chairman of the Overview and Scrutiny Management Committee highlighted that he would welcome further scrutiny of the impact on lunch clubs that did not have eligible customers as well as greater IT assistance for clubs when applying to join the open framework.

Resolved

1. To note the update on the progress made towards, and plans of, the Living My Life Daytime and Evening Opportunities Alliance since its commencement on 1 August 2022.

2. To receive a report at a future meeting providing a further update about the implementation of the Alliance.