Agenda item

To consider a report from the Chief Executive outlining the council’s preferred position in respect of future proposals for the Housing Related Support Service. The report was considered at Cabinet on 29 June 2021 but recommends a further consultation with residents before a final decision is taken by the Executive.

The Chairman noted that Vice-Chairman and himself were briefed by officers on Wednesday 16 June about Housing Related Support (HRS). At that point, although the report was to be considered at Cabinet on 29 June, in advance of the meeting, he felt it was important for the report to be considered at committee, particularly as the Executive developed its plans to April 2022. He noted that Cabinet had now adopted a preferred position ahead of a delegated decision on the future of the service due in the autumn.

Cllr Jane Davies, Cabinet Member for Adult Social Care, SEND, Transition and Inclusion, referred Members to the cabinet paper on the subject and the recommendations for housing related support. She went on to provide background information about the scheme. She explained that HRS was a non-statutory service currently delivered to around 1,200 residents across 130 schemes in Wiltshire and was designed to promote independence.

She described that HRS was most recently commissioned as a Help to Live at Home (HTLAH) service in 2013. However, since the HTLAH contracts expired in 2018 providers continued to operate the services. A consultation conducted in November and December 2020 found that there was considerable overlap in the HRS and the housing management provided by the Registered Social Landlords (RSLs). It also found that under 40 percent of eligible tenants were using the service.

Given the annual cost of HRS was nearly £1 million, that it was an inequitable, based on location rather than need, and duplicated other services, the Executive proposed that it was not renewed after 31 March 2022. Instead, during a transition phase, the Council would liaise with providers and residents to help them access alternate support from existing tenant support services. Through this process, residents with statutory eligible care needs would have a care act assessment and appropriate support.

During the discussion the following points were made:

• Members proposed that a rapid scrutiny exercise be held, and the Cabinet Member noted that she would welcome that to allow for scrutiny but avoid a prolonged period of uncertainty for residents.

• Questions were submitted in relation to support provided where Wiltshire Council was the landlord. Leader of the Council, Cllr Richard Clewer reassured Members that the Housing Revenue Account (HRA) already provided many of the services to the Council’s tenants and had a ringfenced budget due to the Council’s responsibility as a landlord.

• Members also raised questions about how people heavily relying on the service would be identified during the transition phase and whether a follow up review would take place in 2022 to ensure that gaps have not emerged in provision. Officers stated that a questionnaire would be sent to all residents. Events would be held with residents to gather their feedback and to provide further information.

• Discussion turned to whether some of the money saved by withdrawing the service could be used to better support people to live in their own homes. The Cabinet Member noted that parallel proposals relating to early support would be bought forward in due course and it was a priority to ensure that services were based on need and delivered in a fair manner.

• It was noted that there would be no redundancies of council staff due to the withdrawal of the scheme. The two providers of the scheme, Cerca Care and Somerset Care had a total of 28 staff working on the programme between them and they would be engaged with as part of the process to see if Transfer of Undertakings Protection of Employment (TUPE) applied.

Resolved:

For a rapid scrutiny exercise of the Council’s transition plan for the Housing Related Support Service to be undertaken at the appropriate time in advance of the delegated decision on the future of the service being signed off in October 2021.