NORTH YORKSHIRE COUNTY COUNCIL
HEALTH AND ADULT SERVICES EXECUTIVE
22 MARCH 2023
FEES AND CHARGES FOR IN-HOUSE & COMMUNITY CARE SERVICES 2022/23
1. PURPOSE OF THE REPORT
1.1
This
report sets out the proposed changes in fees and charges that
individuals pay towards the costs of NYCC care services, plus
meals, transport and laundry services for 2023/24.
2. BACKGROUND
2.1 Each year the revised maximum charges to users of our in-house services are agreed based on the uprating of existing charges.
3. CHANGES IN CHARGES FOR 2023/24
3.1 Traditional uplift of charges is an exercise carried out annually and the new charges are implemented in April to coincide with the benefit uplift awarded by DWP (from Monday 10th April 2023 for 2023/24).
3.2 The Council’s Fees and Charges Strategy was approved by Executive Members in November 2022, after income budgets were reviewed. Given the historically high levels of inflation that the UK is currently experiencing, a minimum inflationary increase of 6% was approved for 2023/24 budget setting and although the charges in this paper are dealt with separately, a similar uplift has been used throughout.
3.3 The proposed new rates for services which are not subject to the means tested financial assessment are outlined in Table 1.
TABLE 1: CHARGES FOR SERVICES NOT SUBJECT TO A FINANCIAL ASSESSMENT
|
Description of Service |
Rates |
Proposed Rate 2023/24 |
% Increase |
|
2022/23 |
|||
|
Meals; |
|
||
|
Main |
£2.95 |
£3.10 |
5.1% |
|
Sweet |
£1.10 |
£1.20 |
9.1% |
|
Full Meal |
£4.05 |
£4.30 |
6.2% |
|
|
|||
|
Laundry |
£5.45 |
£5.75 |
5.5% |
3.4 Transport charges are currently £7.75 per journey (with a cap of £41 per week). It is proposed that these figures are increased to £8.20 per journey (5.8% increase) with a cap of £43 per week (4.9% increase).
3.5 Table 2 below details the proposed charges for those services being directly provided by NYCC and which are subject to a financial assessment.
TABLE 2: FEE SCHEDULES FOR NYCC MANAGED SERVICES 2023/24
|
|
|
2022-23 |
2023-24 |
% change |
|
Elderly Persons Home |
Max. charge |
Proposed Max. charge |
|
|
|
Day Care |
Per place per day |
£36.60 |
£38.75 |
5.9% |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Respite - EPH |
Per 24 hour period |
£86.00 |
£91.00 |
5.8% |
|
Existing Placements - EPH |
Weekly rate |
£602.00 |
£637.00 |
5.8% |
|
Learning Disability Services |
|
|
|
|
|
Day Centre |
Per place per day |
£71.50 |
£75.50 |
5.6% |
|
Respite |
Per 24 hour period |
£258.00 |
£273.00 |
5.8% |
|
|
Weekly rate |
£1,806.00 |
£1,911.00 |
5.8% |
|
Personal Care at Home |
|
|||
|
Per contact visit |
|
2022-23 |
2023-24 |
% change |
|
Days |
15 min |
£9.50 |
£10.10 |
6.3% |
|
|
30 min |
£13.95 |
£14.80 |
6.1% |
|
|
45 min |
£18.40 |
£19.50 |
6.0% |
|
|
60 min |
£23.10 |
£24.50 |
6.1% |
|
Nights |
15 min |
£11.75 |
£12.50 |
6.4% |
|
|
30 min |
£17.60 |
£18.70 |
6.2% |
|
|
45 min |
£23.40 |
£24.80 |
6.0% |
|
|
60 min |
£29.25 |
£31.00 |
6.0% |
3.6 The table above shows the proposed rate for existing placements in NYCC’s Elderly Person Homes. An exercise will be completed during 2023/24 to ensure that these establishments continue to provide value for money to the council and the people we support.
3.7 Table 3 below details the proposed charges related to the deferred payments process. These reflect that there has been no increase in valuations and legal fees.
TABLE 3: FEE SCHEDULES FOR DEFERRED PAYMENT COSTS 2023/24
|
fee |
2022-23 rate |
2023-24 rate |
% increase |
|
Legal costs |
171.00 |
188.00 |
9.9% |
|
Land registry search |
49.75 |
51.00 |
2.5% |
|
Valuations |
350.00 |
350.00 |
0.0% |
|
500.00 |
500.00 |
0.0% |
|
|
Admin fee (set up) |
139.50 |
148.00 |
6.1% |
|
Annual fee |
400.00 |
424.00 |
6.0% |
4 RESOURCE IMPLICATIONS
The budget for income from in-house service provision is approximately £4.5m in 2023/24 and the planning assumption currently incorporated into the medium term financial strategy assumes ‘inflation’ will be charged. The actual levels of income generated arise from a combination of the level of charges, the number of users and, critically, the assessed levels of contribution from clients.
5 CONSULTATION
Consultation originally took place as part of the introduction of the Fairer Contribution policy via the Area Committees through a questionnaire to user representative groups as well as being considered by Care and Independence Overview and Scrutiny Committee. No further consultation has been undertaken for this annual uplift process.
6 EQUALITIES IMPACT ASSESSMENT
This was undertaken as part of the introduction of the Fairer Contribution policy and it is therefore not considered necessary to undertake another assessment for routine uplift. However we do continue to monitor the impact of the change of policy regularly and this is reported to the Care and Independence Overview and Scrutiny Committee on a periodic basis.
7. RECOMMENDATIONS
The Corporate Director Health and Adult Services in consultation with the Executive Member for Health and Adult Services is asked to:-
(a)
Approve the new
charging rates as outlined in section 3, Tables 1 and 2 of this
report, to be effective from 10 April 2023
Report prepared by Anton Hodge, Assistant Director – Strategic Resources