NORTH YORKSHIRE COUNCIL

 

HEALTH AND ADULT SERVICES EXECUTIVE MEMBER MEETING

 

12 MARCH 2025

 

REPORT TO Corporate Director of Health and Adult Services (HAS) in consultation with the Executive Member for Health and Adult Services 

 

FEES AND CHARGES FOR IN-HOUSE & COMMUNITY CARE SERVICES 2025/26

REPORT OF THE CORPORATE DIRECTOR, HEALTH AND ADULT SERVICES

 

 

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 NYC care services, plus meals, transport and laundry services for 2025/26.

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. What people actually pay of course depends on the result of individual financial assessments.

           

3.            CHANGES IN CHARGES FOR 2025/26

 

3.1          The 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 7th April 2025 for 2025/26).

 

3.2          As part of the budget set by the Council on 14 February 2025, a minimum inflationary increase of 3.2% was approved for 2025/26 budget setting and although the charges in this paper are dealt with separately, a similar uplift has been used in places. Other uplifts are linked to the increase in costs which will be paid to providers.

 

3.3          The proposed new rates for services which are not subject to the means tested financial assessment are outlined in Table 1 and paragraphs 3.4 and 3.5.

 

 

 

TABLE 1:  CHARGES FOR SERVICES NOT SUBJECT TO A FINANCIAL ASSESSMENT

 

Description of Service

Rates

Proposed Rate    2025/26

% Increase

2024/25

Meals:

 

Main

£3.30

£3.45

4.5%

Sweet

£1.30

£1.35

3.8%

Full Meal

£4.60

£4.80

4.3%

 

Laundry

£6.10

£6.30

3.3%

 

 

 

3.4          Transport charges are currently £8.70 per journey (with a cap of £45.60 per week). It is proposed that these figures are increased to £9.00 per journey (3.4% increase) with a cap of £47.10 per week (3.3% increase).

 

3.5          In June 2024, the Council introduced charges to ensure that the administration and management costs of arranging, paying for and invoicing care for those who do not qualify for financial support from the Council, are fully covered. This means that the 4-weekly invoices to those individuals included a £10 charge for this, and there is a one-off fee of £25. It is proposed that these rates are increased to £11 and £26.

 

3.6          Table 2 below details the proposed charges for those services being directly provided by NYC and which are subject to a financial assessment. Charges for residential support will be in line with the Council’s approved Actual Cost of Care rates, although this will only apply to new packages. Existing packages will be increased in line with inflation.

 

 

 

TABLE 2:  FEE SCHEDULES FOR NYC-MANAGED SERVICES 2025/26

 

 

 

2024-25

2025-26

% change

Elderly Persons Home

Day Care

Per place per day

£41.50

£44.50

7.2%

 

 

 

 

 

Existing Packages

Weekly rate

£690.00

£750.00

8.7%

New Packages (ACOC)

Weekly rate

£875.00

£945.00

 

 

 

 

 

 

Learning Disability Services

Day Centre

Per place per day

£81.00

£87.50

8.0%

Respite

Per 24 hour period

£295.00

£320.00

8.5%

 

Weekly rate

£2,065.00

£2,240.00

8.5%

Personal Care at Home

Per contact visit

 

2024-25

2025-26

% change

Days

15 min

£10.70

£11.60

8.4%

 

30 min

£15.70

£17.00

8.3%

 

45 min

£20.70

£22.50

8.7%

 

60 min

£26.00

£28.20

8.5%

Nights

15 min

£13.25

£14.40

8.7%

 

30 min

£19.80

£21.50

8.6%

 

45 min

£26.30

£28.60

8.7%

 

60 min

£32.90

£35.70

8.5%

 

 

 

3.7          Table 3 below details the proposed charges related to the deferred payments process. The valuation fees are set by Align Property Partners.

 

 

 

TABLE 3:  FEE SCHEDULES FOR DEFERRED PAYMENT COSTS 2025/26

 

 

fee

2024-25 rate

2025-26 rate

% increase

Legal costs

199.00

206.00

3.5%

Land registry search

54.00

56.00

3.7%

Valuations

400.00

400.00

0.0%

600.00

600.00

0.0%

Admin fee (set up)

157.00

162.00

3.2%

Annual fee

450.00

465.00

3.3%

 

 

 

 

4          ALTERNATIVE OPTIONS

 

The option of not increasing charges has been discounted as this would be inconsistent with the cost increases paid to providers and would mean that the council incurred more of that cost. No increase would also be inconsistent with the Council’s Fees and Charges Strategy.

 

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          FINANCIAL IMPLICATIONS

 

The budget for income from in-house service provision is approximately £5.4m in 2025/26 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 people who pay and, critically, the assessed levels of contribution from those people.

 

 

7          LEGAL IMPLICATIONS

 

            Legal advice has been provided for these proposals.

 

 

8          EQUALITIES IMPLICATIONS

 

An Equalities Impact Assessment 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.

 

 

9          CLIMATE CHANGE IMPLICATIONS

 

There are no climate change implications arising from these proposals.

 

10        REASONS FOR RECOMMENDATIONS

 

The recommendation will help the council to recover inflationary cost rises in adult social care where appropriate.

 

 

11        RECOMMENDATIONS

 

The Corporate Director Health & 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, particularly Tables 1, 2 and 3 and paragraphs 3.4 and 3.5 of this report, to be effective from 7 April 2025.

 

 

Report prepared by Anton Hodge, Assistant Director – Resources