NORTH YORKSHIRE COUNCIL

 

HEALTH AND ADULT SERVICES EXECUTIVE MEMBER MEETING

 

5 MARCH 2026

 

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 2026/27

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 deferred payments, meals, transport, laundry and background support services for 2026/27.

 

 

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 2026/27

 

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 6th April 2026 for 2026/27).

 

3.2          As part of the budget set by the Council on 13 February 2026, a minimum inflationary increase of 3.4% was approved for 2026/27 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    2026/27

% Increase

2025/26

Meals:

 

Main

£3.45

£3.60

4.3%

Sweet

£1.35

£1.40

3.7%

Full Meal

£4.80

£5.00

4.2%

Laundry

£6.30

£6.60

4.8%

 

 

 

3.4          Transport charges are currently £9.00 per journey (with a cap of £47.00 per week). It is proposed that these figures are increased to £9.40 per journey (4.4% increase) with a cap of £49.00 per week (4.0% 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. The current charges are £11 for each 4-weekly invoice plus a one-off fee of £26. It is proposed that these rates are increased to £12 and £28.

 

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

 

 

2025/26

2026/27

% increase

Elderly Persons Home

Day Care

Per place per day

£44.50

£47.00

5.6%

 

 

 

 

 

Existing Packages

Weekly rate

£750.00

£800

6.7%

New Packages (ACOC)

Weekly rate

£945.00

£1,001.00

5.9%

 

 

 

 

 

Learning Disability Services

Day Centre

Per place per day

£87.50

£93.00

6.3%

Respite

Per 24 hour period

£320.00

£340.00

6.3%

 

Weekly rate

£2,240.00

£2,380

6.3%

 

Personal Care at Home

Per contact visit

 

2025/26

2026/27

% increase

Days

15 min

£11.60

£12.30

6.0%

 

30 min

£17.00

£18.00

5.9%

 

45 min

£22.50

£23.85

6.0%

 

60 min

£28.20

£29.90

6.0%

Nights

15 min

£14.40

£15.20

5.6%

 

30 min

£21.50

£22.80

6.0%

 

45 min

£28.60

£30.30

5.9%

 

60 min

£35.70

£37.90

6.0%

 

 

 

 

 

Sleep-in Rate

Per Night

£135.91

£144.00

6.0%

 

 

 

 

 

Additional 1:1 Rate

Per Hour

£28.20

£29.90

6.0%

 

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 2026/27

 

 

fee

2025/26

rate

2026/27 rate

% increase

Legal costs

£206.00

£213.00

3.5%

Land registry search

£56.00

£58.00

3.7%

Valuations

£400.00

£400.00

0.0%

£600.00

£600.00

0.0%

Admin fee (set up)

£162.00

£168.00

3.2%

Annual fee

£465.00

£465.00

3.3%

 

 

 

Background Support in Extra Care

 

 

3.8          North Yorkshire Council is the onsite care provider in 13 Extra Care schemes, working alongside the Housing Association who operate each scheme.

 

3.9          In each Extra Care tenants are able to access ‘Background Support’ which is a 24hour a day, 7 day a week response service which can support people in the event of a fall, short term illness, to prevent a hospital admission or support a discharge.

 

3.10       A charge for this service was first introduced in 2018 and has gradually risen from £9 per week to £11 per week. To support increasing staff and operational costs, from April 2026 the weekly rate for this service will rise to £17.50 per week. This rate remains significantly below that charged in schemes with private / independent sector care providers where the charge for the same service can be approximately £45 per week.

 

3.11       The charge is split into two parts – one of which is eligible for Housing Benefit and one of which is eligible under a social care financial assessment. As such, tenants are able to receive financial support should they need it.

 

 

 

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 £4.3m and the planning assumption currently incorporated into the Medium Term Financial Strategy assumes that 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

 

In accordance with s.93 of the Local Government Act 2003, the council must operate on a cost-recovery basis, not a commercial or profit-making basis. The above increases provide a contribution to cost recovery and so do not breach this requirement.

 

 

 

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.

 

 

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, 3.5 and 3.10 of this report, to be effective from 6 April 2026.

 

 

Report prepared by Anton Hodge, Assistant Director – Resources