Issue - meetings

Report of the Cabinet Member for Adult Care, Health, and Wellbeing is attached.

Councillor Tamoor Tariq, Cabinet Member for Adult Care, Health, and Wellbeing, presented the report which detailed the fee engagement process including timelines and proposed recommendations for the fee proposal to contracted providers of adult social care services for the period 2023/24. Members noted this had been developed in partnership with providers and that it marked the end of the phased approach to implementing the Real Living Wage.

Decision:

Cabinet agreed the fee uplifts as set out in the report.

Reasons for the decision:

The Council is required to carry out a provider fee engagement process and has done so for year 23/24. The uplifts are within budget and look to drive the provider market to meet needs now and going forward, while ensuring provider sustainability in light of current pressures. The recommended fee rates also support providers to pay their staff the Real Living Wage and move towards the Fair Cost of Care.

Other options considered and rejected:

·         Fee uplifts are one of the levers available to the Local Authority to help direct the market to meet the needs of Bury residents both now and in the future. There is increasing demand for more complex provision including dementia and nursing services and to support people to live well at home; hence the further increases in these areas. Failure to do so could have resulted in a lack of capacity and sufficiency of care for people with those needs.

·         A reduced budget for fee uplifts would have resulted in the ongoing sustainability of the Adult Social Care market being severely impacted and Bury’s position as a Real Living Wage paying authority compromised.