Agenda and draft minutes

There were no declarations of personal interest.

RESOLVED that the decision record of the meeting held on the 11^th May, 2021 be signed as a correct record.

The Cabinet Member considered a report detailing the potential impact, and effect, of changes to charges for non-residential services and the need for charges in Carmarthenshire to increase in order to continue to maximise income.

To work towards full cost recovery for 2022-23, and to align rates with other Local Authorities in Wales, it was proposed to increase non-residential charges for hourly charged services from £16.85 to £18.00 (6.8%) and Day Care and Adult Placement charges from £16.50 to £17.60 (6.66%). 

It was noted that the scale of charges for 2022-23, in most cases is significantly less than the cost of provision, however increasing charges would not necessarily increase income for this year because the amount anyone can pay is controlled by the current Welsh Government “Cap” and Financial Assessment.  It was however recognised that there may be a small marginal increase of income from the inflationary uplift applied to the full cost, small packages of care.

RESOLVED that Carmarthenshire increase its Non-Residential charges for hourly charged services by inflation from £16.85 to £18.00 (6.8%) and Day Care and Adult Placement sessional charges from £16.50 to £17.60 (6.66%) in an attempt to recover as much revenue as possible within the rules set down by Welsh Government for 2022-23, and to align rates with other local authorities in Wales, and in particular to move closer to regional Local Authorities.  

The Cabinet Member considered a report recommending that theStandard Charge for Local Authority Older People residential care homes be increased from £654.06 to £718.56 for Mainstream beds and from £884.17 to £935.60 for Dementia beds.

It was noted that the rates had been calculated prior to confirmation of the pay award in order to give early notification to the affected individuals.

An increase of 9.86% for mainstream beds and 5.82% for Dementia beds was attributed to the increase in staffing costs and additional cost pressures within supplies and services.  Furthermore, it was acknowledged that there had been a rebalancing of costs between the Dementia Beds and Standard Residential within the Council’s Revenue Budget Strategy to reflect the growing dependency levels in Residential Care and the difference in uplifts between the two charges.

RESOLVED that the Standard Charge for Local Authority Older People residential care homes be increased from £654.06 to £718.56 for Mainstream beds and from £884.17 to £935.60 for Dementia beds.