New Contributions Policy

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At its meeting on 29 September 2010, the Council's Executive agreed that there would be a consultation on the proposal to introduce a new financial contributions policy for adults receiving non-residential social care in Kingston. See below for the full report.

The public consultation, which was due to finish on 31 December 2010, has been extended until 1 February 2011 to give people longer to think about the proposed changes and to let us know what they think about them.

Following the outcome of the consultation, a further report will be be presented to the Executive in February 2011 at which time a decision on the proposed changes will be made.

These changes will affect people using certain services offered by Community Care Services. This includes people with learning disabilities, older people, people with a sight or hearing impairment, people with a physical disability and people living with HIV.

We estimate that over a third of people using our services will not be affected by these proposed changes at all because we will continue to protect those who are least able to make contributions.

There will be no increase in contributions for people currently using our services with an income lower than £204 a week. Also, a person aged 60 years or over with an income lower than £165.75 a week will not pay any contributions.

These proposals will affect people who receive home care, day care, respite care (short breaks), supported living services, personal budgets, individual budgets and direct payments.

Other services, such as residential care, equipment and adaptations to your home and telecare products, such as smoke alarms, personal safety alarms and fall detectors, will not be affected.  

Without people’s financial contributions we would not be able to help as many people as we do to stay independent, safe and well.

Almost all local councils ask people to contribute towards the cost of their social care support. We therefore need to make sure that we have a reasonable contributions policy for the services we provide. We have to follow the Department of Health guidance on our contributions policy, including how we work out people’s contributions.

The Council faces a reduction of over 24% in the money it gets from the Government over the next two years with further cuts in subsequent years. In addition, the Council is not allowed to increase council tax next year. So the options open to us to raise money to provide services are extremely limited.

We also need to change our contributions scheme as we introduce ‘Personal Budgets’ for everyone using social care services in line with Government policy. A ‘Personal Budget’ is a sum of money people who qualify for social care services can use to choose the support they need to keep independent.

Main changes

The main changes we are proposing are to:

• Have in place a fair financial contributions scheme to meet the Government’s guidance for non-residential contributions under the Transformation of Adult Social Care Agenda and to be in line with the practice of other similar local councils
• Remove or reduce subsidies so that contributions for care at home, including direct payments would rise according to a person’s ability to pay
• Protect people on low incomes - those with an income lower than £204 a week will be protected from contribution increases.

Our consultation presentation sets out in more detail our proposals (See below).

We have sent everyone who will be affected by the proposals, if they are agreed, a letter setting out the main changes. This letter also explains how we work out people’s contributions now and what will happen in the future if these changes are approved. (See below).

You can also find below the Department of Health guidance on contributions which we have used to produce our proposals and the financial assessment form we currently use to work out people's contributions to their care and support services.

The proposal, if approved, is that the Council will move to full cost contributions for those who can afford them in April 2011.

We want to hear what you think! Councillors will not make a final decision until a full consultation process has been completed and a report is prepared for Councillors to consider in February 2011.

If you would like to have an indication of what your contribution would be if the proposed changes are agreed, please call Phil Levick on 020 8547 6103 who will arrange for an estimate of how much you would have to pay to be worked out for you. You may have to wait a little while to get an indicative figure if a lot of people ask for this.  

Have your say

We have put together some questions which we think will help people to get involved with our proposals. You can decide to answer them if you wish or feedback your own views or comments. You can complete our consultation questions on-line or download the questionnaire and send it in to us (See below).

If you need information on audio tape, in large print, in Braille or in another language, please call us on 020 8547 6125.

We have already held six public meetings and have arranged two more where you can hear about our proposals and have your say. You can find the questions and answers from these meetings below. There are two more public meetings:

• Friday, 14 January 2011, 11:00 – 1:00pm, at the King Charles Centre,  King Charles Road, Surbiton KT5 9AL
• Monday, 17 January 2011, 11:00 – 1:00pm, at the Hook Centre, Hook Road, Chessington KT9 1EJ

We understand that some people may find it difficult to attend or take part in open meetings. Therefore, we are happy to meet people individually with you if that is more suitable for you.

We are happy to come along to any organisational or group meetings you may have arranged so you can have your say about our plans.

If you would like to take part by post, email or telephone, please contact us.

Phil Levick
Community Care Services
Hollyfield House
22 Hollyfield Road
Surbiton KT5 9AL
Email: haveyoursay@rbk.kingston.gov.uk
Telephone: 020 8547 6103