CM Local Authorities

Bradford council’s executive has approved plans to create four new extra care developments to address the accommodation and support needs of the elderly and people with dementia in the district. The move is part of Bradford’s Great Places to Grow Old plan which aims to ensure older people can stay in their own homes during changes to their care needs or a crisis, have more opportunities to stay part of the community and can access specialist housing and support when it is not possible to stay in their own home. The four schemes - Saltaire Extra Care/Intermediate Care, Airedale Extra Care/Intermediate Care, Goitside Extra Care and Thackley/Ellar Carr extra care – mark the first phase of the plan. Land for the Thackley/Ellar site will be sold to Housing 21, which will develop the scheme in partnership with the council. Bradford is to bid for Housing and Communities Agency funding for the other three schemes. The council wants to reduce its reliance on intensive care and support services and rejected plans in July for further residential care developments. Bradford’s executive said the local authority’s in-house care home buildings were not fit for the long-term future. It now wants to plan for new types of services in partnership with other organisations that will meet the expectations of tomorrow's older people’. Specialist dementia care services, however, will remain in place. In-house services, however, will not be decommissioned until alternative accommodation is identified and a programme to deliver this is approved. Executive member for adult services, Cllr Amir Hussain said: Joining forces with other council services and the NHS means we have a better overview of the needs of our older population and more flexibility in terms of funding ensuring that we continue our emphasis on quality of care. Our shared priority is having enough support for our growing older population and the means to give them choice, independence and dignity.’

Community Care Market News (News) December 2000 Concern over the spate of home closures in recent months has prompted the government to...

Another council in the north east of England has been ordered to reassess it scare home fees by a High Court judge. South Tyneside council was ruled to have acted unlawfully when setting fee rates within a two-year contract commencing on 1 July 2012. The High Court of Justice Administrative Court sitting in Leeds upheld all six complaints brought by the South Tyneside Care Homes Owners Association, Helen McArdle Care and Executive Care Group, resulting in the local authority’s framework contract being quashed and the council being ordered to pay the claimant’s costs.

Almost three quarters of homecare providers that supplied services to councils said they would have to reduce the amount of publicly-funded care, according to a UK Homecare Association (UKHCA) survey. This would affect around half of all the service users they support, they reported.

The Local Government Ombudsman has told councils that they are ultimately responsible for the actions of the care homes they commission services from after a local authority-funded resident was charged top up fees for the same care on top of the council’s contracted rate. In what she described as not an isolated case’ Ombudsman Dr Jane Martin ruled that Merton council was guilty of maladministration causing injustice by allowing Sutton Court Care Centre, owned by Eastbourne-based Hydefall Limited, to charge a service user more money. The family of the elderly woman had contacted Merton about having to pay the difference between the council rate and the home’s fees for private residents and then took their case to the Ombudsman. As the contract for the woman’s care was between the council and Sutton Court, Dr Martin ruled that there should have been no fee negotiation between the care home and the family as Sutton Court was not entitled to any more funding than the council’s usual rate.

Community Care Market News (News) October 2002 Scottish Care is to meet with the Scottish Executive and the Convention of Scottish Local...

Community Care Market News (News) June 2002 National Statistics providing detailed figures on the number of children looked after by local authorities...

Community Care Market News (News) March 2004 The government's allocation for Supporting People funding this year is to remain at the same...

Community Care Market News (News) October 2003 An estimated 200,000 older care home residents supported by local authorities in England will be...

Community Care Market News (News) May 2004 Supporting People funding could soon lose the protection it is currently given through ring-fencing according...