The Amendment which was agreed by the Council yesterday and what it means?

The outcome of yesterdays meeting was that the papers approving the tender and direct payment rates were not approved. The opportunity to enter into some debate over a two week period and possibly get an extention to this was facilitated by a Labour Green amendment that was supported by conservatives.

Organisations are already in contact looking at how any talks with the council can be set and what proposals might be able to be progressed.

Please see LDA summary and amendment attached as these provide a good summary of the outcome and amendment.

At the Edinburgh Council meeting today the Labour amendment was passed by 29 votes to 28. That means there is now a pause for breath while councils officials rush about doing what they should have done long ago.

The amendment is attached for your interest. My detailed understanding of this is as follows:

1. There will be a series of meetings this week organised by the Chief Executive of the CEC to look at the amendment and plan a campaign to meet its requirements.

2. All political parties will be involved in this and therefore there will be a number of different objectives to be met from the final report. The contract award will not be dead in the water, the Conservatives still want some residual progress on this.

3. Reps from the political parties will meet with service users and carers and organisations to discuss how concerns can be resolved. Since these concerns principally now are around is the money sufficient, there needs to be movement on 10 below. [The organisations are not likely to be anyone who tendered except in so far as they reflect the views of service users. It is legitimate to have a group called XXXX service users and carers group]

4. All people who apply for a Direct Payment will have their hours totalled and withdrawn from the contract award.

5. They will continue with their current provider on the usual basis until the Direct Payment is approved.

6. The date of Dec 3rd for this to take place no longer applies- we do not know what will happen with this. [But I would recommend that all applications are put in sooner rather than later. In the spirit of “partnership” it will allow better planning if they are in asap. If any organisation/service user groups/advocacy groups has problems supporting people in making this choice, then the council should be able to help.]

7. The question of choice for those who don’t want to be transferred but can’t get or don’t want a DP will be considered. Suggestions on this will be helpful.

8. All remaining hours are likely to be put into new contracts – the officials have stated that they do not have to award all contracts but those that they do should be in the region of 800 to 1200 hours per week.

9. The paper cutting Direct Payment rates to a new level does not apply - therefore there are no current proposals to reduce the level of Direct Payments.

10. This issue of the rate and how it will be set will be addressed by the later report. [This is an issues that it would be best for the CEOs to consider collectively in order to have a positive suggestion that will help the council officials decide what is to happen. It would be best that this takes places through the good offices of CCPS if that is possible.]

11. There was a lot of talk that 21% of a cut was too much when only 4% was mentioned as applying to internal services. Therefore while there will have to be a cut from the rates current it will be less than 21%, but probably higher than the target 10% for the tender project.

12. Winning bidders will be approached and asked to consider extending the 240 day validity of their tender. This runs out on Dec 5^th and is one of the reasons for the hurry in this matter. An extension of 60 days will give more time.

13. There is a need to make sure that there is a voice for service users [A series of meetings need to be organised with service users of different organisations preferably in a collective fashion. This will give them information, advise them of their options and allow a demonstration of what consultation and involvement means. There should probably be some investment in facilitation of these. Some of us have some skills in this already but we should aim at lots of participation and evidence of this – MAPS – PATHS – DVDs and so on. We should invite council staff to come to these as well – equalities officers – Funding Independence people and so on.]

14. Carers too have to be considered in this, especially those of people with greater/complex needs. [see the point in 3 above]

Not all of this has to be done within 2 weeks but now that there is a pause for breath, I believe it is best for service users, their carers and the organisations that support them to take the initiative.

While it may seem this is only a 2 week delay, it is a major step forward in putting person centred service back on the agenda in edinburgh . There is much to do but we can do it.

All the best

Ian Hood

Sorry for any cross posting

City of Edinburgh Council

Amendment

Full Council Meeting

19^th November 2009

Item 7.2a - Contracts for the Provision of Care and Support Services

&

Item 7.2b - Direct Payments: Transitional Arrangements for Care and

Support Services

Council acknowledges the need to extend support to people waiting for Care and Support Services and that therefore efficiency savings need to be made, as well as more investment in such services.

This Council believes, when considering the service provision for the Care and Support packages, choice for clients should be the top priority, and that service quality should not be compromised.

This Council notes that when this tendering process started a target of 10% saving was set. The Council notes that the report at the recent Finance and Resources Committee recommended a 21% saving.

The Council further notes that key decisions on the tendering process for Care and Support Services were taken by officials of the Council and that Direct Payment applications have been suspended with no reference to the Council’s democratic process. This has harmed the reputation of the Council.

The Council finally notes, with regret, that the tendering process has caused concern for the individuals and carers whose service has been put out to tender.

Therefore Council agrees:

• To process the Direct Payment applications which have already been submitted to the Council
• To communicate directly with all clients, informing them that they are entitled to apply for a Direct Payment, and to process all those that are received subsequently
• To offer alternative means of expressing choice in relation to future provision, to all those clients for whom a Direct Payment is not possible or appropriate

Council thus agrees to suspend award of contracts until all the above has been carried out.

Council further agrees that renewed discussions are clearly required with the organisations that represent individuals and carers to resolve their concerns, and that the Spokespersons (of all Parties) for ‘Finance’ and ‘Health and Social Care’ should meet these organisations in order to try to get a resolution to their concerns and thereafter report to a specially convened Finance and Resources Committee at 10am on Thursday 3^rd December on the outcome of those discussions.

At the Finance and Resources Committee the report above should also include:

• The communications strategy for the award of Care and Support packages
• Details of the choices or alternatives that might be available for those who do not want a Direct Payment or who are not eligible for one
• The number of Direct Payments likely to be agreed and the effect this might have on the contracting process
• The rates for Direct Payments
• Evidence that service quality will not be compromised in any transfer of service to new providers
• Proposals to consult with service users about the quality and effectiveness of the services they receive and ways of improving those services
• Legal ramifications taking into account the decisions above