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Adult social care: charging policy review – Your chance to have a say on the future of adult social care charges

North East Lincolnshire Council is asking people for their views on a number of proposed changes to the charging policy for adult care and support.

Unlike health services in the UK which are free to access, adult social care services often have a cost attached to them.  Adults who need adult social care (or “care and support”) are financially assessed to see how much they should contribute to the costs of their care.

The assessment takes into account their money and investments so no one is asked to pay more than they can afford for the help that they receive.

The Council needs to review its adult social care charging policy to make sure it is helping to meet the needs of local people within the available budget. 

Councillor Margaret Cracknell, portfolio holder for health and wellbeing at North East Lincolnshire Council, said: “We have to make the best use of the money we have available to help local people.

“We must look at proposals to help the Council recover the costs of adult care and support services.  However, the Council is not considering every option for cost recovery. 

“For example, carers play a vital role in supporting some of the most vulnerable people in our society, so whilst the law does allow councils to charge for carer’s services, we have no plans to do so.”

These proposals are set out in the following questionnaire.

You can access the standard read consultation by clicking on the following link:   https://www.snapsurveys.com/wh/s.asp?k=157674940814

You can access an easy read consultation by clicking on the following link: https://www.snapsurveys.com/wh/s.asp?k=157674948636

You can read the current policy (which will be replaced following the end of the consultation) by clicking on the following link: https://www.nelincs.gov.uk/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/Charging-and-Financial-Assessment-for-Adult-Care-and-Support-Services-V3.pdf

There will be some public events in March at Grimsby Town Hall where people will be able to make their views known:

• Session 1 – 2 March 2020, 5:30-6:45pm
• Session 2 – 2 March 2020, 7:00-8:15pm
• Session 3 – 11 March 2020, 9:30-10:45am
• Session 4 – 11 March 2020, 11:00-12:15pm

A final decision will not be made on these proposals until feedback has been received from service users and others. 

Where individuals are affected by any decisions made on the proposals, these will be discussed with them at the time of the annual review of their financial assessment; no individual changes will take effect until their assessment. 

In accordance with the law, no one in receipt of care and support services will be charged more than they can afford to pay.

The Care Act 2014 sets out the legal basis for means testing access to care and support services. The law allows councils to recover some of what they spend meeting people’s needs. This means that:

• Some people pay the full cost of their care and support
• Some people share the costs of their care and support with the Council
• Some people receive their care and support for free.