Care Council for Wales

Cadeirydd/Chair: Arwel Ellis Owen
Prif Weithredwr/Chief Executive: Rhian Huws Williams

Dyddiad/Date: 5 August 2009
E-bost/mail: jemma.cole@ccwales.org.uk

South Gate House
Wood Street
Caerdydd/Cardiff
CF10 1EW
Ffôn/Tel: 029 2022 6257
Ffacs/Fax: 029 2038 4764
E-bost/mail: info@ccwales.org.uk
Wefan/Website: www.ccwales.org.uk

Olga Lewis,
Deputy Committee Clerk,
Legislation Office,
National Assembly for Wales,
Cardiff Bay,
CF99 1NA

Dear Olga,

Care Council for Wales’ response to the consultation on the Proposed Social Care Charges Measure

1. Background

Care Council for Wales

The Care Council for Wales, an Assembly Government Sponsored Body, was established on 1 October 2001 under the Care Standards Act 2000 'to promote high standards of conduct and practice among social care workers and high standards in their training’.

The role of the Care Council is to:

• register the Social Care Workforce in Wales;

• regulate the Conduct and Fitness to Practice of the Workforce;

• set and regulate the standard of training required for social workers at qualifying and post qualifying levels;

• monitor the quality of social work education in Wales; and

• promote and encourage training for the wider social care workforce.

Proposed Social Care Charges (Wales Measure) Consultation Questions

Response from the Care Council for Wales

1. Is there a need for legislation to be made to ensure that local authorities across Wales adopt a more consistent approach to charging service users for non-residential social care services, and if so, why?

Yes. As set out in para 3.2 of the Explanatory Memorandum to the Proposed Social Care Charges (Wales) Measure, services users and carers are concerned that currently different amounts can be charged by different Councils for similar services.

As well as promoting a fairer system for service users and carers, a more consistent approach should be easier to explain and to administer by the social care workforce.   

Inconsistencies will, of course, continue to exist as Councils will still be able to make local policy in relation to eligibility criteria for services. Action may need to be taken to ensure that Councils have sufficient resources to implement the policy change in order to avoid tightening of eligibility criteria to "afford” the change.

2. Are the sections of the proposed Measure appropriate in terms of reforming legislation relating to the social care charging regime? If not, how does the proposed Measure need to change?

Overall, yes. However:

Since the Measure is not fully prescriptive, there may still be variation between areas.

It will be important to ensure that the Measure is affordable in the current economic climate.

If the aim of the policy change is to promote consistency, then, as set out in the Measure, it will be important to specify in regulations which categories of person or service are excluded from charging. However, action may need to be taken to ensure that this does not adversely impact on service provision, e.g., act as a disincentive to the development of "exempted” services where charging policy income is currently relied on to contribute to resourcing the service.

The role of carers and robust carer strategies which focus on real support for carers are well documented as vital for any future model of services. It will be important to ensure that the Measure supports carers in their role.

Service users and carers and other stakeholders will require clear information on exempted services.

Regarding means assessment as the basis for determining the charge to the user, it will, of course, be important to continue to ensure that means assessment takes place after, and is clearly separate from, needs assessment and the application of eligibility criteria. This should be clearly described in guidance for the workforce on implementation.  

It will be important to ensure that the policy is consistent with other Assembly policies in relation to care services such as support to enable people to remain living in their own homes as long as possible. For example, the means testing process will need to take into account the varying cost to the occupier of the upkeep of different types/sizes of homes.  

Plain language, consistent, clear and timely information on charges and means testing including when thresholds change, will be critical, both for service users and carers and for the workforce. There should be regular monitoring to ensure that information is appropriate.

An incremental approach to implementation, as described in para 3.5 of the Explanatory Memorandum seems appropriate. Monitoring and evaluation of the implementation will be important.

Regarding section 6 of the Measure, Reviews of Charging Decisions, it will be important that this is an independent process.

3. How will the proposed Measure change what organisations do currently and what impact will such changes have, if any?

The proposed Measure will not have a significant impact on the work of the Care Council. Universities delivering the social work degree in Wales will need to be aware of the policy and refer to it in their courses. Local authorities (and others) will need to design and deliver in-house briefing / training on the change for identified staff such as social workers and financial assessment staff, advisers, etc. These organisations will appreciate sufficient "lead in” time to prepare staff.

4.  What are the potential barriers to implementing the provisions of the proposed Measure (if any) and does the proposed Measure take account of them?

Sufficient time will be needed to involve and consult stakeholders on the detail, e.g. decisions about the maximum charge, exempted services, etc.

Steps should be taken to avoid any unnecessary alarm, distress or anxiety for service users and carers by the introduction of this change, e.g., by the Welsh Assembly working with Councils to advise the public about the new system.

5.  What are the financial implications of the proposed Measure for organisations, if any? In answering this question you may wish to consider Section 2 of the Explanatory Memorandum (the Regulatory Impact Assessment), which estimates the costs and benefits of implementation of the proposed Measure.

There are no financial implications for the Care Council for Wales.

6. Are there any other comments you wish to make about specific sections of the proposed Measure?

In developing the detail, it may be useful to preserve useful elements from the current Fairer Charging Guidance.

Careful consideration should be given to the impact of this policy change on recipients of Direct Payments.

When further detail is available / muted, it will be appropriate to test the Measure on actual case studies and against clear criteria such as anti poverty impact.

In progressing the Measure, it is important to consider what society will be like in the (not too distant) future, for example, increased numbers of older people and an increased demand on social care services and new types of services . It may be useful to test the Measure against the new framework of services being considered for older people (led by Graham Williams).

Yours sincerely,

Rhian Huws Williams
Chief Executive