Purpose

The Residential Care Charging Policy sets out how Lancashire County Council charges for residential and nursing adult social care services, and forms part of the suite of Care Act policies currently under review in readiness for Care Quality Commission inspection.

The policy applies to all adults and younger people over the age of 18, who have been assessed by Lancashire County Council as having an eligible need for residential and/or nursing care.

The Residential Care Charging Policy is a new policy for Adult Social Care, in so far as it pulls together the information in relation to charging for residential and nursing adult social care services into a single, clear policy. It reflects the legislation linked to the Care Act 2014 and includes the previous Deferred Payments policy. It covers charges for short term, temporary and permanent care and also includes circumstances where charges will not apply.

The policy enables Adult Social Care to consolidate its approach to charging and implementing fair, transparent and consistent charging across all services, subject to financial assessment where appropriate.

The key points to note are:

• Based on feedback from complaints, the Policy has consolidated all information around charging for residential care into one document, and offers further clarity to residents on areas that have required greater specificity.
• Financial assessment will now be applied universally to anyone receiving adult social care support, in accordance with the Care Act 2014.
• Consistent application of top up payments will be applied to all residents who choose to be placed in residential care which is more costly than the option the council offers which meets Care Act eligible needs.

·  An Equality Impact Assessment has been completed linked to this policy.

This is deemed to be a Key Decision and the requirements of Standing Order C19 have been complied with.

Decision

The Cabinet approved the recommendation(s) as set out in the report.