Purpose

To ensure continuity of care and maintain
lawful financial control, the Cabinet Member is being asked to take
a decision under Special Urgency procedures (procedure rule 5.48 of
Part 4, Section 5 of the Council’s Constitution, Cabinet
Procedure Rules).

Content

The Cabinet Member
for Social Care & Healthier Communities agrees to:-

1.        
Authorise the Executive Director for Adults and Communities to
terminate, if he deems it necessary, the existing contract for the
Direct Payments Support Service, because the provider can no longer
give assurance about safe and continuous service delivery.

 

2.         Approve
the immediate appointment of temporary specialist provider(s) to
deliver both the payroll and managed account functions for all
Direct Payment users, and delegates authority to the Executive
Director for Adults and Communities to procure as necessary and
award any contracts to facilitate such appointments.

 

3.         Approves
the transfer of the advice and support function to Southend Care
Ltd.

 

4.         Agree
that the Council moves to a gross payment model, with the
Council’s Finance Team collecting client contributions
directly from the date the emergency arrangements start.

 

5.         Approves
the implementation of the permanent April 2026 model which includes
the award of the Direct Payments contract to Southend Care Limited
providing one unified system for payroll and managed accounts and a
single support function.

 

6.         Agrees
that the Executive Director of Adults and Communities will oversee
implementation of the emergency and moving to permanent
arrangements, working with the Director of Commissioning, the
Section 151 Officer and the Monitoring Officer, and in consultation
with the Cabinet Member for Adults and communities.
 

Reasons for the decision

The decision cannot
reasonably be deferred because the continuity of the Direct
Payments Support Service is at imminent risk and the result would
be the council is unable to comply with its statutory
duties.