Content

RESOLVED that
Cabinet –

 

a)    
notes the content of the Portfolio Holder’s
report (A.8), including the updated financial information relating
to alternative options for the future of Tendring Careline, updated
information on numbers of service-users and staff, the latest
position in relation to third-party contracts and the consideration
of third-party proposals for taking on all or part of the Careline
service; 

b)    
notes also the latest position in respect of
proposals for local government reorganisation across Essex,
including the likely replacement of County and District Councils
with unitary authorities, and the potential practical implications
for services such as Careline in the future;

 

c)     
in light of the information noted as per resolutions
a) and b), supports the proposal from Colchester City Council and
its Helpline Service (provided through its arms-length company
Amphora), based on the outcome of the evaluation set out within the
Portfolio Holder’s report (A.8);

 

d)    
agrees to the creation of a combined and expanded
telecare, response and lifting service for North East Essex that aligns with the aims and of
objectives of the North East Essex Health and Wellbeing Alliance
for an integrated health-system approach; and agrees heads of terms
on the following principle conditions:

 

i)      
it is achieved through the automatic transfer of all
remaining Tendring Careline service-users to the service provided
by Colchester Helpline on their existing terms of conditions and
with no ongoing financial liability to Tendring District Council
following that transfer;

ii)     
that Colchester Helpline undertakes to guarantee
service coverage to residents across all parts of the Tendring
District so as to ensure that no part of the District is left without access for residents to a
paid-for telecare, response and lifting service;

iii)    
that Colchester Helpline’s existing average
response times are maintained and where possible improved upon in
providing coverage to residents in all parts of Tendring –
with measures put in place, as necessary, for one or more outposts
in locations providing accessibility for all parts of Tendring
– and at no ongoing cost or liability to Tendring District
Council; and

iv)    
that Tendring Careline’s existing staff will
transfer to employment within the expanded Colchester Helpline,
respecting existing terms and conditions and with no ongoing
financial liability to Tendring District Council resulting from
that transfer.

 

e)    
agrees in principle that the Council’s
Out-of-Hours, CCTV services and monitoring for the Council’s
own sheltered housing schemes will also transfer to Colchester
Helpline under an outsourcing arrangement within the same
timescales for achieving the proposal under resolution d), which
will be considered as part of the associated negotiation and
subject to separate decision(s) as necessary;

  

f)      
that the transfer be facilitated, as early and as
smoothly as possible within the 2025/26 financial year;

 

g)    
agrees that, from the date of this decision, any new
prospective Careline customers are to be signposted to Colchester
Helpline as the Council’s preferred alternative trusted
provider, in light of the proposal under d) above;

 

h)    
agrees an extension to the exemption of Procurement
Procedure Rules to allow the use of the company Careium for the ongoing provision of casual
call-handling support over the period of transition, as required,
to ensure continuity of service to remaining service-users during
times of staff shortage;

 

i)      
authorises the Portfolio Holder for Partnerships, in
consultation with the Leader of the Council & Portfolio Holder
for Finance and Governance; the Director for Planning and
Community; the Monitoring Officer; the Section 151 Officer; and the
Head of People, to progress and deliver the following:

 

1)     
the preparation of a detailed transition plan in
collaboration with Colchester City Council and Colchester Helpline,
including the associated legal agreement and specific tasks and
timescales for the achievement of the proposals under resolutions
d) and e), having regard to the broad Indicative Transition Plan
outlined within this report;

2)     
the termination of any remaining third-party
customer and supplier contracts with Tendring Careline;

3)     
the entering into contracts with one or more
suitable third-party providers of telecare, response and/or lifting
services to call upon additional staffing resource during the
period of transition to ensure continuity of service to remaining
service-users and to provide additional resources as required;

4)     
the agreement with Colchester Helpline for the use
of accommodation at Barnes House, on a short-term lease and on
commercial terms, for use as a temporary outpost for the provision
of the expanded North East Essex service
while a permanent location is sought;

5)     
the agreement to any financial contribution towards
the upgrading of all existing Tendring Careline service users to
digital equipment either before or after the transfer to Colchester
Helpline – utilising a proportion of the agreed
implementation budget; and

6)     
the utilisation of the remainder of the
implementation budget, as appropriate, for purposes relating to the
achievement of the proposals under resolutions d) and
e).

   

j)      
confirms that all efforts will be put in place to
work constructively with Helpline to support service users through
a smooth and timely transfer to the expanded North East Essex service and that for any service
users that wish to ‘opt out’ of an automatic transfer,
support will be provided in signposting them to other alternative
providers;

 

k)     
confirms that the Council will continue to support
affected staff through the transition to the expanded North East Essex Helpline service; and
 

l)      
agrees that the costs associated with these
resolutions is met from within existing budgets, including the
one-off implementation budget amount of £0.746m, and that the
use of these budgets is delegated to the Director (Planning and
Community), in consultation with the Leader of the Council &
Portfolio Holder for Finance and Governance and the Portfolio
Holder for Partnerships.