The Adult Social Care Scrutiny Committee of Waltham Forest Council met on Tuesday 08 November 2016 to discuss the pay and conditions of frontline care staff, housing adaptations for disabled residents, and the implementation of the Care Act 2014. The committee made several recommendations regarding workforce development, pay, and training for care staff, and agreed to arrange an informal meeting to discuss housing adaptations and new build processes for people with disabilities.

Pay and Conditions for Frontline Staff

The committee considered a report on the pay and conditions for staff working in the registered care market. It was noted that the introduction of the national living wage in April 2016 had increased costs for the council by an estimated £1.2 million in adult social care. Members expressed concern about the lack of information regarding whether commissioned care providers in Waltham Forest were paying their employees the national living wage. The report also highlighted the issue of zero-hours contracts, with an estimated 307,000 care workers in the UK on such contracts in 2014, leading to unstable incomes. While Waltham Forest's adult care workers are generally paid more than the national average, there is still a high staff turnover rate, with potential consequences for the workforce due to Brexit.

The committee made the following decisions:

• Highlighting the need to progress partnerships for workforce development.
• Asking officers to investigate with other London Boroughs how their commissioned care providers are contracted to pay employees the national living wage.
• Requesting an approach be made to Lettings Waltham Forest to establish whether adult care workers can be included in their market rent lettings scheme.
• Asking officers to investigate the number of workers in adult social care in the borough on zero-hours contracts.
• Requesting discussions with Waltham Forest College to encourage young people into adult social work as a career and to work towards the award of Carers Certificates.
• Encouraging care providers to organise and deliver training opportunities for their care staff.
• Noting the impact of the national living wage on the adult social care budget.
• Congratulating the report authors on the quality of their report.

Housing and Disability

A report was presented on the arrangements for adapting properties to enable people with substantial and permanent disabilities to live safely in their own homes. The report detailed the funding available through the Community Care Assessment (CCA) Grant for council-owned properties and the Disabled Facilities Grant (DFG) for owner-occupied properties, which forms part of the Better Care Fund. The committee was informed that while budgets have historically been fully spent, the significantly increased Disabled Facilities Grant may not be fully spent this year, and officers are investigating potential reasons for a drop in demand.

The committee decided to:

• Note the report.
• Ask officers to arrange for members of the scrutiny committee to meet with relevant housing and planning officers, along with a representative from Metropolitan Housing, to discuss housing adaptations and new build processes for people with disabilities, and to feedback any issues to the next scrutiny committee meeting.

Care Act Implementation

Bernice Solvey, Interim Divisional Director of Adult Social Care, presented an update on the implementation of the Care Act 2014¹. The presentation highlighted the introduction of the Deferred Payment Scheme to assist homeowners with residential care fees and confirmed that Waltham Forest had fully implemented the requirements of the Act, with ongoing progress on carers' support. The committee noted the increased demand for assessments due to the new national minimum threshold for eligibility to care and support, and welcomed the publication of the integrated Directory of Services.

The committee noted the presentation.