Slough Borough Council has begun a consultation to allow residents to share their views on proposed changes within fees and charges in adult social care. 

There are four main areas where changes are being consulted upon. 

Proposal – charging for managing appointee-ship 

An appointee is a person or organisation who has been given the legal right to manage someone else’s benefits or pensions. The council does not currently charge for the costs incurred in acting as appointee. 

As an example, someone may be unable to manage their own finances due to a lack of ability or capacity to do this, and the council will arrange to collect and administer their money on their behalf which can be time consuming and sometimes complex if various bills are also included.  

Some other local authorities charge for these services, so the council is seeking to consult on introducing a charge for appointee-ship customers which reflects some of the administrative costs incurred by the council in order to ensure the service is sustainable.

Proposal - full cost recovery for people who have savings/assets or income over £23,250 and fund their own support – self-funders (charging people who self-fund their support for the council’s work in arranging and administering that support).  

A resident who needs homecare or similar support in the community, but has above the national savings or income thresholds can ask the council to help them arrange that support. In some cases, this might involve the council giving them some advice as to where to seek the support and how to arrange it but in others it may be more detailed than this. 

The council is proposing an initial set up fee of £300 and annual fee of £250 to administer the account. (This would mean a £550 charge in the first year and £250 ongoing).    

Proposal - applying the minimum income guarantee as per national guidance

People receiving local authority-arranged care and support other than in a care home need to retain a certain level of income to cover their living costs. Under the Care Act 2014, charges must not reduce people’s income below a certain amount, this is a weekly amount and is known as the Minimum Income Guarantee (MIG), but local authorities can allow people to keep more of their income if they wish. 

Currently Slough Borough Council applies these rates plus a 25% buffer – this means that an additional 25% is allowed on top of the MIG rates but correspondingly means that the council does not receive income from this buffer. A majority of councils have no buffer, and many are considering reducing their current buffer to the national rate. 

Proposal – increase the charge for administering a deferred payment.

The council currently charges people £595 to arrange a deferred payment loan. The proposal is moving to a charge of £800 initial set up fee and an annual charge (included in the set-up year) of £300 annually to cover officer costs in administering this.

The consultation runs from 18 February to 31 March and is open to all Slough residents. The findings from the consultation will contribute to the final recommendations that will be put forward to a Cabinet meeting in April. The council will then take a decision on the way forward. 

If approved, the intention is that the appointee-ship changes would come into effect from April and the rest of the changes would follow in May/June.

You can share your views by: 

Councillor Anna Wright, lead member responsible for adult social care, mental health and learning disabilities, said: “We want to hear from our residents regarding this important consultation about proposed changes to fees and charges within adult social care. Changes will be experienced by a variety of residents both now and in the future and we want to hear from you, on how we move forward.”