The Chair welcomed everyone to the meeting as well as those watching the webcast.

The Chair congratulated the Active Wirral Wellbeing Weight Management Programme who had won a national award by the Association of People Supporting Employment First (APSE). The organisation had been in a shortlist of six for the Best Health and Wellbeing Initiative.

An apology for absence was received from Councillor Amanda Onwuemene. Councillor Ewan Tomeny substituted.

Members are asked to consider whether they have any disclosable pecuniary interests and/or any other relevant interest in connection with any item(s) on this agenda and, if so, to declare them and state the nature of the interest.

Members were asked to declare any disclosable pecuniary interests and any other relevant interest and to state the nature of the interest.

Councillor Gail Jenkinson declared an interest in relation to the Budget in that a client of hers was in receipt of direct payments in order to pay her.

To approve the accuracy of the minutes of the meeting held on 18 July 2023.

Resolved – That the minutes of the meetings held on 18 July 2023 be approved as a correct record.

There were no statements or petitions received.

One question had been submitted by Ian Seddon of Unison. The question concerned the Real Living Wage and asked if the Chair and members of the Committee gave their full support the continuance of the Real Living Wage for 2023 / 2024 by extending the payments made to care providers, and if it could be made into Council policy. 

The Chair responded and confirmed that Wirral Council fully supported the continuance of achieving a Real Living Wage and, for 2023/2024 financial year, had agreed to promote the payment of the Real Living Wage by providers of health care services to the Council and local residents by paying an enhanced rate to providers who commit to paying front line staff the Real Living Wage, and a standard rate for providers who are not able to commit to paying staff the Real Living Wage.

There was one supplementary question, which was:

In addition to payment of the Real Living Wage, frontline domiciliary care staff received a payment of £12 an hour. Will this continue into 2023/24 and will it increase?

A written response to the question was promised and is printed in the supplement to these minutes.

The Head of Integrated Servicespresented the report of the Director of Care and Health which described the formal contractual arrangements entered into with the Wirral Community Health and Care NHS Foundation Trust in 2018 for the delivery of the delegated functions. These delegated functions were from the Councils statutory duty to assess the needs of adults and carers, as defined by the Care Act 2014. The duties included a range of functions including assessment, support planning, safeguarding, mental health assessment and professional case management. The statutory adult social care services were provided by the Cheshire and Wirral Partnership NHS Foundation Trust (CWP).

Councillor Gail Jenkinson proposed an amendment replacing the existing recommendations to avoid the issue coming back to the Committee before all the information required to make the decision was forthcoming.

This was seconded by Councillor Brenda Hall.

The amendment was voted on and carried (8:3)

This was then voted on as the substantive motion and carried (8:3)

Resolved: That

A decision on the All Age Disability and Mental Health Delivery Review be deferred until we have more information, namely:

·  The dependencies on which the decision must be based;

·  The dates of these dependencies;

·  The confirmation that resources will be in place to act on the information forthcoming; and

·  The length of time taken to analyse the information.

Therefore the date by which the contract must be extended to can be determined.

The Head of Service, Commissioning and Contracts presented the report of the Director of Care and Health which provided an update on Extra Care Housing in Wirral. Extra care was a programme to provide accommodation and care for older people and people with mental health conditions as an alternative to residential or nursing care, to allow people to be maintained in their own homes in supportive environment. The report set out the plan to provide appropriate Extra Care Housing schemes in Wirral that would support Wirral residents with eligible needs. These are needs that are assessed as eligible under the Care Act 2014. The report also sought approval for an extension of contracts for the provision of 2 Extra Care Schemes to align with the 6 other Extra Care scheme contracts to enable a single future procurement exercise.  There were units for 329 Older Persons and 106 for disabled people, and the work was on track to increase to 725 by 2026. New sites and providers were being considered on the basis of local need. Providers were assessed on quality criteria rather than on tender price.

Members questioned details such as the volume of shared ownership and the engagement of Members in the consideration of new providers and sites.

Resolved: That

1.   further plans for development of Extra Care Housing for Wirral as set out within this report be endorsed; and

2.   the Director of Care and Health be authorised to approve the extension of the contracts for the provision of care in 2 Extra Care Schemes - St Oswald’s Court, care provided by Professional Carers, and Barncroft, care provided by Community Caring for further terms to align with the 6 other Extra Care schemes care contracts, to enable a single future procurement exercise at a cost of £1.2m.

The Assistant Director for Operational Delivery and Professional Standardspresented the report of the Director of Care and Health which provided a performance report in relation to Adult Social Care and Public Health.

Members questioned some of the Key Performance Indicators, the Care Quality Commission inspection results and the detail around Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards application.

Resolved:

That the content of the report be noted.

The Director of Care and Health presented his report which provided an update on the budgets within the remit of the Committee in respect of the in-year position and the anticipated pressures for future years that were being considered within the Medium-Term Financial Plan. The financial pressure in different periods was outlined, as well as some mitigation funding from the Government.  

Councillor Kieran Murphy proposed the following additional, third, recommendation:

“That this Committee repeats its support for the Real Living Wage to continue to be offered to all organisations providing adult care.”

This was seconded by Councillor Ewan Tomeny.

It was noted that the Medium-Term Financial Plan included estimated costs for the Real Living Wage to be paid to providers for 2024 and 2025 but it was also noted that the Council could not mandate providers to pass on the amount to their staff, although it encouraged them and provided incentives such as paying a lower rate to providers who did not pay the Wage, although most did.

Councillor Tony Murphy proposed an alternative additional recommendation. This was seconded by Councillor >[DID ANYONE NOTE THE SECONDER? IT IS NOT ON THE WEBCAST] and carried unanimously.

The substantive recommendations were then voted on and carried unanimously.

Resolved: That

1.   the report be noted;

2.   any proposed actions to mitigate the in-year position be endorsed; and

3.   the inclusion of the Real Living Wage in the Medium-Term Financial Plan be endorsed

The Chair presented the report of the Director of Law and Governance.

Additional items were suggested, which were:

Dignity in Death

All Age Disability

Carers Strategy

Volunteers Gateway

Rehabilitation on Wirral

The Director pf Public Health provided a general update on Covid 19 pandemic, noting the national increase in cases which may be related to a new variant and has encouraged the earlier implementation of the 2023 immunisation programme.  

Resolved: That work programme be noted and above items be included.