The following public question was received from Ian Seddon on behalf of Wirral Unison and was read by Ian Seddon:

“There is an agreement dating from April 2023, that front line domiciliary workers in adult social care, working for care providers under the Wirral Community Care Market, are paid an enhanced rate of £12 per hour.
Unison are aware of one provider who received funding for the £12 per hour rate from April 2023 but only began paying eligible staff from August 2023.
The union asked for clarification about the funding on a number of occasions and eventually through a formal channel received confirmation from Wirral Council Care Commissioning that the provider in question had received the funds from April but that they were only paying it to their staff from August 2023.
This was queried again by Unison as it appeared from the response that the care provider had received money but not fully passed it on, no explanation has given to us over what had been done with the funds. On various occasions we were told that the issue had been discussed with the care provider but that no answer could be given to our question as it was commercially sensitive. 
To remind the Committee: it states in the Wirral Council Market and Sustainability Plan that “in March 2023 the Council agreed to use the Fair Cost of Care and Market Sustainability Fund to raise pay to £12 per hour to both maintain and grow the market”. The payments were due to begin in April 2023.
We would like an urgent investigation into why the provider in question has not passed on the money which was specifically for the one purpose of enhancing pay, and the answer communicated to Wirral Unison as soon as possible.
This is public money provided for a particular purpose and it is also in the public interest to find out what happened to the money that hasn’t been paid out, and if the company still has it then it belongs in our members pockets.
My question is – Unison were advised that the care provider had been funded to pay qualifying staff from April, these payments only began in August, so what has happened to the money that wasn’t paid out? 

Unison will provide further details on the provider involved to Councillors and Council Officers as required.” 

The Chair stated that as this matter was ongoing the Committee would not be discussing any details at the meeting. The Chair confirmed that the Committee supported paying the real living wage and will ensure that a written response was provided.

The following statement was received from Sean Kirkby on behalf of Acorn House in relation to Item 8 on the agenda pack:

“I would like to raise some serious concerns about the fee setting process and the resulting draft proposals which have been put forward for approval next Tuesday evening.
I have read the report in the agenda for that meeting and there are some inaccuracies I think you should carefully consider. The process is unfair and not transparent, getting the correct information to consider has been difficult and at times unavailable. The draft fee rates have been set mechanistically and if there is going to be a consultation process in the future it should have an inclusive organic approach which is well-integrated with an open comprehensive accurate up to date information network. The Council are supposed to be working in partnership with providers to care for the vulnerable and sick on the Wirral. I'm afraid it is far from that 

The current draft proposals make no allowance for any increase for general training, recruitment, handyman/gardener, other non-staff costs, medical supplies, domestic and cleaning supplies, trade and clinical waste, professional service costs, admin costs, and manager's salary.

The whole true cost of care with modelling should be the only figures we should be considering and then we can openly discuss affordability. Other neighbouring Local Authorities are proposing increases on average between 5% and 9% above Wirral's draft proposals. Wirral's proposed fees rates are too low and if approved are setting providers up to fail.

We can't pass on our cost increases to our customers, the Council are responsible for paying providers a fair price having followed due process and given due regard to the actual cost. I hope you will be able to seriously consider the above points and access additional funding to approve realistic minimum fee rates to provide good quality care.”

Mr Kirkby attended the meeting but did not wish to speak so the Head of Legal Services read out the statement. The Chair noted the statement.

There were no petitions to report.