IMPORTANT NEWS FOR CARE PROVIDERS

Fair Price’ work and the new Dignity in Care Charter bring a substantial increase in fees in the Lancashire County Council area for older people’s services. This substantially improved package results from the work of UKHCA, LCA and the Social Care Partnership. Back in November, Lancashire County Council were proposing £1.2m cuts for the older people’s sector and uplifts of 3.5%, for domiciliary care. Representatives from the UKHCA and LCA made strong representations through December including a presentation to the Leader of the Council Hazel Harding and colleagues to try to ensure that social care was given its due weight in the various pressures on council spending and due recognition was given to the Fair Price model we were using within Lancashire to track cost pressures on providers. This work was done with and through the Social Care Partnership. Last week it was announced that the £1.2 million cuts announced back in November will now not take place and the £1.2 million will be reinstituted in full, that the average uplift figures for older people’s care were to be 6% (domiciliary) and 5.55% (care homes) and that the threshold for access to domiciliary care was not to be raised, after much lobbying on the issue of eligibility criteria and a better than expected settlement. A new Dignity in Care Charter has helped to pull in funds that otherwise would not have been available and the Social Care Partnership are working with the council on the exact detail of that charter.