Archived decisions

HAMPSHIRE COUNTY COUNCIL

Decision Report

1. Executive Summary

1.1. The purpose of this paper is to outline the proposal to support the expansion of the Community Innovations Teams as part of the Hampshire Model of Personalisation. The paper recognises the Third Sector as key partners in this initiative by proposing to grant fund the appointment of Community Development Workers within the nine new sites across the county.

1.2. The grant awards would provide the Councils for Voluntary Services in each new site with the funds to employ the Community Development Workers.

1.3. The paper seeks approval from the Executive Member for Adult Social Care to award grant funding of £45,000 in 2009/10 and £195,000 in 2010/11 for these appointments. The approval for 2010/11 will be provisional as it is subject to the approval of a budget bid for 2010/11.

1.4. The proposed grant funding will support the second stage of the expansion of the Community Innovations Teams. This will provide funding to test the scheme across the county. A review of the initiative will take place before the end of 2010/11, the results of which will inform future planning.

1.5. This paper seeks to

· set out the background to the Community Innovations Initiative.

· consider the financial context for the posts and the financial impact of the proposal.

· highlight the impact the project will make on the performance of the County Council.

· consider the importance of partnership working with other agencies.

2. Contextual information

2.1. The Community Innovations scheme began as a Local Area Agreement project to promote the well being of older people who are at risk of losing their independence, but who do not meet the criteria for Adult Services input. The original pilot consisted of five sites.

2.2. The Community Innovations scheme supports the development of the Hampshire Model of Personalisation, focusing in particular on providing early intervention and prevention services.

2.3. The scheme aims to

· Promote the independence and well being of older people

· Reduce the need for emergency and other services and be supported in the community instead.

2.4. It is a joint scheme between Hampshire County Council, Hampshire Community Health Care, the local Well Being Partnerships and the voluntary sector.

2.5. In order to reflect the philosophy of collaborative working, the Community Innovations Teams consist of a nurse, a Social Worker or Occupational Therapist, a Community Support Worker and a Community Development Worker.

2.6. The Community Development Workers function is to support local voluntary sector groups in developing the support they can offer to the Community Innovations clients within their local catchment area and help to create new groups where gaps in provision are identified. The Community Support Workers support the specialists in carrying out clients support plans; freeing up expensive practitioner time.

2.7. Initially five teams were established covering Totton, Eastleigh Southern Parishes, Petersfield, Basingstoke and Havant (PO9). A further two were established in 2008 in Winchester City and Andover.

2.8. In January 2009 a key stakeholder event was held to gain partnership commitment to the county-wide roll-out of Community Innovations. This was successfully achieved.

2.9. The plan now is to expand the scheme to a further nine sites across the county in line with the commitment stated within the Commission of Enquiry into Personalisation.

2.10. The nine sites identified are Gosport, Rushmoor, South West New Forest, Fareham, Waterside, Avon Valley, Test Valley South, Hart and Eastleigh North.

2.11. The role of the Community Development Worker is essential to the multi-disciplinary working of the Community Innovations team. Based within the local Council for Voluntary Services, they have a good knowledge of local services, provide information, support local groups and identify gaps where initiatives could be created to meet needs.

2.12. The proposed grant funding demonstrates the ongoing commitment to partnership working with the Third Sector and uphold the values stated in the One Compact for Hampshire.

2.13. Grant aid is considered a more appropriate method of funding for this purpose as it will enable the Community Innovations Initiative to be rolled out across the county in a flexible way which will be responsive to the local needs of the communities in which they are based.

2.14. The grant funding will be reviewed before the end of 2010/11 and the outcome of this will inform future funding arrangements.

3. Finance

3.1. The Community Development Workers within each of the five original pilot sites have been funded to date via an Invest to Save grant given to the Councils of Voluntary Services through the Local Public Service Agreement 2 (LPSA2).This amounted to £240,000 per year for three years commencing 2007/08. Two later projects, Winchester and Andover, have been funded through a contractual arrangement from the Adult Services Department main budget. The funding received by the Councils for Voluntary Services was to allow them to pump-prime local activities and schemes as well as funding the Community Development Workers.

3.2. The total funding required for the Community Development Workers is set out below in Table 1. The total costs for 2010/11 assume that there is one Community Development Worker in each of the sixteen teams for the whole year apart from Basingstoke, which due to it's larger population requires an additional Community Development Worker.

3.3. For 2009/10 Community Innovations was largely funded from the Social Care Reform Grant (SCRG). For the 2010/11 budget bid it is proposed that the on-going funding comes from core Adult Services Department budget.

Table 1: Summary of costs and funding of the Community Development Workers 2009/10 and 2010/11

	2009/10	2010/11
	£000s	£000s
Original Five Teams
Cost	144	144
Funding from Councils for Voluntary Services	144	144
Surplus /(Deficit)	0	0
Winchester & Andover
Cost	40	40
Funding from Councils for Voluntary Services	40	25
Surplus /(Deficit)	0	(15)
Nine Additional Teams
Cost	45	180
Funding from Councils for Voluntary Services	0	0
Surplus /(Deficit)	(45)	(180)
Total Cost	229	364
Total Funding	184	169
Surplus / (Deficit) to be funded by Adult Services Department	(45)	(195)

3.4. Table 1 identifies that currently there is a shortfall in funding across the financial years of £45,000 in 2009/10 and £195,000 in 2010/11. It is proposed that these shortfalls are met by the Adult Services Department. The funding arrangement for each of the teams is considered in more detail in the following sections.

Five Original Teams

3.5. The LPSA2 funding for the original five posts ceases at the end of 2009/10. Under the Grant conditions the CVSs are allowed to carry forward the underspend in the LPSA2 grant into future years. The CVSs for these sites have agreed to demonstrate their ongoing commitment to the Community Innovations Teams by using their under spend from the LPSA2 grant to extend their Community Development Worker contracts for the full year in 2010/11 and part year in 2011/12. This amounts to £144,000 in 2010/11 as set out in Table 1. Thus, there is no deficit in funding for these teams.

Winchester and Andover Teams

3.6. The funding for Winchester and Andover from the Adult Services Department budget also ends at the end of 2009/10. These two sites have also agreed to fund the Community Development Workers for the majority of 2010/11 from their pump-priming monies, but will experience a shortfall of £15,000 between them by the end of that financial year as detailed in Table 1. It is planned that this shortfall will be addressed as part of the Adult Services budget bid for 2010/11 for the Community Innovations project.

Nine New Teams

3.7. Funding for the nine new Community Development Workers has been identified from the Adult Services Community Innovations budget for the remainder of 2009/10. The 2010/11 funding of £180,000 has been included in the 2010/11 budget preparations. This budget bid also includes funding to cover the shortfall in 2010/11 for Winchester and Andover.

3.8. Total funding to be sourced from Adult Services Department budget requiring approval is therefore £45,000 in 2009/10 and £195,000 in 2010/11 (£180,000 for the nine additional teams and £15,000 for Winchester and Andover). This funding for 2010/11 is based on the assumption that the 2010/11 bid is successful.

4. Performance

4.1. Community Innovations Teams have already been able to demonstrate qualitative improvements in the lives of those people who have been in contact with the service through case studies and survey.

4.2. Community Innovations Teams are an example of successful collaboration between Adult Services Department, Hampshire Community Health Care and the third sector.

4.3. A new evaluation framework and process for measuring both performance and benefits that will include quantitative analysis is currently being developed in collaboration with partner organisations. It is planned that the interim solution will be in place by the end of October 2009.

4.4 It is anticipated that Community Innovation Teams will have a positive impact on the following joint national performance indicators:

NI134/VSC20 - Emergency bed days per head of the weighted population.

NI139 - The extent to which older people receive the support they need to live independently.

NI24/VSC11 - People with a long-term condition supported to be independent and in control of their condition.

LI HI - A sustainable third sector.

5. Key issues

5.1 Partnership Working

The Community Innovations Teams are a clear demonstration of agencies effectively working in partnership together for the benefit of the local community. Each agency is showing its ongoing commitment to the initiative by investing resources in it. The Councils for Voluntary Services have committed their under spend to extend the contracts of the Community Development Workers. Hampshire Community Health Care have committed existing staff resources to the individual teams.

5.2 Human Resourcing

There are no Human Resourcing implications for Hampshire County Council with regards to the appointment of these posts. The funding will cover the salary of the Community Development Workers only. They will be employees of the individual Councils for Voluntary Services concerned.

5.3 Legal Issues

5.3.1 In the event the usual grant making powers are not sufficient or appropriate to make these grants Section 2 Local Government Act 2000 provides the requisite power. Section 2 enables local authorities to do anything which they consider likely to achieve the promotion of the social and economic wellbeing of their area, which includes a power to give financial assistance to any person.

5.3.2 These grants will promote social wellbeing by supporting this early intervention and prevention service to enable older people to remain as independent as possible for as long as possible thereby reducing or delaying the demand for emergency and other services.

5.4 Financial Risk

5.4.1 Although the budget bid for 2010/11 for the funding for Community Innovation Team has been submitted the budget preparation process is still at an early stage. Corporate Finance has also advised of a generic risk to all Departments that given the Corporate Efficiency Programme there is an overall risk that any proposed funding may not be approved. This risk will be monitored but will not be fully realised until later in the budget preparation process.

6. Future direction

6.1. An evaluation of the service will have taken place to inform any future funding by the end of 2010-11.

7. Recommendation

7.1 That the Executive Member for Adult Social Care gives approval to award grant funding to the Councils for Voluntary Services totalling £240,000 (£45,000 in 2009/10 and £195,000 in 2010/11) to fund the appointment of the Community Development Workers as outlined in this report.

CORPORATE OR LEGAL INFORMATION:

Links to the Corporate Strategy

IMPACT ASSESSMENTS:

1. Equalities Impact Assessment:

1.1. In compiling the attached report, account has been taken of the requirements of the Corporate Equalities Plan and Race Scheme. The One Compact for Hampshire has social inclusion as one of its principles and states that all partners are committed to the importance of promoting equality of opportunity for all people, regardless of race, age, disability, gender, sexual orientation and belief. Additionally, each of the Council for Voluntary Services to be considered for grant funding has equal opportunity and race relation policies in place.

1.2. The Community Innovations Teams will be evaluated under the wider review of Free Crisis Care and a full equalities impact assessment will be incorporated within this.

2. Impact on Crime and Disorder:

2.1. The County Council has a legal obligation under Section 17 of the Crime and Disorder Act 1998 to consider the impact of all decisions it makes on the prevention of crime. The proposal in this report aims to improve the safety of vulnerable Hampshire residents and where appropriate link them with support within their communities, including advice and support on crime reduction and personal safety.

3. Climate Change:

a) How does what is being proposed impact on our carbon footprint / energy consumption?

The Community Innovations Teams seeks to promote the wellbeing of older people in Hampshire by linking them to services within their local communities. This should therefore reduce the impact on our carbon footprint/energy consumption.

b) How does what is being proposed consider the need to adapt to climate change, and be resilient to its longer term impacts?

Not applicable.