Agenda item

The Director of Finance to report.

The approval of the Board was sought to the final version of the 2020/21 Oldham Section 75 legal document, the schemes included and the financial contributions of the Oldham CCG and Oldham Council.  Included within the submitted papers were proposals for a new pooled fund for Hospital Discharge Funding and a one-off variation in the contributions of the CCG and the Council to the Section 75 Pooled Funds for 2020/21.

The Board considered the development of Section 75 agreements that exist to facilitate closer working between local authorities and NHS organisations, with specific reference to the history of joint working in Oldham and of organisations providing support where flexibility allowed.  The budget positions of both the CCG and the Council in 2020/21 was considered, the Board being advised that both Directors of Finance had worked together to set out the system wide challenges being faced. 

The Board was asked to consider a new pooled fund for Hospital discharges comprising funding made available from NHS England between 19^th March 2020 and 31^st March 2021 to support the costs of discharging patients as quickly as possible from hospital during the COVID pandemic.  Care packages had been directly commissioned by both the CCG and the Council accordingly and formal confirmation of the creation of a new Pooled Fund at Scheme D in the Section 75 Agreement was sought.

With regard to the identified budgetary issues relating to the pooled fund, the Board was advised that for a number of reasons the CCG had significant scope to contribute additional funds to the pooled budget to the sum of approximately £16.823m.  The CCG’s eternal auditors had specified a number of tests that must be met to confirm these additional funds, and the Board gave a detailed consideration as to whether these monies were allowable spend for the CCG, whether the CCG’s proposed actions were permissible under the Section 75 legal document, whether the spend related to 2020/21, and that the authority was given during 2020/21.  Board Members were advised that they should be satisfied that these criteria were met before giving their approval to the additional CCG contribution.  Relevant considerations were set out in the submitted report and were subject to further report by the CCG Director of Finance.  The Board also considered submitted advice from the CCG’s legal advisors that the increased contributions to the Pooled Funds represented a legitimate use of CCG funds and was consistent with the Section 75 legal framework. 

It was noted that Adult Social Care played a key role in the delivery of health care and alleviated some of the burden from Royal Oldham Hospital through pro-active and integrated support at home.  Notwithstanding COVID-19, the Council had been making increasing contributions into adult social care over recent years.  The accounting treatment and implications of the additional contributions were noted, including likely considerations by the Council’s external auditor and the impact on the Council’s final outturn position.

RESOLVED that

1.            the strong history of joint working and funding arrangements in Health and Social Care in Oldham be noted;

2.            the creation of a new Scheme for Hospital Discharge Programme funding as described in the submitted report and included as “Scheme D” in the Section 75 documentation, be approved;

3.            the significant challenges in Oldham Council’s long-term financial position, and specifically the increases in funding it has provided to Adult Social Care over the past several years, be noted;

4.            the variation in contributions to the Section 75 Pooled Budget by the Oldham CCG and Oldham Council for 2020/21 be approved;

5.            the Section 75 Agreement, attached at Appendix 2 to the submitted report, and specifically the intention to adopt a flexible approach to contributions to support delivery of the best services for Oldham residents, be approved;

6.            the Director of Legal Services be authorised to sign the Section 75 Agreement on behalf of Oldham Council;

7.            delegated authority be approved jointly to the Oldham Council Director of Finance and the Oldham CCG Chief Finance Officer to finalise the financial expenditure and contribution figures included at Schedule 8 as part of year end processes, with the final version to be reported back to this Board in May 2021.