Agenda item

The Cabinet gave consideration to a report of the Managing Director of Community Health and Adult Social Care which sought to update Cabinet on delegated decisions made in respect of various short term government grants received to support the Adult Social Care sector during the Covid pandemic, and to seek retrospective approval for the utilization of the funding.

The report set out the various short term government grants received by the local authority to support the adult social care sector respond to the Covid-19 pandemic. Ten different grants totalling £12,476,907 had been received between May 2020 and February 2022, each with their own conditions, reporting requirements, prescribed and discretionary amounts and different applicable time periods. Of this amount, £5,731,499 was received in the 2020/21 financial year and £6,745,408 in the current financial year, with a clear expectation-and for the prescribed elements, direction- that funding was distributed to independent sector adult social care providers operating in Oldham. Clarity was given in the grant conditions that the funding could not be used to offset existing planned expenditure or financial pressures within the local authority.

Grant conditions included distribution within 20 days of receipt, and prescription as to utilization and recipients. Therefore, decisions related to each grant were made by the Cabinet Member for Health and Social Care, in consultation with the Director of Adult Social Services and the Section 151 Officer, both of whom have been required to provide assurance statements to Department of Health and Social Care to confirm compliance with the various grant conditions.

All organisations in receipt of funding were issued with detailed grant conditions and links to the government guidance, including confirming the requirement to return any unspent funds, and acknowledgement that any funding found to be used not in accordance with the grant conditions would be required to be repaid.

Funding recipients had also been required to complete detailed expenditure reports to the Commissioning and Quality Service at intervals consistent with the returns required to DHSC, and to retain evidence of expenditure should this be required for audit purposes.

It was not clear at this stage whether any further grant funding for the sector will be announced.

During the Covid-19 pandemic, and in response to the challenges experienced in the adult social care sector as a consequence of high rates of transmission amongst vulnerable adults with care and support needs and within the workforce, the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) has issued a number of short-term grants to local authorities for the benefit of the wider social care sector.

Grant conditions included distribution within 20 days of receipt, and prescription as to utilization and recipients. Therefore, decisions related to each grant were made by the Cabinet Member for Health and Social Care, in consultation with the Director of Adult Social Services and the Section 151 Officer, both of whom have been required to provide assurance statements to DHSC to confirm compliance with the various grant conditions. All relevant reports have been listed as background papers at paragraph 20 of this report. Each report contains a link to the relevant grant conditions published on the DHSC website.

It is worth noting that each grant was issued for a specific purpose, with its own reporting requirements, grant conditions, mandated elements and discretionary elements, and as such each grant was required to be treated individually and processed accordingly.

The table detailed within the report summarised all short-term grants received by the local authority to support the adult social care sector to deal with the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic to date, and the allocations of the discretionary elements of the grants. It is worth noting that whilst there were discretionary elements of funding to some of the grants, the grant guidance gave a very clear steer as to how DHSC considered these elements should be used, with a clear expectation-and for the prescribed elements, direction- that funding was distributed to independent sector adult social care providers operating in Oldham. Clarity was given in the grant conditions that the funding could not be used to offset existing planned expenditure or financial pressures within the local authority.

Options/Alternatives considered

The range of options and alternatives for the utilization of each grant were minimal given the prescriptive nature of the grant conditions, as summarized in the table above. Even where there was discretion as to how some elements of the grants were distributed, there remained prescription as to their use.

Where there were discretionary elements to the grants, consideration was given to the level of Covid-19 transmission amongst vulnerable adults and staff in adult social care services, vaccination and testing levels, infection prevention measures required in accordance with government and public health guidance, the workforce challenges being faced, and in consultation with the sector, the relative benefits of different options for utilization of the funding. Learning from previous funding rounds also informed decisions for the discretionary elements of grant allocations.

Further details related to each grant and the considerations given for utilization of the funding can be found in the delegated reports. This included providing funding to non-CQC regulated services, such as day services, personal assistants and housing related support providers, as well as unpaid carers.

RESOLVED – That the delegated decisions taken and outlined in the report made in respect of the various short term government grants received to support the adult social care sector during the Covid-19 Pandemic be endorsed.