Conflict of Interest in relation to Client Finance/Appointeeship and the possibility that social care charges are unlawful

The request was successful.

Dear Nottinghamshire County Council,

To whom it may concern

1. How many individuals is the local authority acting as an appointee for, please?

2. How many of these individuals (in area or out of area) pays adult social care charges to the council for non-residential services?

3. Which department is responsible for administering appointeeship?

4. Which department is responsible for assessing social care charges?

5. How many officers in either department carry out an overlapping role with regard to appointeeship and care charges?

6. How many times has the appointeeship team responded to a consultation on behalf of individuals or any group of benefits claimants regarding a change in the council’s charging policy, since 2015?

7. How many appeals about care charges has the appointeeship team submitted to the financial assessment team since 2015?

8. How many complaints has the appointeeship team submitted regarding care charges since 2015?

9. How many times has the appointeeship team sought or referred individuals they act for, to independent advice (whether third sector, legal aid or privately funded) about care charges, since 2015?

10. How many times has the appointeeship team questioned the accuracy, fairness or legal validity of individuals’ care charges or the council’s charging policy, since 2015?

11. Does the council treat appointeeship as a Care Act service? If so, does it charge for that as part of the Care Act charging system?

12. How much does it charge, if it makes a charge, per month or per week or per year, please?

13. If appointeeship is not provided for through the Care Act, does the council allow for a DRE deduction from Disability Benefits income, for the charge it makes for appointeeship (assuming a person is otherwise chargeable)?

14. If the council does not operate appointeeships for adult social care clients, does the council permit a full DRE deduction from Disability Benefits income, for any charge levied by any other corporate or private appointee (assuming a person is otherwise chargeable)?

15. In respect of all council clients who are currently in receipt of adult social care services, regarded as liable to pay a charge for their adult social care services, for whom the appointee role is currently undertaken - how is the relevant department holding the appointeeship responsibility proposing to manage the conflict of interest presented by the judgment in the Norfolk CC v SH case in December 2020, given that the decision means that other similar policies are presumptively unlawful? Please answer with a sentence or a paragraph; it is suggested that it is not a proper response to say that no decisions have been made, as yet, because the problem already exists.

Regards
Belinda Schwehr, CEO, CASCAIDr. www.CASCAIDr.org.uk

FOI, Nottinghamshire County Council

Dear Miss Schwehr,

FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT 2000 – REQUEST FOR INFORMATION (Ref : NCC-049678-20)

Thank you for your request for information relating to conflict of interest in relation to client finance/appointeeship. Your request was received on 22 March 2021, and we are dealing with it under the terms of the Freedom of Information Act 2000.

Information requests during Coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak

We will try to respond to information requests and where possible within time frames (within 20 working days beginning the day following receipt of your request). However, the Council needs to prioritise its staff and resources on the delivery of key services, this means that some responses may be delayed. The Information Commissioner recognises this, and has given guidance on the website

www.ico.gov.uk

For your information, the Act defines a number of exemptions which may prevent release of the information you have requested. There will be an assessment and if any of the exemption categories apply then the information will not be released. You will be informed if this is the case, including your rights of appeal.

You should receive a response to your Freedom of Information Request by 22nd April, 2021.

In some circumstances a fee may be payable to cover the cost of copying and postage and if that is the case we will let you know before we proceed with your request.

If you have any queries or concerns, please do not hesitate to contact us.

Further information about your rights is also available from the Information Commissioner at:

Information Commissioner's Office
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SK9 5AF
Tel: 0303 123 1113 or 01625 54 57 45
www.ico.gov.uk

Yours sincerely

Freedom of Information Act Team
Chief Executives Department | Nottinghamshire County Council
C 0115 9772788
[email address]
www.nottinghamshire.gov.uk

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FOI, Nottinghamshire County Council

1 Attachment

Dear Ms Schwehr

 

Thank you for your request for information about Appointeeship.

 

We are now able to provide the following information in response to your
specific questions

 

1. How many individuals is the local authority acting as an appointee for,
please?

732

2. How many of these individuals (in area or out of area) pays adult
social care charges to the council for non-residential services?

220

3. Which department is responsible for administering appointeeship?

Adult Social Care & Public Health

4. Which department is responsible for assessing social care charges?

Adult Social Care & Public Health

5. How many officers in either department carry out an overlapping role
with regard to appointeeship and care charges?

None

6. How many times has the appointeeship team responded to a consultation
on behalf of individuals or any group of benefits claimants regarding a
change in the council’s charging policy, since 2015?

The council does not consider that this is the responsibility of the
appointee but does act in the best interests of the person they are
supporting.

7. How many appeals about care charges has the appointeeship team
submitted to the financial assessment team since 2015?

The team do not submit appeals on care charges. If they considered charges
were incorrect, they would advise the team that carried out the financial
assessment. This information is not recorded in a reportable format and to
identify cases where this had occurred would require a check of all
individual appointeeship cases going back over six years of records. This
would take one officer more than eighteen ours to complete this, and so
would exceed the cost limit for provision of information under the FOI
Act. This is therefore exempt in accordance with Section 12 of the FOI
Act. 

8. How many complaints has the appointeeship team submitted regarding care
charges since 2015?

The team do not submit complaints about charges. They would contact the
team carrying out financial assessments if they do not think they are
being charged correctly. This information is not recorded in a reportable
format and to identify cases where this had occurred would require a check
of all individual appointeeship cases going back over six years of
records. This would take one officer more than eighteen ours to complete
this, and so would exceed the cost limit for provision of information
under the FOI Act. This is therefore exempt in accordance with Section 12
of the FOI Act

9. How many times has the appointeeship team sought or referred
individuals they act for, to independent advice (whether third sector,
legal aid or privately funded) about care charges, since 2015?

None

10. How many times has the appointeeship team questioned the accuracy,
fairness or legal validity of individuals’ care charges or the council’s
charging policy, since 2015?

The team would contact the team carrying out financial assessments on
behalf of individuals if they considered their care charges were not
correct. This information is not recorded in a reportable format and to
identify cases where this had occurred would require a check of all
individual appointeeship cases going back over six years of records. This
would take one officer more than eighteen ours to complete this, and so
would exceed the cost limit for provision of information under the FOI
Act. This is therefore exempt in accordance with Section 12 of the FOI
Act. 

11. Does the council treat appointeeship as a Care Act service? If so,
does it charge for that as part of the Care Act charging system?

The Council carried out the appointeeship role long before the
implementation of the Care Act and has been charging for this service
since 2016.

12. How much does it charge, if it makes a charge, per month or per week
or per year, please?

£12 per week, payable four weekly

13. If appointeeship is not provided for through the Care Act, does the
council allow for a DRE deduction from Disability Benefits income, for the
charge it makes for appointeeship (assuming a person is otherwise
chargeable)?

The council does allow a standard DRE of £20 per week which does cover the
cost of appointeeship charging. However, if the person had other
disability related expenses that meant their DRE would exceed £20 per
week, a higher allowance would be made.

14. If the council does not operate appointeeships for adult social care
clients, does the council permit a full DRE deduction from Disability
Benefits income, for any charge levied by any other corporate or private
appointee (assuming a person is otherwise chargeable)?

As Q13 Above

15. In respect of all council clients who are currently in receipt of
adult social care services, regarded as liable to pay a charge for their
adult social care services, for whom the appointee role is currently
undertaken - how is the relevant department holding the appointeeship
responsibility proposing to manage the conflict of interest presented by
the judgment in the Norfolk CC v SH case in December 2020, given that the
decision means that other similar policies are presumptively unlawful? 
Please answer with a sentence or a paragraph; it is suggested that it is
not a proper response to say that no decisions have been made, as yet,
because the problem already exists.

As appointee, the council ensures that a person is receiving all the
benefits they are entitled to. They also make sure that a person is being
charged in accordance with the council's charging policy.

I hope that you find this information to be helpful, however if you are
unhappy with the way in which your request has been handled, then please
email us at [Nottinghamshire County Council request email] quoting the reference NCC-049678-20 and we
will be happy to review your request

 

With kind regards

 

Rachel Edge | Complaints, Information & Mediation Officer

Complaints & Information Team

Chief Executives Department

Nottinghamshire County Council

0115 9772788

[1]www.nottinghamshire.gov.uk

 

[2]Nottinghamshire County Council - Proud of our past, ambitious for our
future

Follow us on: [3]Twitter & [4]Facebook

 

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