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

The request was successful.

Dear Thurrock Borough 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

Information.Matters@thurrock.gov.uk, Thurrock Borough Council

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Information.Matters@thurrock.gov.uk, Thurrock Borough Council

1 Attachment

Dear Ms Schwehr,

 

Thank you for your recent communication which is being managed in line
with the Freedom of Information Act under the above reference number.  The
details of your request are outlined below together with the council’s
response.

 

Your request

 

1. How many individuals is the local authority acting as an appointee for,
please? 98 Appointee Clients

2. How many of these individuals (in area or out of area) pays adult
social care charges to the council for non-residential services? 42
receive chargeable adult care services

3. Which department is responsible for administering appointeeship?
Appointee Team Adult Safeguarding

4. Which department is responsible for assessing social care charges?
Customer Finance Team (The Financial Assessment Officers) are 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?  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? Information not held

7. How many appeals about care charges has the appointeeship team
submitted to the financial assessment team since 2015? Information not
held

8. How many complaints has the appointeeship team submitted regarding care
charges since 2015? Information not held

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? 
Information not held

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? Information not held

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? No charge

12. How much does it charge, if it makes a charge, per month or per week
or per year, please? No charge

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)? No charge for managing Appointee clients
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)? Thurrock do provide
Appointee service. No charges

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. We are aware that a legal challenge
has been made against the charging policy of a local authority, and we are
currently considering. All local authorities should continue to act in
accordance with the relevant legislation and guidance

 

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Many thanks

 

Tina Barrell

 

Tina Barrell l Complaints & Information Governance Assistant I HR, OD &
Transformation

[3]thurrock.gov.uk l ext: 64882

Thurrock Council, Civic Offices, New Road, Grays, Essex RM17 6SL

 

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Disclaimer

The information in this e-mail and any attachment(s) are intended to be
confidential and may be legally privileged. Access to and use of its
content by anyone else other than the addressee(s) may be unlawful and
will not be recognised by Thurrock Council for business purposes. If you
have received this message by mistake, please notify the sender
immediately, delete it and do not copy it to anyone else. Thurrock Council
cannot accept any responsibility for the accuracy or completeness of this
message as it has been transmitted over a public network.

Any opinions expressed in this document are those of the author and do not
necessarily reflect the opinions of Thurrock Council.

Any attachment(s) to this message has been checked for viruses, but please
rely on your own virus checker and procedures.

Senders and recipients of e-mail should be aware that under the UK Data
Protection and Freedom of Information legislation these contents may have
to be disclosed in response to a request.

All e-mail sent to or from this address will be processed by Thurrock
Council's corporate e-mail system and may be subject to scrutiny by
someone other than the addressee.

This email has been scanned for viruses and malware, and may have been
automatically archived by Mimecast Ltd, an innovator in Software as a
Service (SaaS) for business. Providing a safer and more useful place for
your human generated data. Specializing in; Security, archiving and
compliance. To find out more [9]Click Here.

References

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