Sleepovers and National Living Wage

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Dear Lancashire County Council,
My son is in receipt of direct payments and needs 24/7 care (7 sleep overs).At the moment Lancashire County Council are paying a sleepover rate of £39.00.Have L.C.C. changed their policy yet, to pay an hourly rate for sleepovers, as required by law, for people who have a direct payment? Who is responsible for these matters?If it is a lawful requirement, how do people challenge this, or are L.C.C.going to be looking into this matter this any time soon?

Yours faithfully,

john bird

Freedom of Information, Lancashire County Council

Dear sIR

Request for information under the Freedom of Information Act 2000

I am writing to acknowledge receipt of your email dated 13 February, in which you request the disclosure of information under the provisions of the above Act. I can confirm that your enquiry will now be assigned to an officer who will commence a search for the information you require and they will respond in due course. The deadline date for issuing you with full response is 13 March. We will endeavour to provide a response well in advance of this date, however, should we envisage any delays, or require more details from you, we will contact you immediately. If you have any queries about the above, please do not hesitate to contact us, quoting ref. 936.215

Yours sincerely,

On behalf of the Information Governance Team
Lancashire County Council
www.lancashire.gov.uk

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Freedom of Information, Lancashire County Council

Dear Mr Bird,

Further to your email of 13 February, I am now in a position to respond.

The County Council changed from payment a flat fee per shift to an hourly rate within supported living settings with effect from April 2016.

At the same time we did not make automatic adjustments to individuals direct payment amounts. The purpose of a direct payment is to provide service users with freedom to design their own care packages and the County Council does not have full visibility of how individuals' use their personal budget. Some people may design creative means of support that are insulated from inflation and would not require an inflationary increase; for example an individual may design a support plan that has historically allowed them to pay a carer more than national living wage or to pay an hourly rate for a sleep-in shift. Other individuals may use elements of their budget to buy care directly from an agency and hence be subject to an inflationary increase during the year.

As a result of this, the County Council's policy regarding direct payments is that any person who is no longer able to meet their care and support needs within existing budget should contact the County Council for a review of their needs.

I trust this is useful, but should you have any further queries please do not hesitate to contact us.

Please note also that the 'whatdotheyknow' platform is publicly available and therefore it is advisable to exercise caution when including personal information within communications. If you wish to contact us directly with any personal information you can email [Lancashire County Council request email]

Yours sincerely,

Mr M Sayles

Information Access Manager
Information Governance Team
Lancashire County Council

www.lancashire.gov.uk

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