Social care support and funding

The request was successful.

Dear Cambridgeshire County Council,

Under the Freedom of Information Act 2000, I kindly request the following information on social care support (as set out in Section 8 of the Care Act 2014) and funding for the purposes of social care support for working age adults with a learning disability in your local authority area.
Where questions refer to ‘learning disability’, please include individuals with ‘learning disability’ as their primary support reason.

1. How many working-age adults (aged 18-64) with a learning disability had the care and support hours allocated in their care package reduced in:
a. 2018/19
b. 2017/18
c. 2016/17
d. 2015/16
e. 2014/15
Please include in your answers both those who are part and fully local authority funded. Please include in your answer care and support hour reductions where the reduction relates to a reduction in the care worker ratio (e.g. where 1:1 hours have been changed to shared hours). Please exclude those who stopped receiving a package for the reason ‘deceased’.

2. How many working-age adults (aged 18-64) with a learning disability had the monetary value of their care package reduced in:
a. 2018/19
b. 2017/18
c. 2016/17
d. 2015/16
e. 2014/15
Please include in your answers both those who are part and fully local authority funded. Please exclude those who stopped receiving a package for the reason ‘deceased’.

3. How many working age adults (aged 18-64) had the care and support hours allocated in their care package reduced in:
a. 2018/19
b. 2017/18
c. 2016/17
d. 2015/16
e. 2014/15
Please include in your answers both those who are part and fully local authority funded. Please include in your answer care and support hour reductions where the reduction relates to a reduction in the care worker ratio (e.g. where 1:1 hours have been changed to shared hours). Please exclude those who stopped receiving a package for the reason ‘deceased’.

4. How many working-age adults (aged 18-64) had the monetary value of their care package reduced in:
a. 2018/19
b. 2017/18
c. 2016/17
d. 2015/16
e. 2014/15
Please include in your answers both those who are part and fully local authority funded. Please exclude those who stopped receiving a package for the reason ‘deceased’.

5. How many complaints about adult social care for people with a learning disability has the council received in the following years?
a. 2018/19
b. 2017/18
c. 2016/17
d. 2015/16
e. 2014/15

6. How many complaints about adult social care has the council received in the following years?
a. 2018/19
b. 2017/18
c. 2016/17
d. 2015/16
e. 2014/15

7. Has the council made any cuts to the funding of social care services for adults with a learning disability in the following years? If so, for each year please tell us the how much funding has been cut by.
a. 2018/19
b. 2017/18
c. 2016/17
d. 2015/16
e. 2014/15

8. How many safeguarding concerns has the council received in the following years about adults with a learning disability?
a. 2018/19
b. 2017/18
c. 2016/17
d. 2015/16
e. 2014/15

9. How many safeguarding enquiries (including, but not limited to, Section 42 enquiries) has the council received in the following years about adults with a learning disability?
a. 2018/19
b. 2017/18
c. 2016/17
d. 2015/16
e. 2014/15

Yours faithfully,

Juliet Atkins

FOI, Cambridgeshire County Council

Dear Juliet Atkins

Re: Freedom of Information Request ref 1269653.

Thank you for your email. Your request will be dealt with in line with the Freedom of Information Act and its regulations. In accordance with the Act, the Council aims to respond to all requests within 20 working days, in this instance by 10th February 2020.

If we require further information, clarification or a fee in order to fulfil your request we will contact you again. Please quote the reference number above in all future correspondence concerning this request.

Yours sincerely,

Josephine Bailey
Senior Information Management Analyst

Information Governance Team
Cambridgeshire County Council
Shire Hall, Cambridge, CB3 0AP
T: 01223 699137 / 01223 703831
E: [email address]

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FOI, Cambridgeshire County Council

Dear Juliet Atkins

 

Freedom of Information Act request response – Ref 1269653.

 

Cambridgeshire County Council has now considered your request under the
Freedom of Information Act.  We can confirm that we do hold the
information requested by you. Please find our response as set out below. 

 

Request

 

Under the Freedom of Information Act 2000, I kindly request the following
information on social care support (as set out in Section 8 of the Care
Act 2014) and funding for the purposes of social care support for working
age adults with a learning disability in your local authority area.

Where questions refer to ‘learning disability’, please include individuals
with ‘learning disability’ as their primary support reason.

 

1. How many working-age adults (aged 18-64) with a learning disability had
the care and support hours allocated in their care package reduced in:

a. 2018/19

b. 2017/18

c. 2016/17

d. 2015/16

e. 2014/15

Please include in your answers both those who are part and fully local
authority funded. Please include in your answer care and support hour
reductions where the reduction relates to a reduction in the care worker
ratio (e.g. where 1:1 hours have been changed to shared hours). Please
exclude those who stopped receiving a package for the reason ‘deceased’.

 

2. How many working-age adults (aged 18-64) with a learning disability had
the monetary value of their care package reduced in:

a. 2018/19

b. 2017/18

c. 2016/17

d. 2015/16

e. 2014/15

Please include in your answers both those who are part and fully local
authority funded. Please exclude those who stopped receiving a package for
the reason ‘deceased’.

 

3. How many working age adults (aged 18-64) had the care and support hours
allocated in their care package reduced in:

a. 2018/19

b. 2017/18

c. 2016/17

d. 2015/16

e. 2014/15

Please include in your answers both those who are part and fully local
authority funded. Please include in your answer care and support hour
reductions where the reduction relates to a reduction in the care worker
ratio (e.g. where 1:1 hours have been changed to shared hours). Please
exclude those who stopped receiving a package for the reason ‘deceased’.

 

4. How many working-age adults (aged 18-64) had the monetary value of
their care package reduced in:

a. 2018/19

b. 2017/18

c. 2016/17

d. 2015/16

e. 2014/15

Please include in your answers both those who are part and fully local
authority funded. Please exclude those who stopped receiving a package for
the reason ‘deceased’.

 

5. How many complaints about adult social care for people with a learning
disability has the council received in the following years?

a. 2018/19

b. 2017/18

c. 2016/17

d. 2015/16

e. 2014/15

 

6. How many complaints about adult social care has the council received in
the following years?

a. 2018/19

b. 2017/18

c. 2016/17

d. 2015/16

e. 2014/15

 

7. Has the council made any cuts to the funding of social care services
for adults with a learning disability in the following years? If so, for
each year please tell us the how much funding has been cut by.

a. 2018/19

b. 2017/18

c. 2016/17

d. 2015/16

e. 2014/15

 

8. How many safeguarding concerns has the council received in the
following years about adults with a learning disability?

a. 2018/19

b. 2017/18

c. 2016/17

d. 2015/16

e. 2014/15

 

9. How many safeguarding enquiries (including, but not limited to, Section
42 enquiries) has the council received in the following years about adults
with a learning disability?

a. 2018/19

b. 2017/18

c. 2016/17

d. 2015/16

e. 2014/15

 

Our response

 

Under the Freedom of Information Act 2000, I kindly request the following
information on social care support (as set out in Section 8 of the Care
Act 2014) and funding for the purposes of social care support for working
age adults with a learning disability in your local authority area.

Where questions refer to ‘learning disability’, please include individuals
with ‘learning disability’ as their primary support reason.

 

1. How many working-age adults (aged 18-64) with a learning disability had
the care and support hours allocated in their care package reduced in:

 

a. 2018/19

b. 2017/18

c. 2016/17

d. 2015/16

e. 2014/15

 

Please include in your answers both those who are part and fully local
authority funded. Please include in your answer care and support hour
reductions where the reduction relates to a reduction in the care worker
ratio (e.g. where 1:1 hours have been changed to shared hours). Please
exclude those who stopped receiving a package for the reason ‘deceased’.

 

This information is not held in an easily accessible format that allows
for the data to be reported. The care and support hours clients are
receiving may fluctuate to suit their needs. As a result, it is not simple
to identify whether there has been a reduction in care as support hours
may increase one week then decrease another week for a variety of reasons.
Collating this data would require a manual check of all 18-64 clients’
records to calculate averages of care hours for each client over specific
periods of time in order to compare them to identify any reductions. Even
so, any reductions in care and support hours could be the result of a
variety of reasons not associated with a reassessment in care needs.

To collate these figures at a rate of 1 minute spent manually checking
each of the clients records (the council supported 2548 clients in
2018/19) would take approximately 42 hours for one year of data. We are
therefore unable to provide the requested information within the
‘appropriate limit’ of 18 hours and your request is therefore refused
under Section 12 of the FOI Act.

12) Exemption where cost of compliance exceeds appropriate limit

(1)          Section 1(1) does not oblige a public authority to comply
with a request for information if the authority estimates that the cost of
complying with the request would exceed the appropriate limit.

Unfortunately, we cannot recommend a way to narrow down this request to
fit within the appropriate limit as the only way to gather this data would
require manual checking of a large number of records.

 

2. How many working-age adults (aged 18-64) with a learning disability had
the monetary value of their care package reduced in:

a. 2018/19

b. 2017/18

c. 2016/17

d. 2015/16

e. 2014/15

Please include in your answers both those who are part and fully local
authority funded. Please exclude those who stopped receiving a package for
the reason ‘deceased’.

 

This information is not held in an easily accessible format that allows
for the data to be reported. Prior to 2016/17 this information was held on
manual records only therefore we do not have a system for filtering by
specific parameters. For 2017/18 – 18/19, due to reconciliation issues
with our current reporting and the inability to filter out for reduction
in packages due to reasons such as respite or hospital stays, collating
this data accurately would require a manual check of all 18-64 clients’
records

To collate these figures at a rate of 1 minute spent manually checking
each of the clients records (the council supported 2548 clients in
2018/19) would take approximately 42 hours for one year of data. We are
therefore unable to provide the requested information within the
‘appropriate limit’ of 18 hours and your request is therefore refused
under Section 12 of the FOI Act.

12) Exemption where cost of compliance exceeds appropriate limit

(1)          Section 1(1) does not oblige a public authority to comply
with a request for information if the authority estimates that the cost of
complying with the request would exceed the appropriate limit.

Unfortunately, we cannot recommend a way to narrow down this request to
fit within the appropriate limit as the only way to gather this data would
require manual checking of a large number of records.

 

3. How many working age adults (aged 18-64) had the care and support hours
allocated in their care package reduced in:

a. 2018/19

b. 2017/18

c. 2016/17

d. 2015/16

e. 2014/15

 

This information is not held in an easily accessible format that allows
for the data to be reported. The care and support hours clients are
receiving may fluctuate to suit their needs. As a result, it is not simple
to identify whether there has been a reduction in care as support hours
may increase one week then decrease another week for a variety of reasons.
Collating this data would require a manual check of all 18-64 clients’
records to calculate averages of care hours for each client over specific
periods of time in order to compare them to identify any reductions. Even
so, any reductions in care and support hours could be the result of a
variety of reasons not associated with a reassessment in care needs.

To collate these figures at a rate of 1 minute spent manually checking
each of the clients records (the council supported 2548 clients in
2018/19) would take approximately 42 hours for one year of data. We are
therefore unable to provide the requested information within the
‘appropriate limit’ of 18 hours and your request is therefore refused
under Section 12 of the FOI Act.

12) Exemption where cost of compliance exceeds appropriate limit

(1)          Section 1(1) does not oblige a public authority to comply
with a request for information if the authority estimates that the cost of
complying with the request would exceed the appropriate limit.

Unfortunately, we cannot recommend a way to narrow down this request to
fit within the appropriate limit as the only way to gather this data would
require manual checking of a large number of records.

 

4. How many working-age adults (aged 18-64) had the monetary value of
their care package reduced in:

a. 2018/19

b. 2017/18

c. 2016/17

d. 2015/16

e. 2014/15

 

This information is not held in an easily accessible format that allows
for the data to be reported. Prior to 2016/17 this information was held on
manual records only therefore we do not have a system for filtering by
specific parameters. For 2017/18 – 18/19, due to reconciliation issues
with our current reporting and the inability to filter out for reduction
in packages due to reasons such as respite or hospital stays, collating
this data accurately would require a manual check of all 18-64 clients’
records

To collate these figures at a rate of 1 minute spent manually checking
each of the clients records (the council supported 2548 clients in
2018/19) would take approximately 42 hours for one year of data. We are
therefore unable to provide the requested information within the
‘appropriate limit’ of 18 hours and your request is therefore refused
under Section 12 of the FOI Act.

12) Exemption where cost of compliance exceeds appropriate limit

(1)          Section 1(1) does not oblige a public authority to comply
with a request for information if the authority estimates that the cost of
complying with the request would exceed the appropriate limit.

Unfortunately, we cannot recommend a way to narrow down this request to
fit within the appropriate limit as the only way to gather this data would
require manual checking of a large number of records.

 

5. How many complaints about adult social care for people with a learning
disability has the council received in the following years?

 

a. 2018/19 - 33

b. 2017/18 - 34

c. 2016/17 - 32

d. 2015/16 - 20

e. 2014/15 – 25

 

6. How many complaints about adult social care has the council received in
the following years?

 

a. 2018/19 - 183

b. 2017/18 - 163

c. 2016/17- 140

d. 2015/16 - 118

e. 2014/15 - 110

 

7. Has the council made any cuts to the funding of social care services
for adults with a learning disability in the following years? If so, for
each year please tell us the how much funding has been cut by.

 

2014/15 saw a net reduction in budget for council-funded Learning
Disability services, which was £962k. In all other years the spend was
higher than the previous year.

 

8. How many safeguarding concerns has the council received in the
following years about adults with a learning disability?

 

a. 2018/19 - 646

b. 2017/18 - In 2015/16 and 2017/18 numbers of concerns were voluntary
data items for the national return, rather than mandatory ones, so the
returns don’t have anything recorded.

c. 2016/17 - 615

d. 2015/16 - In 2015/16 and 2017/18 numbers of concerns were voluntary
data items for the national return, rather than mandatory ones, so the
returns don’t have anything recorded.

e. 2014/15 – This period used a different reporting rational that is not
comparable to the question.

 

9. How many safeguarding enquiries (including, but not limited to, Section
42 enquiries) has the council received in the following years about adults
with a learning disability?

 

a. 2018/19 - 222

b. 2017/18 - 259

c. 2016/17 - 194

d. 2015/16 - 151

e. 2014/15 - This period used a different reporting rational that is not
comparable to the question.

 

Complaints

I hope this information is helpful but if you are unhappy with the service
you have received in relation to your request and wish to make a complaint
or request a review, you should write to Information Management, at either
[Cambridgeshire County Council request email] or by post at Box No. OCT1224, Shire Hall,
Cambridge CB3 0AP within 40 days of the date of this e-mail.

 

If you are not content with the outcome of the internal review, you have
the right to apply directly to the Information Commissioner for a
decision. The Information Commissioner can be contacted at: Information
Commissioner's Office, Wycliffe House, Water Lane, Wilmslow, Cheshire, SK9
5AF, or via their website: https://ico.org.uk/.

 

Generally, the ICO will not undertake a review or make a decision on a
request until the internal review process has been completed.

 

Yours sincerely,

 

Josephine Bailey

Senior Information Management Analyst

 

Information Governance Team

Cambridgeshire County Council

Shire Hall, Cambridge, CB3 0AP

T: 01223 699137 / 01223 703831

E: [email address]

 

 

 

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