Issue - meetings

The Board considered a report of the Strategic Director, People and Economy, on the Additional Payments Policy.

The Board was advised that under the Care Act 2014, an individual could choose care home accommodation best suited to their needs. If this was more expensive than had been negotiated, a third party, (usually a family member), could agree to pay the additional amount being asked for by the provider.

Prior to this, Halton had not required an Additional Payments Policy because a payment of this type had historically been between the third party and the provider. The Care Act recommended that each local authority should have a level of oversight of the ‘top-up’ payments between third parties and the provider. To this end, Halton’s legal department had recommended that the most appropriate way to achieve this was to have a policy and a tripartite agreement which clearly stated that liability lay with the third party if top-up payments could no longer be met.

The report set out a number of advantages to this approach. Options and a draft contract were contained at Appendix 1 of the Policy. It was reported that having both a Policy and a Contract was viewed by the Department for Health as best practice.

RESOLVED: That the current Additional Payments Policy be agreed.