Issue - meetings

In accordance with Standing Order No.34 (9), the following public questions were submitted to the Board:

Question

“It is noted that as part of the Performance Priority Based Report (Page 4 of 21, Supporting Commentary) there is an underspend in the Pooled Fund for joint delivery of Integrated Care.   It is understood that in Greater Manchester, Local Authorities and local NHS Trusts have used the pooled fund for Integrated Care to increase the rate paid to providers for commissioned Social Care.   The increased rate has been to paid to providers agreeing to pay Care Workers the Foundation Living Wage.

The Foundation Living Wage – independently calculated by the Resolution Foundation – is the minimum amount that workers need to earn to make ends meet, yet a substantial proportion of care workers across Halton receive below Foundation Living Wage.   This forces Care workers to work excessive hours to make ends meet, which has an impact on the quality of care as workers are burnt out.

Further, the low pay in the sector is leading to a shortage of care workers, experienced care workers are leaving the sector to work in better paid sectors, and providers are finding it more difficult to attract new staff to the sector as the level of responsibility is not reflected in the pay.

I understand Halton Council has been awarded over £500,000 for the discharge fund, this fund is to support recruitment and retention of staff in the care sector.  Using this fund to support the Foundation Living Wage to care workers across Halton will aid recruitment and retention of care workers”.

 As a resident of Halton can you confirm the value of the stated underspend in the pooled funding?

Response

As outlined in the Performance Report, the Pooled budget was shown to be underspent at the end of quarter two (September 2022) of 2022/23; this figure was £0.848m.

Supplementary Question

It is noted that Halton has received over £500,000 for the Discharge Fund.  This Fund is to be used to recruit and retain social care workers across Halton.  Low wages in the Social Care Sector is a fundamental issue of retaining and recruiting staff in the sector. 

Will you commit to using the Discharge Fund to ensure the Foundation Living Wage as a minimum is paid to all care workers across Halton?

Response

The function of the Health Policy and Performance Board is scrutiny; it is not a decision making body, so it is not permitted to commit to any budget spend.