Issue - meetings

The Board considered a report of the Strategic Director – Health and Community seeking approval to transfer the Carers’ Centre to the Voluntary Sector and outlining the future of Carers’ Services within Halton.

It was noted that, since the opening of the Carers’ Centres in 2004, it had been the intention that the management of the Centres by the Local Authority would only be a temporary arrangement until a voluntary sector organisation could be identified to undertake it in order to ensure that carers would be able to maximise their access to funding streams, for example lottery funding, that otherwise would not have been accessible by the Centres under Local Authority control.

During the last 12 months, a number of activities, including meetings and consultation events, had taken place to identify the options and their associated advantages and disadvantages for the future provision of Carers’ Services within Halton. During this time it had been highlighted that, whichever approach was adopted, it would need to safeguard the financial future of Halton Carers’ Centre, improve and expand the services provided, and be acceptable to Halton and St. Helens Primary Care Trust, to Halton Borough Council, and to local carers. It was subsequently decided that the future provision of Carers’ Services be independently assessed and three options had been examined regarding future provision:

1)         no change;

2)            establish a Princess Royal Trust for Carers’ Centre in Halton; or

3)         merge with Princess Royal Trust for Carers’ Centre in St. Helens.

Following widespread consultation it was agreed that the most favourable option would be option 2 – “Establish a Princess Royal Trust for Carers’ Centre in Halton” - for the following reasons:

• as a charitable organisation the Centre would be able to access different funding streams, which the Local Authority was currently unable to; and

• an independent Carers’ Centre would not just be a provider of services but would be an important means of ensuring the voice of carers was heard. Carers within Halton would have a direct input in to how the Centres were managed and the services provided there.

Further information was provided in respect of the possible location of the Centre and it was advised that the Princess Royal Trust had agreed to the closure of the Carers’ Centre located in the Age Concern building and the exploration of alternative sites in Widnes whilst awaiting the outcome of a lottery proposal. It was recognised that carers would prefer to see two centres within Halton, one in Runcorn and one in Widnes, and this aspiration would be incorporated into the Carers’ Centre three year business plan to be prepared in conjunction with the Princess Royal Trust operating from the Runcorn site in the medium term.

The financial implications were outlined for the Board’s consideration, in particular the request that Procurement Standing Orders be waived to enable the Authority to enter into a three-year service level agreement to continue to provide Carers Services from the point of transfer for a three-year period. In  ...  view the full minutes text for item 93