Issue - meetings

Revision of the Financial Assistance Policy

Meeting: 01/09/2020 - Executive (Item 88)

88 Financial Assistance Policy for the Better Care Fund pdf icon PDF 250 KB

To consider the report of the Director (JY).

 

Additional documents:

Decision:

Agreed:

 

RESOLVED that the Executive supports the adoption of the revised Financial Assistance Policy for the Better Care Fund; and

 

RECOMMENDED that Council adopt the revised Financial Assistance Policy for the Better Care Fund.

 

Reason for Decision: As set out in the report.

 

 

Minutes:

The Executive received the report on the Better Care Fund, which was a joint programme between the Council and the NHS to share health and care services. The Council had a statutory responsibility to allocate Better Care Fund resources, which are allocated to Districts through the Upper Tier Social Care Authority (Devon County Council), including financial assistance to eligible residents. The policy requires regular review to ensure that the available assistance is appropriate and to target resources to ensure that vulnerable individuals had access to support when it is needed.

 

Members welcomed the following within the updated policy:-

 

·         the streamlining of the process for stair-lift grants and the removal of the means testing following a successful pilot which had led to the doubling of the number of stair-lifts installed in the last 12 months;

·         the widening of the type of assistance available to tackle delayed hospital discharges; and

·         the range of Warm Home Grants provided to those in greatest need which support the Council’s desire to promote the use of renewable energy and energy efficiency.

 

RESOLVED that the Executive supports the adoption of the revised Financial Assistance Policy for the Better Care Fund; and

 

RECOMMENDED that Council adopt the revised Financial Assistance Policy for the Better Care Fund.