Adults' and Community Services budget consultation

On Monday 30 July 2007, Lambeth’s Cabinet made decisions on proposed changes to eligibility criteria and charges for adult social care. This follows on from consultation on the proposals.

Councillors were provided with a consultation report for the cabinet meeting giving a summary of all the comments and feedback we collected from service users, carers, and other organisations. We have also produced an easy-to-read report on the consultation feedback.

Officers from Lambeth Adults’ and Community Services also submitted a report to cabinet members, which gave details of possible budget options put forward by the department, together with the potential budget savings for each option.

Cabinet decisions

Read the documents and summary of the cabinet meeting

Eligibility criteria

Lambeth decided to maintain its current eligibility criteria for adult social care services, and not make any changes.

This means that we will continue to provide services to everyone meeting the “critical” and “substantial” bands.

Charges

The following charges were agreed and will take effect from 1 September 2007:

Personal care - £17.50 per hour
Home shopping services - £10 per shop
Hot or frozen meals - £3 per meal
Transport to day centres - no charge
Sitting service - £17.50 per hour

The charge for the sitting service will not apply to carers, where a carers assessment has been carried out.

Charges will also be introduced for people with learning disabilities, people with substance misuse problems and people with mental health problems who are receiving the above services.

Charges are based on income and savings. We will only charge those people who can afford to pay. If we have told people their assessed charge for 2007-2008, they will not need to provide any further details.

Voluntary sector funding

Cabinet made a decision not to reinstate savings in funding to the voluntary sector that had been agreed previously. This was not part of the formal consultation process. Lambeth will continue to fund a range of voluntary organisations in the borough.

Keeping you informed

We will write to service users shortly to let them know of any changes to their charges. We will also contact anyone who needs to have a financial assessment and will give them more details about how we will work out their charge.

We can also give people advice and support on benefits, to make sure that they are getting all the welfare benefits they are entitled to.

Further information

If you have any questions about the charges please let us know. You can contact the financial assessment team on:
Phone: 020 7926 5555 or 0800 052 8886
Email: financialassessment@lambeth.gov.uk

If you would like advice and support in claiming welfare benefits please let us know. You can contact the welfare benefit service on:
Phone: 020 7926 5555
Email: everypoundcounts@lambeth.gov.uk