Agenda item

The Board had before it a report by Gill Mutch (Finance, ACC) and Alison MacLeod and Jean Stewart-Coxon (Commercial and Procurement Services, ACC) which sought approval from the IJB on the proposal to increase rates paid to external providers of care at home from 1 October 2016 to help implement the Living Wage commitment as part of a positive approach to fair working practices.

The report recommended:-

that the Board –

(a)       Agree the proposal of a 6.4% uplift to all rates for purchased services across all client groups and for all hours worked (except those already covered by the National Care Home Contract) from 1 October 2016;

(b)       Instruct the Chief Officer to issue a direction to ACC to provide a 6.4% uplift, at a cost of £1.6million as set out in the recommended option to external care providers; and

(c)       Instruct the Chief Officer to ensure the implementation of the Living Wage and Fair Working Practices through appropriate contract monitoring processes to provide assurance to the IJB that this had been implemented by the end of the financial year.

Alex Stephen spoke to the report and explained that the Living Wage commitment was made by the Scottish Government and local government as part of the 2016-17 grant settlement to ensure the Living Wage of £8.25 was paid to care workers. He advised that the proposed 6.4% uplift to care providers had been scrutinised through an extensive consultation process and had been agreed by the Audit and Performance Systems Committee on 11 August 2016. Tom Cowan (Head of Operations, ACHSCP) advised that the proposed uplift would make a significant contribution towards stabilising the social care market in terms of recruitment and turnover levels and would provide resources for care providers to invest in their staff through training and development. He added that these investments would help to shape a new paradigm wherein caring would be perceived as an aspirational choice of career with clear routes for progression. Judith Proctor highlighted that the 6.4% uplift was the fairest proposal and aligned with the Partnership’s aim to deliver fairer working practices across the sector. She explained that the Board would receive assurance that the uplift was being used to implement the Living Wage or support training and development programmes through the Board’s Annual Report and the Partnership’s Strategic Commissioning Strategy.

Thereafter there were questions on the process for submitting IJB directions to Aberdeen City Council and NHS Grampian; and the role of third and independent sector partners in the strategic commissioning process. Members also stressed the importance of tracking how the uplift was being utilised by care providers and requested that robust monitoring arrangements be put in place to ensure that the benefits were passed onto staff and not used to award providers who had maintained existing terms and conditions.

The Board resolved:-

(i)           to agree the proposal of a 6.4% uplift to all rates for purchased services across all client groups and for all hours worked (except those already covered by the National Care Home Contract) from 1 October 2016;

(ii)          to submit a Direction to ACC to provide a 6.4% uplift, at a cost of £1.6million as set out in the recommended option to external care providers;

(iii)         to instruct the Chief Officer to ensure the implementation of the Living Wage and Fair Working Practices through appropriate contract monitoring processes to provide assurance to the IJB that this had been implemented by the end of the financial year; and

(iv)         to request that the Chief Officer meet with the Chief Executives of ACC and NHS Grampian to discuss the  arrangements for submitting IJB directions to its two partner organisations.