Agenda item

The Board had before it a report by Alex Stephen (Chief Finance Officer) which (1) provided an update to the Board on the final levels of funding delegated by Aberdeen City Council and NHS Grampian for health and social care activities in 2018/19; (2); requested final approval of the Medium Term Financial Strategy; (3) requested approval of the Bon Accord Care final 2018/19 contract value; (4) advised on risk fund levels contained within the Medium Term Financial Strategy; (5) requested approval of the position re uplifts for contracts and direct payments not covered by the national care home contract; and (6) requested approval to submit formal budget directions to Aberdeen City Council and NHS Grampian.

The report recommended:-

That the Board -

(a)          Note the financial allocations proposed to be allocated by the partner organisations;

(b)          Approve the Bon Accord Contract level for 2018/19 of £26,750,000 and budget assumptions noted in section 2.3;

(c)          Formally approve the 2018/19 budget and the Aberdeen City IJB Medium Term Financial Strategy included as appendix 1 of this report;

(d)          Note that the IJB previously agreed to earmark £2.5 million in a risk fund and that this is included in the Medium Term Financial Strategy;

(e)          Instruct the Chief Officer to uplift the direct payments for clients with a staffing element included in their payment by 3.5% from the 1 May 2018 to cover the increase in the Scottish Living Wage;

(f)           Instruct the Chief Officer to negotiate uplifts for those Social Care providers not covered by the National Care Home Contract; and

(g)          Make the budget directions contained in appendix 2 of this report and instruct the Chief Officer to issue these directions to the constituent authorities.

The Chief Finance Officer advised that both Aberdeen City Council and NHS Grampian had confirmed the provisional IJB budget with no material changes and he requested formal approval of the 2018-19 budget.

Thereafter there were questions and comments on (1) uplifts within the National Care at Home Contract; (2) the possibility of additional Public Health funding being allocated to IJBs; (3) the monitoring arrangements the Partnership had put in place to ensure external care providers payed the Scottish Living Wage; and (4) members requested an update on the implementation of the Ethical Care Charter.

The Board resolved

(i)            to note the financial allocations proposed to be allocated by the partner organisations;

(ii)          to approve the Bon Accord Contract level for 2018/19 of £26,750,000 and budget assumptions noted in section 2.3;

(iii)         to formally approve the 2018/19 budget and the Aberdeen City IJB Medium Term Financial Strategy included as appendix 1 of this report;

(iv)         to note that the IJB previously agreed to earmark £2.5 million in a risk fund and that this is included in the Medium Term Financial Strategy;

(v)          to instruct the Chief Officer to uplift the direct payments for clients with a staffing element included in their payment by 3.5% from the 1 May 2018 to cover the increase in the Scottish Living Wage;

(vi)         to instruct the Chief Officer to negotiate uplifts for those Social Care providers not covered by the National Care Home Contract;

(vii)        to make the budget directions contained in appendix 2 of this report and instruct the Chief Officer to issue these directions to the constituent authorities;

(viii)      to request that reports on the Scottish Living Wage and Ethical Care Charter implementation be consolidated and reported to the Board in due course; and

(ix)         to agree to review the narrative of the Medium Term Financial Strategy at the Board meeting on 9 October 2018.