Social Work Charging Policy for 2022-23 (Non-residential)

Overview

Each year, the Convention of Scottish Local Authorities (COSLA) produces guidance on the principles that underpin local authority charging policies. The Guidance is subject to revision annually or as policy develops.

As a result, Scottish Borders Council reviews its non-residential care charging policy every year. Income generated through the contributions people make through the charging policy enables the council to continue providing a service to people who have an assessed need and ensures the development and delivery of high quality services.

As a result of this review it may change how much some people pay towards their social care support. This does not include personal care, which is free. We are also proposing that we need to increase our Direct Payment and Short-Breaks rates so that people's individual budgets are increased. People will not be required to contribute more than it costs to provide the services and a financial assessment will be carried out to determine individual contribution level.

At the moment there are different types of financial assessment and we wish to simplify our financial assessment processes in a way that ensures people remain protected from financial hardship whilst minimising administrative processes and improving transparency in how contributions are assessed and calculated.

This survey will ask for your views in relation to proposed changes to the charging policy on the issues below:

• Find out what people want to be included in a Charging Policy
• Financial Assessments
• Extra Care Housing Charges
• Sheltered Housing Charges
• Increase Direct Payment Rate
• Increase Short Breaks Rate
• Taper Rate incremental increase
• Meals at Home (Frozen Meals)

Where these charges are stated for 2022-23 they are based on current information from the Scottish Government, they may be amended closer to April 2022 when the Scottish Government issue national rates.

Consultation Meetings