Issue - meetings

To offer options with regards the financial position of Tendring Careline and the future viability of the service.

RESOLVED that Cabinet - 

a)     agrees to the continuation of a Tendring Careline Service for residents;

b)     adopts Options 4 as the basis for the longer term approach to deliver a viable and sustainable Careline Service in the long term;

c)      requests Officers to take steps to maximise marketing opportunities to increase the customer base in an orderly way through 2022/23 and 2023/24 in working towards the figures highlighted in Option 4 within Appendix A to the Portfolio Holder’s report;

d)     approves the utilisation of the existing Careline Reserve of £221k to underwrite the financial risks associated with a), b) and c) above; and

e)     requires that detailed updates be presented to Cabinet as part of future financial performance and budget setting reports later in the year in order to provide an ongoing review.

Cabinet considered a report of the Housing Portfolio Holder (A.4) which offered options with regards to the financial position of Tendring Careline and the future viability of the service.

Cabinet was reminded that, in order for Tendring Careline to retain its accreditation to the TEC Services Association (TSA – the national body of all Carelines across the UK) the service must match a number of key performance indicators (KPIs). Those KPIs could only be met if the service had enough trained staff to answer the incoming calls from service users and the responders to go out if necessary.

Members recalled that, on 19 April 2022, the contract for Tendring Careline to deliver out-of-hours call monitoring services to Provide CIC had been terminated. Although this meant that Tendring Careline could employ fewer staff, the lost income would also impact the financial viability of the service.

Cabinet was aware that a recent internal audit of Careline had also highlighted that the service needed improvement in a number of areas. The audit had concluded that:

‘it would be timely to review the strategic direction of the service’, and that ‘Whatever options are chosen, one of the first targets will be renewed accreditation with the industry standards, TSA.’

It was reported that, on 25 April 2022, the Audit Committee had sought assurances from the relevant Head of Service that an improvement plan was in place. That improvement plan formed the basis of the recommendations contained within the Portfolio Holder’s report which aimed to stabilise and build confidence in the service; ensure that the TSA accreditation was maintained; and concentrated on a measured, sustainable growth for the service in order to remain viable.

The current budget for 2022/23, which had been set before it was known that the Provide CIC contract income would be lost, showed a net cost to the authority of £501,800.

There were four options set out in the Portfolio Holder’s report for Cabinet to consider.

Option 1 (This was to offer a baseline figure only and for comparison against the other options)

If the Council no longer offered Careline but did maintain an out-of-hours and CCTV service for Tendring residents, Careline service users would be given details of other service providers that they could transfer to and all external contracts would be given 3 months’ notice. There was a reputational risk to this option as the Council had delivered Careline since 1987 and an Equality Impact Assessment had shown that such a decision would have the greatest impact on the elderly and vulnerable residents of Tendring, hence this option was not considered viable. This option showed a net cost to the authority of £608,000 as the loss of income from Careline was greater than the budgeted cost of staff.

Option 2

The Council maintained the staffing required to meet demand. This option showed the greatest net cost to the Authority, i.e. £764,724 as the combined cost of running the service was greater than the projected income.

Option  ...  view the full minutes text for item 23