To seek the Cabinet’s decision on the future of the Council’s Careline service having regard to:-

·      updated financial analysis for different options;

·      the exploration of proposals from third parties who, through last year’s consultation exercise, expressed an interest in taking on all or part of the service;

·      the likely strategic and practical implications of emerging proposals for Devolution and local government reorganisation;

·      the aims and objectives of the North East Essex Health and Wellbeing Alliance for an integrated ‘place-based’ health system approach; and

·      the need to ensure best value and quality of service for residents and service-users in the context of an expanding and increasingly competitive private market for telecare, response and lifting services.

RESOLVED that Cabinet –

a)     notes the content of the Portfolio Holder’s report (A.8), including the updated financial information relating to alternative options for the future of Tendring Careline, updated information on numbers of service-users and staff, the latest position in relation to third-party contracts and the consideration of third-party proposals for taking on all or part of the Careline service; 

b)     notes also the latest position in respect of proposals for local government reorganisation across Essex, including the likely replacement of County and District Councils with unitary authorities, and the potential practical implications for services such as Careline in the future;

c)      in light of the information noted as per resolutions a) and b), supports the proposal from Colchester City Council and its Helpline Service (provided through its arms-length company Amphora), based on the outcome of the evaluation set out within the Portfolio Holder’s report (A.8);

d)     agrees to the creation of a combined and expanded telecare, response and lifting service for North East Essex that aligns with the aims and of objectives of the North East Essex Health and Wellbeing Alliance for an integrated health-system approach; and agrees heads of terms on the following principle conditions:

i)       it is achieved through the automatic transfer of all remaining Tendring Careline service-users to the service provided by Colchester Helpline on their existing terms of conditions and with no ongoing financial liability to Tendring District Council following that transfer;

ii)      that Colchester Helpline undertakes to guarantee service coverage to residents across all parts of the Tendring District so as to ensure that no part of the District is left without access for residents to a paid-for telecare, response and lifting service;

iii)     that Colchester Helpline’s existing average response times are maintained and where possible improved upon in providing coverage to residents in all parts of Tendring – with measures put in place, as necessary, for one or more outposts in locations providing accessibility for all parts of Tendring – and at no ongoing cost or liability to Tendring District Council; and

iv)     that Tendring Careline’s existing staff will transfer to employment within the expanded Colchester Helpline, respecting existing terms and conditions and with no ongoing financial liability to Tendring District Council resulting from that transfer.

e)     agrees in principle that the Council’s Out-of-Hours, CCTV services and monitoring for the Council’s own sheltered housing schemes will also transfer to Colchester Helpline under an outsourcing arrangement within the same timescales for achieving the proposal under resolution d), which will be considered as part of the associated negotiation and subject to separate decision(s) as necessary;

f)       that the transfer be facilitated, as early and as smoothly as possible within the 2025/26 financial year;

g)     agrees that, from the date of this decision, any new prospective Careline customers are to be signposted to Colchester Helpline as the Council’s preferred alternative trusted provider, in light of the proposal under d) above;

h)     agrees an extension to the exemption of Procurement Procedure Rules to allow the use of the company Careium for the ongoing provision of casual call-handling support over the period of transition, as required, to ensure continuity of service to remaining service-users during times of staff shortage;

i)       authorises the Portfolio Holder for Partnerships, in consultation with the Leader of the Council & Portfolio Holder for Finance and Governance; the Director for Planning and Community; the Monitoring Officer; the Section 151 Officer; and the Head of People, to progress and deliver the following:

1)      the preparation of a detailed transition plan in collaboration with Colchester City Council and Colchester Helpline, including the associated legal agreement and specific tasks and timescales for the achievement of the proposals under resolutions d) and e), having regard to the broad Indicative Transition Plan outlined within this report;

2)      the termination of any remaining third-party customer and supplier contracts with Tendring Careline;

3)      the entering into contracts with one or more suitable third-party providers of telecare, response and/or lifting services to call upon additional staffing resource during the period of transition to ensure continuity of service to remaining service-users and to provide additional resources as required;

4)      the agreement with Colchester Helpline for the use of accommodation at Barnes House, on a short-term lease and on commercial terms, for use as a temporary outpost for the provision of the expanded North East Essex service while a permanent location is sought;

5)      the agreement to any financial contribution towards the upgrading of all existing Tendring Careline service users to digital equipment either before or after the transfer to Colchester Helpline – utilising a proportion of the agreed implementation budget; and

6)      the utilisation of the remainder of the implementation budget, as appropriate, for purposes relating to the achievement of the proposals under resolutions d) and e).

j)       confirms that all efforts will be put in place to work constructively with Helpline to support service users through a smooth and timely transfer to the expanded North East Essex service and that for any service users that wish to ‘opt out’ of an automatic transfer, support will be provided in signposting them to other alternative providers;

k)      confirms that the Council will continue to support affected staff through the transition to the expanded North East Essex Helpline service; and

l)       agrees that the costs associated with these resolutions is met from within existing budgets, including the one-off implementation budget amount of £0.746m, and that the use of these budgets is delegated to the Director (Planning and Community), in consultation with the Leader of the Council & Portfolio Holder for Finance and Governance and the Portfolio Holder for Partnerships.

Earlier on in the meeting, as detailed under Minute 123 above, Councillor P B Honeywood had declared an Interest in this item.

Cabinet considered a detailed report of the Partnerships Portfolio Holder (A.8), which sought the Cabinet’s decision on the future of the Council’s Careline service having regard to:-

·      an updated financial analysis for different options;

·      the exploration of proposals from third parties who, through last year’s consultation exercise, had expressed an interest in taking on all or part of the service;

·      the likely strategic and practical implications of emerging proposals for Devolution and local government reorganisation;

·      the aims and objectives of the North East Essex Health and Wellbeing Alliance for an integrated ‘place-based’ health system approach; and

·      the need to ensure best value and quality of service for residents and service-users in the context of an expanding and increasingly competitive private market for telecare, response and lifting services. 

Cabinet was informed that the main recommendation within the Portfolio Holder’s report was that the Council proceeded, broadly in line with the Cabinet’s previously stated preferred option, to withdraw itself from the market for providing telecare, response and lifting services. However, this was proposed to be achieved in a managed way through an arrangement with Colchester City Council’s ‘Helpline’ service (provided through its arms-length company Amphora) to transfer service users and staff on existing or similar contractual terms and conditions to Colchester Helpline and for it to expand its team, resources and reach to serve the whole of the North East Essex area.

It was reported that this recommendation had been reached following the consideration of revised financial analysis that considered updated assumptions that reflected the significant net reduction in projected cost pressure in continuing to run the Careline service resulting mainly from the termination of the YourStride contract and other unviable third-party contracts. Whilst the updated figures showed a reduction in the projected cost pressure compared to earlier estimates, they still demonstrated the need for significant subsidy from Tendring taxpayers to continue with the Careline service in its current form with a reduced number of staff and against the backdrop of staff recruitment and retention challenges in a widening and increasingly competitive private market for similar telecare services.

Members were made aware that consideration of third-party proposals that had emerged from the consultation process showed that Helpline was best placed amongst others to offer a long-term solution, through an approach that aligned with the aims and objectives of the North East Essex Health and Wellbeing Alliance, to which Tendring District Council was a partner, for an integrated ‘place-based’ health system approach that supported people to live independently within their homes and reduced pressure on the wider system. This approach also enabled the Council, through its partnership with the Alliance, to retain influence and scrutiny over the way the service was provided in the future, with the benefit of no ongoing financial liabilities and with Helpline being able to operate in a viable manner over a wider geography by achieving economies of scale.

It was also advised that the Council’s Out-of-Hours, CCTV and Sheltered Housing monitoring service also formed part of the transfer to Colchester Helpline through an outsourcing arrangement on completion of the current review which had identified many complexities and inter-relationships between Careline, the Out-of-Hours service and other services across the Council. It was suggested that the outsourcing of those Out-of-Hours functions to Helpline, for an annual fee, should also happen within the same timescales for transferring service-users and staff from Careline.

To aid a smooth transition and ensure a maintained quality of service to residents in Tendring, it was proposed that accommodation at Barnes House in Clacton be made available for the running of the expanded Helpline service, on commercial terms, until at least March 2026 - providing a temporary base within the Tendring area to maintain effective response times whilst more permanent long-term arrangements were considered and put in place. The income sought from Helpline for this accommodation could be off-set against the fee payable for the provision of Out-of-Hours coverage and/or any contribution the Council made towards the one-off cost of upgrading and digitisation of service-users’ equipment.  

Cabinet was cognisant that a significant change to the context of the decision-making process since the previous report to Cabinet in November 2024, was the Government’s announcements around devolution and local government reorganisation, which was expected to see the replacement of the two-tier authority structure with a series of new unitary authorities by 2028. The proposals and recommendations set out in the Portfolio Holder’s report therefore not only responded positively to the feedback from last year’s consultation with service users and other interested parties in ensuring continuity and stability, but they also aligned in practical terms with the direction of travel that local government reorganisation across Essex would introduce. The merging of resources across Tendring, Colchester and potentially other existing authority areas would be a natural outcome of reorganisation as a means of achieving economies of scale and efficiencies and the recommendations within this report were therefore consistent with that approach.

Members noted that this report included an indicative transition plan outlining the key stages of the transfer process, which would be expanded upon with a detailed transition plan to be agreed and implemented in collaboration with Colchester Helpline. The programme included provision for the Council to continue to procure temporary support from other suitable private third-party telecare providers, on a call-on basis, to provide continuity of service for Careline users over the transition period whilst the transfer to Helpline took place.

Having duly considered all of the information provided within the Portfolio Holder’s report including the reasons that lay behind the Portfolio Holder’s recommendations to Cabinet:-

It was moved by Councillor Placey, seconded by Councillor I J Hendersonand:-

RESOLVED that Cabinet –

a)       notes the content of the Portfolio Holder’s report (A.8), including the updated financial information relating to alternative options for the future of Tendring Careline, updated information on numbers of service-users and staff, the latest position in relation to third-party contracts and the consideration of third-party proposals for taking on all or part of the Careline service; 

b)       notes also the latest position in respect of proposals for local government reorganisation across Essex, including the likely replacement of County and District Councils with unitary authorities, and the potential practical implications for services such as Careline in the future;

c)       in light of the information noted as per resolutions a) and b), supports the proposal from Colchester City Council and its Helpline Service (provided through its arms-length company Amphora), based on the outcome of the evaluation set out within the Portfolio Holder’s report (A.8);

d)       agrees to the creation of a combined and expanded telecare, response and lifting service for North East Essex that aligns with the aims and of objectives of the North East Essex Health and Wellbeing Alliance for an integrated health-system approach; and agrees heads of terms on the following principle conditions:

i)         it is achieved through the automatic transfer of all remaining Tendring Careline service-users to the service provided by Colchester Helpline on their existing terms of conditions and with no ongoing financial liability to Tendring District Council following that transfer;

ii)       that Colchester Helpline undertakes to guarantee service coverage to residents across all parts of the Tendring District so as to ensure that no part of the District is left without access for residents to a paid-for telecare, response and lifting service;

iii)      that Colchester Helpline’s existing average response times are maintained and where possible improved upon in providing coverage to residents in all parts of Tendring – with measures put in place, as necessary, for one or more outposts in locations providing accessibility for all parts of Tendring – and at no ongoing cost or liability to Tendring District Council; and

iv)      that Tendring Careline’s existing staff will transfer to employment within the expanded Colchester Helpline, respecting existing terms and conditions and with no ongoing financial liability to Tendring District Council resulting from that transfer.

e)       agrees in principle that the Council’s Out-of-Hours, CCTV services and monitoring for the Council’s own sheltered housing schemes will also transfer to Colchester Helpline under an outsourcing arrangement within the same timescales for achieving the proposal under resolution d), which will be considered as part of the associated negotiation and subject to separate decision(s) as necessary;

f)         that the transfer be facilitated, as early and as smoothly as possible within the 2025/26 financial year;

g)       agrees that, from the date of this decision, any new prospective Careline customers are to be signposted to Colchester Helpline as the Council’s preferred alternative trusted provider, in light of the proposal under d) above;

h)       agrees an extension to the exemption of Procurement Procedure Rules to allow the use of the company Careium for the ongoing provision of casual call-handling support over the period of transition, as required, to ensure continuity of service to remaining service-users during times of staff shortage;

i)         authorises the Portfolio Holder for Partnerships, in consultation with the Leader of the Council & Portfolio Holder for Finance and Governance; the Director for Planning and Community; the Monitoring Officer; the Section 151 Officer; and the Head of People, to progress and deliver the following:

1)       the preparation of a detailed transition plan in collaboration with Colchester City Council and Colchester Helpline, including the associated legal agreement and specific tasks and timescales for the achievement of the proposals under resolutions d) and e), having regard to the broad Indicative Transition Plan outlined within this report;

2)       the termination of any remaining third-party customer and supplier contracts with Tendring Careline;

3)       the entering into contracts with one or more suitable third-party providers of telecare, response and/or lifting services to call upon additional staffing resource during the period of transition to ensure continuity of service to remaining service-users and to provide additional resources as required;

4)       the agreement with Colchester Helpline for the use of accommodation at Barnes House, on a short-term lease and on commercial terms, for use as a temporary outpost for the provision of the expanded North East Essex service while a permanent location is sought;

5)       the agreement to any financial contribution towards the upgrading of all existing Tendring Careline service users to digital equipment either before or after the transfer to Colchester Helpline – utilising a proportion of the agreed implementation budget; and

6)       the utilisation of the remainder of the implementation budget, as appropriate, for purposes relating to the achievement of the proposals under resolutions d) and e).

j)         confirms that all efforts will be put in place to work constructively with Helpline to support service users through a smooth and timely transfer to the expanded North East Essex service and that for any service users that wish to ‘opt out’ of an automatic transfer, support will be provided in signposting them to other alternative providers;

k)       confirms that the Council will continue to support affected staff through the transition to the expanded North East Essex Helpline service; and

l)         agrees that the costs associated with these resolutions is met from within existing budgets, including the one-off implementation budget amount of £0.746m, and that the use of these budgets is delegated to the Director (Planning and Community), in consultation with the Leader of the Council & Portfolio Holder for Finance and Governance and the Portfolio Holder for Partnerships.