Domiciliary Care Charging Consultation 2007

We asked you to complete our Domiciliary Care Charging Consultation if you currently receive Home Care Services, act on behalf of someone who receives services or represent a user or carer group.

The consultation was based on the proposals on this page.

The consultation period ended on the 31 July 2007 and you can now view the results in the Consultation Analysis Report.

Proposal 1

Increase from 65 to 85 the percentage of available income taken into account to work out a person's charge

Government policy is that the income of people who receive Home Care Services should not fall below a certain weekly amount (known as the Protected Income Level) as a result of charging. This is to ensure that everyone has sufficient income to meet basic needs. The rest of a person's income is called 'available income'.

Local authorities, like KCC, decide how much of a person's available income, if there is any, is taken into account to work out their charge. At present, we take 65% of available income into account when working out a person's charge.

Some other local authorities take into account up to 100% of available income.

Our present policy is that any charge is based on either the weekly cost of the care package or a percentage of the available income, whichever is the lower.

Example:

Mrs Amber is an 85 year old lady with a care package costing £86.40 per week. Her total income is £202.45 per week. Her available income after deducting housing and other expenses is £39.89 per week. The chart below shows how Mrs Amber's charge would be affected this year by taking 85% of her available income into account rather than 65% as at present.

Proposal 2

Use the actual cost of providing Home Care Services to work out what a person should pay, instead of a standard cost as it is now.

For many years we have used a standard hourly rate to work out what a person should pay. Over the years the difference between the standard and the actual cost of Home Care Services has greatly increased. As this is no longer affordable to KCC, we propose to use the actual cost of Home Care Services to work out what a person should pay. This would only affect you if your charge were based on the cost of your services rather than your available income.

Example:

Using the standard cost of the service, a 10 hour per week care package costs £125.60, but the actual cost in this case is £145.00. This means that this care package is subsidised by KCC.

Proposal 3

We will make sure that no one who is assessed as having to pay towards the cost of his or her Home Care Services will pay more than an extra £15 per week from September this year, on top of his or her present charge.

Increasing the percentage of available income to be taken into account and using the actual rather than a standard cost will affect people who have been assessed as having to pay towards the cost of their service. This is why we propose to limit any increase to no more than £15 per week on top of the present charge (this is called a cap).

Proposal 4

Keep the £15 per week maximum (cap) in place for up to three years if it applies.

To help people plan for any increased charge, we propose to keep this £15 per week cap in place for up to three years. This means that no one who is receiving services and has been assessed as having to pay towards the cost of their services would pay more than an extra £15 per week from September 2007, on top of his or her present charge.

We will keep this maximum cap of £15 per week in place for next year if, following the usual re-assessment in April 2008, any further increase is more than £15 per week on top of the charge from September 2007. We will also keep this cap in place for one more year if, following the usual re-assessment in April 2009, any further increase is more than £15 per week on top of the charge from April 2008.

From April 2010, this cap would stop and everyone who has been assessed as having to pay towards the cost of their Home Care Services would pay their full-assessed charge.

Example:

Mr Brown is a 70 year old gentleman with a care package costing £135.00 per week. His total income is £340.18 per week. His available income after deducting housing and other expenses is £145.37 per week. The following chart below how the new policy would affect Mr Brown, and shows a cap being in place for up to one year.

* Would change in line with benefit changes.

** The cap stops in year two and the full-assessed charge is applied as the increase is £14.07, which is less than the £15 cap.

Example:

Mr Charles is an 82 year old gentleman with a care package costing £220.00 per week. His total income is £345.26 per week. His available income after deducting housing and other expenses is £150.27 per week. The following chart shows how the new policy would affect Mr. Charles.

* Would change in line with benefit changes.

** The cap stops in year three, as the increase is £0.06, which is less than £15.

Example:

Mrs Duncan is an 80 year old lady with a care package costing £129.60 per week. Her total income is £300.00 per week. Her available income after deducting housing and other expenses is £95.00 per week. The following chart shows how the new policy would affect Mrs Duncan. Her charge was capped at £35.50 in April 2006, as the increase in her charge from £20.50 to £61.75 was more than £15.

* Would change in line with benefit changes.

** The cap applies for the maximum of three years, as the increase in each year is more than £15.

Proposal 5

Keep the Disability Related Expenditure Assessment (DREA) at £20 per week for everyone.

Disability Related Expenditure (DREA) is the term for extra costs that people have in their everyday lives because of their disability.

Government policy is that these additional expenses are considered when working out whether or not a person is able to pay something towards any service they receive.

At present KCC allows everyone £20 DREA per week. This is because people receiving a service do not have to keep and provide KCC with receipts or bills to show us what they have spent. It also means that KCC staff do not need to work out what each person should be allowed. We think it is simpler for both you and us to allow everyone the same amount.

However, anyone who receives a Disability Related benefit may ask for an individual Disability Related Assessment.