NCF Member Briefing 9.2.24
Final Local Government Finance Settlement
Earlier this week the Final Local Government Finance Settlement for 2024-2025 was published.
As announced last month, this now includes an additional £500m for adult and children’s social care as part of the Social Care Grant. This means that of the overall £8.7bn being made available for social care, there is an additional £1.5bn being made available to local authorities, compared to 2023-24. Please note that this is dependent upon councils raising council tax by the maximum amount and incorporates delayed adult social care reform money from the 2022 Autumn Statement.
The £8.7bn is comprised of:
£5 billion through the Social Care Grant, a £1.2 billion increase on 2023-24, including the £500 million additional funding.
£1.1 billion through the Market Sustainability and Improvement Fund (MSIF), a £123 million increase on 2023-24. This continues to include the reallocation of the £162m per year of Fair Cost of Care Funding. It also includes £205m MSIF – Workforce Funding, a 2-year fund announced in July 2023 which is being rolled into the existing MSIF.
£500 million through the Discharge Fund, a £200 million increase to the local authority component on 2023-24.
£2.1 billion through the improved Better Care Fund. The quantum and distribution remains the same as 2023-24.
You should note that Michael Gove in his statement to parliament has asked local authorities to use the additional Social Care Grant funding to prioritise children’s social care:
While being mindful of pressures in adult social care, where possible councils should use the uplift to the Social Care Grant to invest in areas that help place children’s social care services on a sustainable financial footing……
DLUHC has also given permission for several local authorities hit by section 114s to raise their council tax by 10% - this includes Birmingham, Slough, and Thurrock.
Covid-19 Vaccines
The JCVI has advised on the eligible groups for the 2024 spring vaccine - this recommendation has been accepted by DHSC.
JCVI advises that the following groups should be offered a Covid-19 vaccine:
Adults aged 75 years or older.
Residents in a care home for older adults.
Individuals aged 6 months and over who are immunosuppressed (as defined in tables 3 or 4 in the Covid-19 chapter of the green book).
In other news, it is being reported in the media that Pfizer is preparing to sell its Covid-19 vaccines from high street pharmacies from next month to everyone over the age of 12.
Changes to the Workforce Development Fund
Despite DHSC's various pledges about adult social care workforce reforms, it looks like a decision has been made to scale down the Workforce Development Fund (WDF) to be replaced by a new fund within DHSC.
The WDF will be scaled down in 2024-25. In 2024-25 it will only be possible to claim WDF for learning which is already in progress. In 2024-25, all employers will claim directly from Skills for Care. There will be a tender opportunity for large national organisations to apply for WDF next year - further details to follow.
The WDF is being replaced by a new learning and development fund administered by the NHS Business Services Authority (NHS BSA) on behalf of DHSC.
Skill for Care's understanding is that the structure of the new fund is different, allowing direct reimbursement payments to employers. Further details will be made available by DHSC in the spring. DHSC has set up an email address, ASCreimbursement@dhsc.gov.uk, so please direct any queries about the changes to them.
DHSC will be working with Skills for Care to put transitional arrangements in place between the new fund and WDF. Funding claimed as part of the WDF will continue to be administered by Skills for Care.
Disabled Facilities Grant Increase Scrapped
The government has dropped its commitment to increase the amount of money that disabled people in England can claim to adapt their homes through the Disabled Facilities Grant (DFG). The maximum amount a person can claim has been capped at £30,000 since 2008, meaning that it is now worth around a third less in real terms.
The promise to increase it was one of the justifications DHSC used to scrap the £300m housing transformation fund in the People at the Heart of Care reform plans. This is yet another broken reform promise.
Fully Updated DSPT Guidance
Access fully updated guidance on completing every section of the Data Security and Protection Toolkit. This includes updated short videos, tips on answering each question, links to templates, policies and resources to help care providers to reach Standards Met on the DSPT. Better Security, Better Care’s new guidance also includes information on the relevance of the DSPT to commissioners, regulators and tech suppliers.
If you need more support, please contact the Digital Care Hub national helpline or one of 28 local support organisations across the country.
eLearning on Data Protection
Care providers can use Better Security, Better Care’s comprehensive elearning resource for staff for free. They have also made it available as a SCORM file so that you can download it into your own LMS. They have recently added a new ‘locked’ version of the SCORM file so that users need to complete all sections before they can work their way through the complete course.
There are four modules – each one takes between 10 and 20 minutes to complete, and there is an assessment which generates a certificate if a user gets 80% of the questions right.