AN extra £1.265 million is to be spent on providing care for the elderly and vulnerable.

Blackburn with Darwen Council bosses have agreed to fork out more to care providers operating in the borough because of higher operating costs brought about by an increase in the national living wage.

An additional £569,372 will be spent ensuring people can remain in their own homes for longer through a combination of supported living and home care.

And residential and nursing costs are set to rise by £648,424.

Local authority bosses say the increase in the national living wage, which has risen from £7.50 to £7.83 per hour for workers aged 25 and above, has a significant impact on the council’s external social care providers, including residential and home care.

The sustainability of the home care market has continued to be under scrutiny recently, given widespread funding pressures and cost constraints.

In recent years, two national organisations have pulled out of the borough in part due to a lack of sufficient return on investment.

Now senior figures at the council hope increasing fees paid to service providers will help support the financial viability of the sector in the region.

Blackburn with Darwen Council commissions support for more than 2,000 local adults and older people with eligible social care needs every year.

The majority of services are provided by external organisations either from the independent or voluntary, community, and faith sector.

In 2017/18, the council’s net commissioning budget for these services was £35.6m.

Locally, as well as nationally, there has been a shift away from the traditional care home model towards using prevention and rehabilitation programmes to keep people independent and living at home for as long as possible.

As well as being cheaper than nursing homes, it is thought home care can help people maintain contact with friends and their local community.

Home care services tend to be more flexible and people can have as little, or as much, help as they need with care tailored to fit their needs.

Executive member for health and adult social care, Cllr Mustafa Desai, said: “Home care supports around 700 frail, disabled and vulnerable local adults and older people in their own homes with intimate and essential personal care.

“Examples include getting in and out of bed, dressing, managing nutrition, using the bathroom and mobilising around their home.

“The sustainability of the home care market has continued to be under scrutiny recently, given widespread funding pressures and cost constraints. In recent years two national organisations have exited from our framework; in part due to a lack of sufficient return on investment.”

“All provider organisations, be they private or charitable, need to generate a level of surplus for reinvestment into the business and this has proved hard to achieve for a significant number of providers.

“More recently, a framework tender exercise has resulted in more provision coming into the market via the accredited framework. This is currently being implemented with new processes to facilitate working with providers which aligns to integrated neighbourhood developments and integrated hospital

discharge processes.

Cllr Desai approved a residential and nursing care fee increase of 3.04 per cent and a 4.4 per cent increase for domiciliary care fees.

Fees for the Shared Lives service will increase by 3 per cent and learning disability domiciliary care costs will go up by 3.04 per cent.

Fees for supported living providers will also increase by 3.04 per cent.

For 2018/19 the overall cost of the proposed uplifts of £1.265m can be met within the council’s budget.

The Finance Council agreed a variation to the Adult Services cash limited budget for 2018-19 which reflects both the increased demographic demands year on year combined with the fee uplifts.

Any further costs for 2018/19 on final completion of contract negotiations will need to be met from within the overall budget for Adult Social Care.

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