Agenda item

At its meeting on 6 January, the Health and Wellbeing Board received an update on the Better Care Fund (BCF) Plan and delegated authority to a sub-committee to give final consideration to the BCF Plan for 2020/21. A report was introduced by Rachel Briden, WCC Integrated Partnerships Manager. The BCF provided significant additional funding to councils in order to protect adult social care and for Warwickshire, this was £14.688m in 2020/21. For this year the sum included the support for winter funding, which had previously been a separate grant. Disabled facilities grant funding continued to be allocated through the BCF. The funding conditions meant that this money must be used to support social care in a number of specified ways.

Background was provided on the delays to publication of the policy and planning requirements, due to the response to the Covid-19 pandemic. Councils were directed to prioritise continuity of provision, social care capacity and system resilience and spend from ringfenced BCF pots based on existing local agreements, pending further guidance. That guidance was subsequently received on 3 December 2020. NHS England and NHS Improvement had agreed that formal BCF plans would not have to be

submitted for approval. Instead, the requirement was to ensure that use of the mandatory funding contributions was agreed in writing, that the national conditions were met and that an end of year reconciliation was submitted in a prescribed format. Further background was provided on the content of the BCF policy statement for 2020/21 and associated national conditions.

Locally, the BCF plan continued to be focussed on the long-term vision, building on progress made previously and seeking further improvements in key areas. The Warwickshire plan had been developed following meetings with partners and met the requirements set out in the BCF policy statement published in December. Each of the partners had signed-off the plan through their own governance arrangements ahead of this meeting.

Further sections of the report outlined the monitoring and reporting arrangements, together with the financial implications.

The following questions and comments were submitted:

• Reference to the disabled facilities grants and Home Environment Assessment & Response Team (HEART) Board.  Councillor Barker raised concerns which had been reported to the SDC overview and scrutiny committee about the position on HEART.
• Nigel Minns acknowledged the concerns raised, which led to an independent review being undertaken. The HEART Board was now chaired by Becky Hale an assistant director of WCC. The aim was to support the implementation of improvements for this managed service. Covid had impacted on the achievement of the associated action plan. However, there were indications of improvements and a necessity for continued monitoring. In time, a review would be required of the long-term future of HEART.
• It was confirmed that additional support had been provided, with endeavours to reduce duplication and there was a far-reaching improvement plan.
• The Chair provided additional context on the involvement of partners.
• It was confirmed that the proposals had been approved by the WCC Cabinet and all clinical commissioning groups.
• Nigel Minns corrected an error in paragraph 1.8 of the report on the levels of expenditure, where commas implied the amounts of money were greater than the actual spend levels. The correct amounts were confirmed.

The Chair sought confirmation from the Sub-Committee members of the recommendations as submitted.

Resolved:

That the Health and Wellbeing Board Sub-Committee:

1. Approves the Better Care Fund (BCF) Plan for 2020/21, known locally as the Better Together Programme, including the plan for resources made available through the additional social care monies , Disabled Facilities Grant and Clinical Commissioning Group contributions.

2. Notes that formal BCF plans do not have to be submitted to NHS England and NHS Improvement for approval in 2020 to 2021 and that instead Health and Wellbeing Boards must ensure that use of the mandatory funding contributions has been agreed and that the national conditions are met.

3. Recommends Warwickshire County Council entering into a new Section 75 Partnership Agreement with Coventry and Rugby Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG), South Warwickshire CCG and Warwickshire North CCG for the delivery of the BCF Plan once completed. This will include the alignment of Out of Hospital service provision and funding across all partners as a step towards closer integration and risk sharing.

Recommends the County Council continuing as the pooled budget holder for the fund.