Report
to:
East Sussex Health and Wellbeing Board
Date of
meeting: 14th
December 2021
By:
Director of Adult Social Care
Title:
Better Care Fund Plans 2021/2022
Purpose:
To provide a summary of the Better Care Fund (BCF) requirements for
2021/22 and to seek approval of the East Sussex BCF
plans.
RECOMMENDATIONS
The Board is recommended
to:
1.
Note the
requirements for 2021/22 Better Care Fund; and
2.
Approve the East
Sussex Better Care Fund Plans for 2021/22 at Appendix 1 &
2
1
Background
1.1
Since 2014, the Better Care Fund (BCF) has provided a mechanism for
joint health, housing and social care planning and commissioning,
focusing on personalised, integrated approaches to health and care
that support people to remain independent at home or to return to
independence after an episode in hospital. It brings together
ring-fenced budgets from Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG)
allocations, and funding paid directly to Local Government,
including the Disabled Facilities Grant (DFG) and the improved
Better Care Fund (iBCF).
1.2
The continuation of national conditions and requirements of the BCF
in recent years has provided opportunities for health and care
partners to build on their plans to embed joint working and
integrated care further. This includes working collaboratively to
bring together funding streams and maximise the impact on outcomes
for communities whilst sustaining vital community
provision.
2
Supporting
information
National BCF Planning Guidance and Requirements for
2021/22
2.1
The 2021/22 Planning Guidance and Clinical Commissioning Group
(CCG) minimum contributions to the BCF were published on 30th
September with local plans to be submitted by 16th November.
In East Sussex the CCG contribution increased by 5.3%; the Social
Care and CCG Out of Hospital ringfence has increased in line with
the local CCG minimum uplift.
2.2
Grant determinations for the improved Better Care Fund (iBCF) and
Disabled Facilities Grant (DFG) in 2021/22 had already been issued
to local authorities in May 2021.
2.3
Whilst many of the requirements continue as previous years
additional aspects have been included for this year in particular
the need to demonstrate how the BCF is being used locally to
support hospital discharge.
2.4
The Better Care Fund plans for 2021/22 include:
·
A completed planning template confirming the expenditure plan meets
the national conditions and the local areas ambitions to progress
performance against the identified metrics (Appendix
1).
·
A narrative plan outlining how the BCF is being used to support
local priorities including integration, hospital discharge,
collaboration with housing and addressing health inequalities
(Appendix
2).
2.5
BCF National Conditions: The four national conditions that all BCF
plans must meet to be approved have not be changed. These
are:
·
A jointly agreed plan between local health and social care
commissioners and signed off by the Health and Wellbeing
Board.
·
NHS contribution to adult social care to be maintained in line with
the uplift to CCG minimum contribution.
·
Investment in NHS commissioned out-of-hospital
services.
·
A plan for improving outcomes for people being discharged from
hospital.
2.6
BCF Metrics: The previous non-elective admissions and delayed
transfers of care (DTOC) metrics have been replaced by:
·
Unplanned hospitalisations for Ambulatory Care Sensitive
Conditions
·
Length of stay: % of inpatients in acute for over 14 days and over
21 days
·
Discharge to normal place of residence: % discharged from acute to
normal place of residence.
2.7
Areas are asked to use the data and agree a numerical ambition for
these metrics alongside a short rationale for these figures and the
local plan for making progress against the metric
East
Sussex Better Care Plans 21/22
2.8
Contributions to the BCF have been confirmed and agreed
as:
|
Resources
|
Funding
|
Lead
Org
|
Contribution
|
|
East
Sussex CCG
|
CCG
Minimum Contribution
|
CCG
|
£44,444,859
|
|
ESCC-
Carers
|
ESCC
|
ESCC
|
£694,000
|
|
ESCC -
DFG
|
Disabled
Facilities Grant
|
ESCC
|
£8,123,612
|
|
ESCC -
IBCF
|
Improved
Better Care Fund
|
ESCC
|
£21,136,349
|
|
Total
Resources
|
|
|
£74,398,820
|
2.9
Many of the schemes funded via the BCF in 2020/21 have been
extended for 2021/22 with an uplift to some scheme expenditures to
reflect pay awards. In order to support hospital discharge
pathways, additional funding has been identified to support
intermediate care and domiciliary care capacity in the
community.
2.10
The East Sussex Plans ensure the funding is deployed as required by
each of the national conditions outlined above.
2.11
As with previous years, the East Sussex BCF Plans for 2020/21 align
with and support the delivery of wider transformation of the health
and care system and the key priorities within the East Sussex
Health and Social Care Plans
2.12
The previous Section 75 agreement which facilitates the pooling of
the BCF in East Sussex will be updated for 2021/22 once these plans
have been approved.
2.13
Due to the Health and Wellbeing Board meeting after the submission
date the plans were submitted with delegated authority, however,
they will not receive final assurance until approval by the Health
and Wellbeing Board has been confirmed.
3
Conclusion
and reasons for recommendations
3.1
This paper summarises the BCF requirements for this year and sets
out the East Sussex plans confirming their alignment with national
requirements and delivery of the wider transformation of the health
and care system locally.
3.2
The Health and Wellbeing Board is asked to
1) Note the
requirements for 2020/21 BCF
2) Approve the East
Sussex BCF Plans for 2020/21 at Appendix 1
MARK STAINTON
Director of Adult Social
Care
Contact Officer
Sally Reed, Joint Commissioning
Manager
Email: sally.reed@eastsussex.gov.uk
Tel: 01273 481912
Appendix 1: East Sussex HWB BCF
2021-22 Planning Template
Appendix 2: East Sussex HWB BCF
Narrative Plan 2021-22