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Report to: |
Lead Member for Adult Social Care and Health |
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Date of meeting: |
2 March 2023 |
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By: |
Director of Adult Social Care and Health |
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Title: |
Market Sustainability Plan
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Purpose: |
The Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) requires Local Authorities with responsibility for adult social care to submit and publish a Market Sustainability Plan. The Lead Member is asked to approve the Market Sustainability Plan for East Sussex County Council. |
The Lead Member is recommended to agree the content of the East Sussex County Council Adult Social Care Market Sustainability Plan.
1.1 Section 5 of the Care Act 2014 sets out duties on local authorities to facilitate a diverse, sustainable high quality care market for their whole local population, including those who pay for their own care and to promote the efficient and effective operation of the adult care and support market as a whole. The Department for Health and Social Care (DHSC) requires all Local Authorities with responsibility for Adult Social Care (ASC) to submit and publish a Market Sustainability Plan. This is as a part of meeting the requirements set out by the department in respect of the Market Sustainability and Fair Cost of Care fund. Details of the conditions of the fund have changed since they were originally published as a part of the changes announced by the Chancellor in the Autumn Statement, but the requirement to complete and publish the Market Sustainability Plan remains.
1.2 On 19 January 2023 Local Authorities received confirmation from DHSC regarding the next steps in the Fair Cost of Care (FCOC) and Market Sustainability Plan exercise. This confirmed:
· A requirement to submit a Final Market Sustainability Plan to the DHSC by 27 March 2023; and
· to publish it on the ESCC website by the same date.
1.3 The updated final draft of the East Sussex Adult Social Care Market Sustainability Plan, including the updates required by the new DHSC guidance, is in Appendix 1.
2.1 The Market Sustainability Plan sets out for both the 65+ care home market and the 18+ domiciliary care market:
· an assessment of the current sustainability of those markets;
· an assessment of the impact of future market changes between now and October 2025; and
· plans to address sustainability issues, including fee rate issues, where identified.
2.2 The Market Sustainability Plan sets out how East Sussex County Council has engaged with providers in completing this exercise and collating the related Fair Cost of Care information. There are separate sections which set out engagement with providers of domiciliary care and with providers of residential care.
2.3 On 1 February 2023, the DHSC published revised guidance for final Market Sustainability Plans. The requirements for updating the Market Sustainability Plan were relatively minor and reflected in part the delays to ASC charging reforms announced by the Chancellor in the Autumn Statement, they included:
· Consideration of the impact of the National Living Wage and inflationary pressures
· Consideration of the impact of delaying the charging reforms
· Considering market sustainability pressures in the period between now and October 2025
· Summarising how funding for 2022/23 has been spent
3 Conclusion and recommendations
MARK STAINTON
Director of Adult Social Care and Health
Contact Officer: Samantha Williams
Tel. No. 01273 482115
Email: Samantha.Williams@eastsussex.gov.uk
LOCAL MEMBERS
None
BACKGROUND DOCUMENTS