What you thought of our plan to ask people who can afford it to pay for the community support service.
You told us you need more time to prepare. You also wanted to know what would happen if a session was cancelled and whether people could pay less for group support in the community.
We were planning to ask people to pay from April 2016. Now, if you have to pay, we will ask you to start paying in July 2016 instead of April 2016. We have sent everyone who uses the service a copy of the cancellation policy that will apply from July 2016. We agreed that people should pay less for group support in the community. We have set a lower cost for group support.
People took part in a number of ways:
Survey feedback
People think the Community Support Service is a good service.
47 out of 57 people who completed a survey said they were happy with the service. They like the help it gives them to develop life skills and the relationships they have with the workers.
Should people be asked to pay for the service?
Around half of the people who filled in a survey don’t think people should be asked to pay for the CSS: 34 out of 62 people chose this answer. The reasons most often given were because of the cost to people and because the plan is unfair. Some people said they would stop using the service if they were asked to pay.
18 people were not sure whether we should ask people to pay for the service. This is because people are unsure about what our plans would mean for them. 10 people said people should be asked to pay for the service.
How would it affect them?
People are worried about whether they would be able to afford to pay for the Community Support Service. People said they do not have much money. 17 people talked about the effect on their money and the fact they would not be able to spend money on other things, like bills, food and social activities.
How can we help people to prepare?
If the plan went ahead, people say they would like information and advice on money: 18 people said this.
Other feedback from letters, emails etc
People think the Community Support Service is a good service.
Some of the letters and emails also talked about what the person liked about the service or how it helped them.
Should people be asked to pay for the service?
The responses that addressed this element of the consultation said that people shouldn’t be asked to pay. The main reason given was that it would be unfair to ask people to pay, although some people just raised the issue of affordability. Some people said they would stop using the service if they were asked to pay, while others said they would have to look at their options.
How would it affect them?
Many of the responses also raised uncertainties about what the proposal would mean for them and their finances.
How can we help people to prepare?
People want to know what would happen if they had to cancel a session and whether it would be possible to have group support and how much that would cost.
We wanted to know what people thought of our plan to ask people to pay for the community support service (the service helps people to be more independent). People would only pay if they could afford to.
As a result of the consultation we made some changes to our plan (see ‘We asked, you said, we did’ below). The Lead Member for Adult Social Care considered our revised plan and what people had told us through the consultation on 31 March 2016 (see 'Results' below).
It was decided that the community support service will go ahead with the plan to charge for services because:
We have written to everyone who uses the service to let them know what has been decided. The Financial Assessment team will contact people to arrange a meeting in April or May 2016.
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