Appointeeship and Social Care Charges - Find a freedom of information request

1. How many individuals is the local authority acting as an appointee for, please?

2. Which department is responsible for administering appointeeship?

3. Which department is responsible for assessing social care charges?

4.How many officers in either department carry out an overlapping role with regard to appointeeship and care charges?

5. How many appeals about care charges has the appointeeship team submitted to the financial assessment team since 2015?

6. How many complaints has the appointeeship team submitted regarding care charges since 2015?

7. How many times has the appointeeship team sought or referred individuals they act for, to independent advice (whether third sector, legal aid or privately funded) about care charges, since 2015?

8. How many times has the appointeeship team questioned the accuracy, fairness or legal validity of individuals' care charges or the council's charging policy, since 2015?

9. Does the council treat appointeeship as a Care Act service? If so, does it charge for that as part of the Care Act charging system?

10. How much does it charge, if it makes a charge, per month or per week or per year, please?

11. If appointeeship is not provided for through the Care Act, does the council allow for a DRE deduction from Disability Benefits income, for the charge it makes for appointeeship (assuming a person is otherwise chargeable)?

12. If the council does not operate appointeeships for adult social care clients, does the council permit a full DRE deduction from Disability Benefits income, for any charge levied by any other corporate or private appointee (assuming a person is otherwise chargeable)?

13.  In respect of all council clients who are currently in receipt of adult social care services, regarded as liable to pay a charge for their adult social care services, for whom the appointee role is currently undertaken - how is the relevant department holding the appointeeship responsibility proposing to manage the conflict of interest presented by the judgment in the Norfolk CC v SH case in December 2020, given that the decision means that other similar policies are presumptively unlawful? Please answer with a sentence or a paragraph; it is suggested that it is not a proper response to say that no decisions have been made, as yet, because the problem already exists.

1. Currently 440 live clients

2. Serco COP Admin Team day to day management with LCC as overall Corporate Appointee – Serco are the company that manage the Exchequer functions on behalf of LCC.

3. Serco Financial Assessments submitted to Financial Assessment Team as for any Service User

4. There isn't an overlap due to one team having responsibility for care charges and a separate team being responsible for appointeeship.

5. Lincolnshire County Council (LCC) does not record this information but the appointeeship team will make any necessary enquiries on behalf of the service user where there are any issues in respects of the individual's financial assessment.

6.. None

7. None

8. LCC do not keep a record of issues we have queried in a central database.

9. Yes, there is no charge

10. n/a

11. It is treated like a Care Act Service and is not charged for.

12. n/a

13. LCC is currently undertaking a review of the judgement regarding Norfolk CC with its legal services and financial assessment department