Issue - meetings

The Cabinet is requested to consider the agenda report and its appendix and make the resolution set out below:

That a County Adaptations Manager be appointed funded equally by all district and borough councils in West Sussex from their Disabled Facilities Grant funding.

RESOLVED

That a County Adaptations Manager be appointed funded equally by all district and borough councils in West Sussex from their Disabled Facilities Grant funding.

The Cabinet received and considered the agenda report and its appendix.

This item was presented by Mrs Kilby.

Mrs Rudziak was in attendance for this matter.

Mrs Kilby summarised the report with particular reference to sections 3, 4, 5 and 7. She outlined the proposals by the relevant West Sussex local authorities and clinical commissioning groups to secure improvements to the disabled facilities grants (DFG) process. The objective was to enable residents to remain independent in their own homes for longer. CDC had adopted a more flexible DFG policy in September 2017 to permit a more innovative use of DFG and to reduce bureaucracy for customers. In order to ensure the most efficient use of resources, it had been proposed by the project steering group to appoint a dedicated County Adaptions Manager to oversee the county-wide service and manage the pooled budget. The funding arrangements for the post were set out in section 7 of the agenda report. The post-holder would be employed by CDC. One of the key aims was to speed up delivery of adaptations in homes to help and improve the health and well-being of disabled people. The Cabinet would receive a further report in December 2018 on the proposals for having a pooled budget and a single, flexible county-wide policy. She thanked Mrs Shepherd for taking the lead on this project.

Mrs Rudziak commented on the success of the project to date, the benefits it had brought to eligible residents, the advantages afforded by the funding and policy reforms, a year-on-year budget increase and partnership working.

The Cabinet commended the project and the ongoing programme of improvements which would be a great advantage to residents. Mrs Shepherd, as one of the county’s chief executives who were consulted on the project, was commended for her tenacity in helping to achieve these outcomes.

Mrs Rudziak answered a question about the proposed publicity for the project.  

Decision

The Cabinet voted unanimously on a show of hands to make the resolution below.

RESOLVED

That a County Adaptations Manager be appointed funded equally by all district and borough councils in West Sussex from their Disabled Facilities Grant funding.