Agenda and minutes

1.1  Apologies from Cllr Laura Bunt.

2.1  None.

3.1  None.

4.1  The minutes of the meeting held on 14^th July were agreed.

5.1  The Commission noted the reports.

6.1  The Chair welcomed John Atkinson (Independent Consultant) and Sue Goss from Office Public Management (OPM) to the meeting. 

6.1.1  John and Sue were involved in the ‘Total Place: whole area approach to public services’.  This programme involved local public services working together, to deliver better value services to citizens, by focusing on joint working using a place based approach to deliver better outcomes and improved value for money.

6.1.2  John Atkinson managed the Total Place programme from 2008 – 2010 and Sue Goss was an enabler of the Total Place pilot in Sunderland and Tyneside; Sue is now applying these principles to Health and Social Care integration work. 

6.1.3  John and Sue were invited to come and talk to the Commission about their work on the ‘Total Place’ programme to provide the Commission with, some advice and guidance about the methodology and approach to use in relation to the mapping of total public spend for Hackney and the best way to approach a place based review of services.  The discussion started with an outline explaining the purpose of the session and aim of the review.

6.1.4  The Commission is aware there needs to be a fundamental change and redesign of services if the Council is to sustain services.  From this review, the Commission will identify a framework to apply to service provision, that will: engage with the public, (from the outset) establish the skill sets required for staff and new ways of commissioning.  The purpose of this session was to give the Commission an understanding of the requirements for a success Total Place project (deep dive exercise as quoted in the Total Place evaluations).

6.1.5  John and Sue provided an overview and made the following comments:

·  Doing a forensic audit of the money flow will not help you to achieve the desired change; The Leicestershire pilot conducted a detailed audit of the money mapping exercise and ended up with a spaghetti exercise that was difficult to understand

·  20% of effort, rough calculations of the total spend will give most of the information required

·  Money mapping helped to identify the percentage of the total funding each organisation was in control of (in relation to spending decisions).  In some areas the Council identified they only had control of 30% of the money flow.

·  Conducting the deep dive exercise starts with the person and talking to them to identify their desired outcome.  Hearing the stories of service users and understanding the nuances of how they use the service or what they find useful was important.  This became the lever for change in the Total Place pilots not the mapping of total spend

·  The count and the whole system review work together and help to inform the review

·  This exercise can help you to identify how and why the system is not working

·  Talking and consulting did not get things completed it was working out how to change the service.  Through doing this work, one pilot identified that a number of  ...  view the full minutes text for item 6.

7.1  The Chair welcomed Kay Brown (Assistant Director Revenues and Benefits) and Jennifer Wynter (Operations Manager) to the meeting.  The Chair advised following the implementation of the welfare reform changes Overview and Scrutiny have been monitoring the impact of the changes locally.  The Commission was informed this was the first of 2 updates scheduled for this municipal year and the updates would be presented to Governance & Resources Scrutiny Commission (G&R) in September and Community Safety Social Inclusion Scrutiny Commission (CSSI) in March 2014.

7.1.1  The Officer referred to the reports in the agenda on pages 211 - 217.  The officer provided a recap of the welfare reform changes, the work by the Council to support local residents and the current position.  The main points highlighted from the report were:

·  The Welfare Reform changes started in 2011.  The first area of change was the Local Housing allowance. 

·  Following implementation of the changes there has been an increase in requests for help, advice, support, telephone enquires, homeless services and footfall into the HSC.

·  The Council has used various channels of communication to communicate the changes to local residents and have in place a number of support mechanisms for local residents.

7.1.2  Local Housing Allowance

·  This was introduced in 2011 and maximum level for support is set at £400.  The current level with inflation has risen to £425, current rent level in Hackney are significantly higher.  Housing costs in Hackney rose by 9%

·  For Hackney residents the shortfall between housing benefit and rental costs is increasing

·  The shortfall can be in the region of £100 - £800 a month.  Currently 60% of claimants when assessed have a shortfall between their benefit and rent charge

·  There have been changes to benefit entitlement for the single person.  Single people who previously were entitled to a 1 bed room flat are experiencing a shortfall.  This group of occupants are either returning to live with their parents or have moved into multiple occupancy dwellings and rent a single room

·  It was highlighted for people in Job Seekers Allowance the benefit available and their income means renting in Hackney is unaffordable

·  The Revenues and Benefits teams give advice to residents about finding alternative accommodation, which entail moving back home or to another borough.  For this groups there is very limited support or assistance the Council can provide.

7.1.3  Spare Room Subsidy

·  The Council commenced work to advise about the changes and to give assistance in 2011; Officers reported they have:

o  Assisted 122 to move

o  253 are on the waiting list that have asked for assistance with down sizing

o  Provided Discretionary Housing Payment (DHP) support to households and spent has been £192, 000 on this type of support to date.  The fund to provide this support has been available for 1 year

·  Some households were in arrears before the scheme, but approximately 35% are in arrears since the scheme came into operation.

7.1.4  Council Tax Reduction Scheme

·  Hackney’s Council Tax reduction scheme implemented has  ...  view the full minutes text for item 7.

8.1  The Chair advised the work programme would be populated with items for discussion as the outline of the review is confirmed.

9.1  None.