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There is no summary of this meeting yet. Summaries are written once the council publishes the minutes, which are its official record of what a meeting decided. They usually appear a few weeks after the meeting.
Apologies for absence were received from County Borough Councillors Sheryl Evans, H Gronow, W Jones, D Parkin, G Stacey and W Treeby.
In accordance with the Code of Conduct, no declarations of interest were received.
The Director of Adult Services presented the report which has been prepared to provide the Community Services Scrutiny Committee with an update on the performance of the Home Care contract that commenced on the 1st October 2024. The Director of Adult Services provided a brief summary of the purpose and value of the Home Care personal services to those that can no longer undertake the tasks for themselves with the aim of keeping residents in their own homes for as long as possible. She added that continuity and reliability are very much valued by those accessing the Home Care service which, due to the nature of the service, faces frequent temporary and turnover of service users and workforce. The Director of Adult Services explained that the demand for home care has increased over the past few years. In September 2024 for example 1320 people were reported to be receiving home care whereas in September 2025 there was a reported 1464. In October 2024 a new contract was issued which was awarded to five providers over six lot areas. The Director advised that the issues experienced by service users during Covid have since been overcome with the locality based contract simplifying the deployment of staff. The Director referred Members to Figure 1 at 5.3 of the report which evidenced the improvements made to reduce home care waiting lists between September 2024 and September 2025. Overall performance for both POCD and length of stay have improved consistently during this financial year for the Local authority residents. The Director of Adult Services provided an update on the Local Authority and Contractor’s role in ensuring compliance with the Terms and Conditions, the Service Specification and with the requirements stipulated in the services users’ assessments and Care Plans which includes monitoring of the providers four times a year. It was noted that since that transfer some of the initial difficulties have been resolved and the reliability of service arrangements have settled. Although recruitment has improved, turnover of staff remains a pressure. In conclusion, the Director of Adult Services reported on the engagement undertaken by Adult Services with service users and carers to identify the performance outcomes for the contract that mattered to them. An online service user satisfaction survey was circulated in September 2025 and the Director provided further detail around each of the responses, as set out in Appendix 2, attached to the report. The Director acknowledged the low response to the survey and
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