Report of the Executive Director Adult Social Services and Deputy Chief Executive and City Treasurer attached

The Executive considered a report of the Executive Director Adult Social Services and Deputy Chief Executive and City Treasurer, which outlined proposals to ensure that all care providers providing care and support to Manchester residents were in receipt of funding enabling them to pay their workforce the Real Living Wage (RLW).

The Deputy Leader (Adult Care and Health) commented that the Council had been committed to the Real Living Wage for several years and that these proposals were in recognition of:-

·                The critical role that care and support workers played in meeting the needs of the city’s most vulnerable residents, and in particular the criticality of this role during the city’s response to the covid-19 pandemic;

·                The need to ensure the Council attracted individuals into the care workforce in Manchester, particularly critical as national labour market changes had impacted on recruitment and retention in Manchester into caring role; and

·                Manchester’s care workforce were often Manchester residents and the Our Manchester Strategy describes the Council’s commitment to being a ‘progressive and equitable’ city – paying the RLW for this workforce would have wider health wellbeing and economic impacts for the city’s residents 

She added that whilst this was a welcomed move, there was still a need for Government to provide a sustainable plan to fund Adult Social Care properly. 

The Leader noted that the fragmentation of social care had made it a difficult ambition to achieve but it was positive to see all Greater Manchester Local Authorities moving in the same direction and placed on record the Executive’s thanks and appreciation to all officers who had been involved in making the ambition a reality.

Councillor Leech queried whether there was potential savings to be achieved around recruitment and retention with the implementation of the RLW and asked whether personal budgets would be included in the £12.1m of proposed investment for the 2022/23 financial year.

The Leader responded, commenting that here had been detailed analysis pre pandemic around the benefits of paying the RLW in relation to the retention of staff in the care sector.  As the Council emerged from the current phase of the pandemic the workforce market still presented a significant challenge but it was hoped with the increase to the RLW, connected to the integrated pathways of progression would be the start of improving the retention and recruitment of staff.  She added that when Homecare was looked at in 2018, personal budgets was included in this piece of work

Decisions

The Executive:-

(1)      Approve the investment of a total of £12.1m for the 2022/23 financial year to the care sector made up of:-

·                £5.7m set aside in the budget for NLW increase;

·                £3.5m to enable an increase beyond NLW to RLW;

·                £1m to support providers with the costs of the national insurance increase; and

·                £1.9m to support wider non pay inflationary increases in costs

(2)     Approve the funding of this from:-

·                £5.731m of existing budget earmarked to fund the NLW uplift;

·                £1m of 2021/22 unallocated NLW uplift budget;

·                £2.8m of corporate inflation budget allocated to ASC;

·                £1.62m of Market Sustainability and Fair Cost of Care grant funding; and

·                £1m of 2021/22 unspent NLW uplift carried forward into 2022/23.

(3)     Approve the carry forward of the 2021/22 NLW uplift £1m underspend in Adult Social Care to support the above.

(4)     Delegates to the Executive Director Adult Social Services and the Deputy Chief Executive and City Treasurer, in consultation with the Deputy Leader with responsibility for Health and Care, approval of the fee uplift in accordance with the above, as well as the associated process to be implemented in April 2022