Decision details

(i)  To recommend that Council approve entering into a S75 of the National Health Service Act 2006 Partnership Agreement pooled fund, noting the minimum statutory requirement to pool £15.325m revenue and £1.526m capital.

(ii)  To recommend that Council approve exceeding the minimum requirement to pool up to the total value of the first 3 schemes identified in Section 13 of this report (Cluster development, Supporting carers and Integrated discharge, reablement and rehabilitation) from 1 April 2015, noting Southampton’s ambition to achieve integration at scale at a total cost of approximately £61m.

(iii)  To recommend that Council approve the addition of the remaining budgets included within Section 13 of this report into the pooled fund as and when appropriate, bringing the total value to approximately £132m.

(iv)  To recommend that Council delegate authority to the Director, People, following consultation with the lead Cabinet Member for Health and Adult Social Care, the Chair of the Health and Wellbeing Board and the Head of Legal and Democratic Services, to (a) agree the terms and conditions of the pooled fund agreement under Section 75 (S75) of the National Health Service Act 2006 and (b) to carry out any ancillary actions needed to give effect to this recommendation.

1.  From 1 April 2015 Local Authorities and CCGs are required to establish a pooled fund under Section 75 of the NHS Act 2006 for health and social care services to work more closely together in local areas, based on a plan agreed between the NHS and local authority.  For Southampton City the minimum value of the pooled fund is £15.325m revenue and £1.526m capital.

2.  Southampton City Council has taken a more holistic approach to health and social care and proposes to fund and commission it in that way.  The ambition is to encompass all services that fit within the scope of the Better Care model, bringing together approximately £132m into the pooled fund.

1.  Not to establish a pooled fund - this is not an option as Local Authorities and CCGs are required to establish a pooled fund for the minimum £15.325m revenue and £1.526m capital by 1 April 2015

2.  To pool only the minimum - this has been rejected on the basis that Southampton's Better Care Plan, which has been signed off by the Health and Wellbeing Board, seeks to achieve a fully integrated model of health and social care.  In order to achieve this ambitious transformation, it is considered necessary to bring together all of those health and social care resources associated with this vision and commission services in a fully integrated way, which is focussed on people's outcomes and needs in their entirety, as opposed to their health or social care in isolation.

3.  To pool all of the health and social care resources for those services within the scope of the Better Care model from 1 April 2015 - this has been rejected in favour of a more gradual progression towards this aim which allows each scheme to be fully scoped and tested before adding it to the pooled fund.  Three of the five schemes have been worked up in significant detail and are ready for inclusion from 1 April 2015.