Three York men were arrested in the early hours of this morning (Sunday 9 December 2012) following three burglaries at commercial premises across the York area overnight.
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The York Council is likely to agree changes to home care and other charging arrangements at a meeting on Wednesday.

They form part of a plan to persuade more elderly and disabled residents to accept “direct payments” to cover their care needs. These payments involve clients receiving an agreed cash amount based on an assessment of their requirements. In turn they are able to decide whether to purchase help from the Council or the private sector. The scheme has the advantage of giving clients customer choice on their care arrangements.

Take up of the scheme has been relatively low (20%) so far with the complexities and the uncertainties, of the payment process, being partly to blame.

Now a new simplified system is set to be introduced.

As part of the change those getting the assistance of a second carer may have to contribute more for the service.

More details are available at http://tinyurl.com/York-direct-payments

There is some concern that those most affected by the scheme have failed to respond to consultation – or perhaps fully understand what so being proposed.

As of Monday 22/10, the Council had 1540 customers in receipt of a chargeable service. Under the proposals:

• 984 customers will not see a change in their current contribution (428 of these are nil charge)

• 496 customers will see a reduction – the average reduction is £10.07 per week

• 60 customers will see an increase – the average being £107 per week (primarily self funding double up customers)

The Council’s current performance on the care of elderly and disabled residents will be under the spotlight at a meeting on Wednesday.

Although the care services in York cost less than in comparable authorities, some 14 areas for improvement have been identified.

The Council receives relatively low levels of response to reports like these. Probably not surprising as the published report pointedly fails to include a table of the performance outturns (although it is mentioned in the table of contents).

This is just another confirmation of the secrecy culture that has gripped the York Council over the last year or so.

Such information as has been provided can be found at: http://tinyurl.com/York-Social-Care-2012

City of York Council and the York Human Rights City project are hosting the city’s very first Human Rights Festival from 10-15 December.

The festival will include a variety of events to promote the exchange of ideas, as well as a debate on human rights issues and governance at various levels.

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