Long Term Care Fund: Payment into fund of additional income received from Health and Social Services clients

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A decision made 16 March 2016:

Decision Reference: MD-HSS-2016-0019
Decision Summary Title:	Payment to the Long Term Care Fund in respect of Additional Income received for H&SS clients in 2015		Date of Decision Summary:	7th March 2016
Decision Summary Author:	Assistant Director of Finance		Decision Summary: Public or Exempt?	Public
Type of Report: Oral or Written?	Written		Person Giving Oral Report:
Written Report Title:	Payment to the Long Term Care Fund in respect of Additional Income received for H&SS clients in 2015		Date of Written Report:	7th March 2016
Written Report Author:	Assistant Director of Finance		Written Report : Public or Exempt?	Public
Subject: Payment to the Long Term Care Fund of sums equivalent to the additional income received by the Health and Social Services Department from the Long Term Care Fund in respect of H&SS long term care clients during 2015.
Officer recommendation: The Minister is recommended to approve the payment of £4,856,871.24 from the Health and Social Service revenue head of expenditure to the Long Term Care Fund in respect of the period 1st January to 31st December 2015.
Decision(s): The Minister approved the payment of £4,856,871.24 from the Health and Social Service revenue head of expenditure to the Long Term Care Fund in respect of the period 1st January to 31st December 2015.
Reason(s) for Decision: To comply with the Health and Social Services Department’s commitment to make payments into the Long Term Care Fund equivalent to the estimated values specified in the Long-Term Care (States Contribution) (Jersey) Regulations 2014 (P.140/2013) Addendum. Financial Direction 3.6, which requires the permission of the Treasury and Resources Minister to retain and spend additional income, is deemed not to apply as the decision of the States in the Addendum to P140/2013 prevails.
Resource Implications: This decision results in payments being made to the Long Term Care Fund which match the additional income received by H&SS in respect of its Long-Term Care clients in 2015. This decision does not result in any overall increase or decrease in the net expenditure of the States, as approved in the MTFP 2013-2015. This Decision does not impact on approved FTE manpower resources across the States. No further payments will be required from H&SS to SSD as a permanent budget transfer has been made as part of the MTFP 2016-2019.
Action required: Assistant Director of Finance to notify the Chief Officer, Social Security Department, the Director of Treasury Operations and Head of Shared Services of this decision, and to action the payment.
Signature:		Position: Minister for Health and Social Services
Date Signed:		Date of Decision:

Long Term Care Fund: Payment into fund of additional income received from Health and Social Services clients

Health and Social Services

Ministerial Decision Report

Payment to the Long Term Care Fund in respect of Additional Income received for H&SS clients in 2015

Purpose

To approve the payment to the Long Term Care Fund of income in excess of the income target agreed in the MTFP for services commissioned or provided to long term care clients by the Health and Social Services Department (HSSD) during 2015.

Background to this Decision

In July 2011, the States approved the draft Long-Term Care (Jersey) Law 2012 (“the LTC Law”) which introduced a new scheme to provide financial support to eligible Jersey residents who have been assessed as having long term care needs under the provisions of the scheme. This law came into effect from 1 July 2014.

The Long-Term Care (Health and Social Services Charges)(Jersey) Law 2014 (“the HSSD LTC Charges Law”) also came into effect from 1 July 2014. This law enables HSSD to make charges to long term care clients for care commissioned or directly provided from its budget, up to the maximum benefit rate set under the LTC scheme.

The transitional funding arrangements for 2014 and 2015 are described in the Long-Term Care (States Contribution)(Jersey) Regulations 2013 (P.140/2013) –Addendum (“the Addendum”). Paragraph 6 prescribes that the resulting increase in HSSD income must be returned to the Long Term Care Fund.

The key points of the transitional funding arrangements concerning payments between HSSD and SSD for HSSD clients are:

Prior to the enactment of the two laws, HSSD was only able to levy a fixed charge of £474 per week regardless of the income and assets on the individual receiving care or the value of the care provided. From 1 July 2014, HSSD is able to make charges that reflect the care provided, up to maximum benefit rate set under the Long-Term Care Scheme.
The value of the payment into the LTC Fund must equal the reduction in the HSSD net budget and also the increase in its income.
The estimated budgetary value to be allocated by HSSD as a payment to the LTCF in 2014 (6 months) was estimated in the Addendum to P.140/2013 at £2.8 million.
The estimated budgetary value to be allocated by HSSD as a payment to the LTCF in 2015 (full year) was estimated to be £5.9 million.
The Addendum specified that these amounts will be revised in line with actual LTCB payments and will match actual income received during the year. The actual values will be used in the calculation of the States’ contribution for 2016.

The estimates in the Addendum to P140/2013 were reviewed by Internal Audit prior to the enactment of the Long-Term Care (Jersey) Law 2012 and a further review of actual transactions will be undertaken early in 2015.

The value of the additional income to be paid by H&SS to the LTCF for 2015has been calculated at £4,856,871.24.

No further payments will be required from H&SS to SSD as a permanent budget transfer has been made as part of the MTFP 2016-2019.

Recommendation

It is recommended that the Minister approves the payment of £4,856,871.24 million from the Health and Social Services Department revenue head of expenditure to the Long Term Care Fund in respect of the period 1st January to 31st December 2015.

Reason for Decision

To comply with the Health and Social Services Department’s commitment to make payments into the Long Term Care Fund equivalent to the estimated values specified in the Long-Term Care (States Contribution) (Jersey) Regulations 2014 (P.140/2013) Addendum.

Financial Direction 3.6, which requires the permission of the Treasury and Resources Minister to retain and spend additional income, is deemed not to apply as the decision of the States in the Addendum to P140/2013 prevails.

Resource Implications

This decision results in payments being made to the Long Term Care Fund which match the additional income received by HSSD in respect of its Long-Term Care clients in 2015. This decision does not result in any overall increase or decrease in the net expenditure of the States, as approved in the MTFP 2013-2015. This Decision does not impact on approved FTE manpower resources across the States.

Report author : Finance Manager	Document date : 7th March 2016
Quality Assurance / Review : Assistant Director of Finance	File name and path: L:\Finance\Ministerial Decisions\2016\2015 LTC Payment to SSD\WR - 2015 LTC Payment to SSD.docx