Equality Impact Assessment of Budget Proposals

The proposal is to update the existing South Tyneside Council Social Care Charging Policy to reflect current Department of Health minimum income guarantee levels more accurately as well as standardise initial disability related expenditure amounts, based upon benefit types and levels whilst still offering individual disability related expenditure assessments at the request of the individual. The updated policy also looks at introducing charges in other areas such as charging for self-funding services when the councils supports and commissions services on behalf of individuals who have been assessed as being able to pay the full cost of their care such as discretionary deferred payments agreements, administration fees and extra care background support.

The change to the policy also looks to introduce an additional allowance for household building insurance.

• Detailed analysis of existing charges and impact of the changes in thsoe charging rates
• Liquidlogic data extract identified those with changes to existing charges and where charges will remain the same
• Comparative demographics such as age, gender, ethnicity, wards and under/over pensionable age have been analysed in detail
• Consultation process to be undertaken that will further inform proposals and this Equality Impact Assessment
• Initial consultations have been held with internal stakeholders including Social Care Senior Management and leadership Team, Director of Adult Social Service & Commissioning, Director of Business & Resources, Cllr Carter - Lead Member for Governance, Finance & Corporate Services, Cllr Berkely – Lead Member for Adults Health & Independence, Cllr Dixon – Leader of the Council and the councils CLT (Corporate Leadership Team)
• The Director of Business & Resources also commissioned an external independent specialist to review and challenge the proposals which return no significant changes to the proposal
• Proposals have also recently been circulated to Adult Safeguarding, Health & Wellbeing Scrutinee Committee

When a request for financial assessment is triggered and income reviewed, the Financial Assessments Team take a holistic view of their total capital and income to ensure they are claiming all available income thus ensuring the persons income is maximised thus ensuring they are claiming all benefits and financial support available to them. People will be supported to maximise their income where it is evident income could increase.

Under the new charging proposal when a person is not already in receipt of all their benefits some individuals may still be better off than if they had not received services and been charged at all as the increase in income is greater than the increase in the charge for their care services.

South Tyneside Council has continually strengthened its information and advice offer and is currently in the process of developing an online financial assessment offer to allow individuals to calculate their own contributions to make upfront decisions regarding the care that they receive and be aware of the level of charge will pay towards that care.

The changes to the benefit allowances more closely aligns both working age and none working age adults, bringing charges closer together thus creating a fairer system for all regardless of age and other protected characteristics.

The new proposals are more fairly and closely aligned to regional and national charging allowances creating an overall fairer system, for charging.

We have carried out a line-by-line reassessment process based upon the proposals so will be able to carry out reassessments at any time to ensure proposals are accurate and assumptions and calculations correct.

Ongoing annual reassessments will identify if any particular group or groups are disproportionately impacted and will also prevent long periods between changes in assessed charges.

We will continue to monitor debt to consider affordability for charges for care and overall income and debt will be monitored to identify trends and issues. People will be supported to access advice and support to maximise income.

We anticipate that this Equality Impact Assessment will be amended, updated and reconsidered through various consultation exercises until such a time as the policy proposals can be drafted into a new policy. This document will be reviewed and amended accordingly up to the proposals being considered by Council.

Post-16 transport is provided free of charge for those considered eligible under the SEND Transport policy in South Tyneside although legislation allows local authorities to charge for this. All non- SEND students pay for their transport costs in full.

This proposal asks that a contribution is made to the costs of travel for eligible SEND students who are above the free school meals, higher working tax credits threshold.

DfE transport guidance for both Years 1 - 11 and Post 16

• Post-16 transport and travel support to education and training
• Travel to school for children of compulsory school age

All Local Authorities within the UK were consulted regarding their PTB offer and centralised pick-up points, 29 LAs responded.

197 responses received, 175 are parents of school-aged children, 171 of which have identified SEND needs and 161 are currently in receipt of Home to School Transport.

In response to the questions on Post-16 charges:

Is the proposal clear and easy to understand?

• 157 (81%) answered yes
• 15 (8%) answered no
• 25 (13%) answered neither clear or unclear

Is the proposal fair and reasonable?

• 37 (19%) answered yes
• 121 (61%) answered no
• 39 (20%) answered maybe

In response to the same questions on centralised pick-up points:

Is the proposal clear and easy to understand?

• 144 (73%) answered yes
• 23 (12%) answered no
• 30 (15%) answered maybe

Is the proposal fair and reasonable?

• 23 (12%) answered yes
• 130 (66%) answered no
• 44 (22%) answered maybe

Independent travel training offer to support pre 16 students to travel to school / college independently and to prepare for adulthood.

Flexible payment options to fund the contribution such as monthly or termly payments.

Bursaries are accessible from age 16 for vulnerable groups defined as those in care or care leavers; those receiving Income Support, Universal Credit or Employment and Support Allowance because they are financially supporting themselves, in receipt of Disability Living Allowance or Personal Independence Payments, have a household income of less than £32,300.

Colleges and other providers can make discretionary bursary awards to students to help them overcome individual barriers to participation and can be used to help with the cost of travel, to buy essential books, equipment etc

Local colleges provide free travel in the form of a voucher for Tyne and Wear public transport passes.

Additionally, those students aged 16 and over who are eligible for DLA have a Motability payment included within that payment so can use that payment to fund any assessed contribution.

Comparison of year-on-year applications for Post-16 transport.

Monitor number of appeals against Post-16 charges and compare year-on-year data.

Risk assess students and identified centralised pick-up points.

Monitor uptake for Independent Travel Training and Personal Travel Budgets and compare year-on-year data.

The existing providers performance have been reviewed as the 0-5 mandated contacts offered to all families are nationally reported on a quarterly basis. We have seen a decline in child development which is not local to South Tyneside but also being seen nationally impacting on readiness for school.

We use the National Child Measurement programme data to review the health and wellbeing of our children at reception and year 6.

We also have additional KPI information from the contract to monitor performance.

A review of the 5-19 service offer was carried out with a number of recommendations to improve outcomes within this aspect of the service and to redefine the priorities for the school nurses to target as part of the public health prevention work.

As part of the 5-19 service review teachers, staff, stakeholders and partners were involved in sharing their views on what was good about the service and what could be improved.

The outcomes of the review were shared with the provider, service specification was updated, and an improvement plan is in place to monitor progress.

With regards to the commissioning options key partners will be involved at the various stages however there will be an element of confidentiality and sensitivity depending on which option is agreed as this is commercially sensitive.

The sexual health service provides support via pregnancy options to continue with the pregnancy or to terminate. The service also provides contraception and links postnatally. The service also provides STI screening and treatment and if STI’s go undetected or treated this can impact on a females fertility.

As part of the contract discussions and agreement of the model it is important to ensure these functions are accessible and monitored to prevent limited resources and capacity don’t negatively impact on patient outcomes.

The sexual health service provides a range of functions to support safe sex, access to testing, treatment and advice and support. Those patients from LGBTQ+ and MSM are known to undertake risk taking behaviours and therefore more at risk of STI’s. It is important to identify, treat and manage STI’s, outbreaks and responding to national campaigns such as HIV and Mpox.

Monitoring the performance of the service via the KPI’s and contract meetings. Monitoring the prevalence of STI’s within the population groups looking for any trends, increases and potential outbreaks. Responding to outbreaks with vaccination, treatment and contact tracing. Targeting interventions to those most at risk.

Sexual health services have particular age groups that access the service more than others: younger people, adults who may have recently left a long terms relationship, Women within childbearing age, however the service is open to anyone sexually active.

Monitoring activity via the contract performance. Provide messaging suitable to the audience to ensure safe sex and contraception is understood. Ensure that access to testing, treatment and partner notification is carried out. Women have a access to a full range of contraception including LARC.

• Men or Women (including impacts due to pregnancy / maternity)
• People of particular sexual orientation
• People in particular age groups

• Sexual health service performance and outcomes data
• Sexual health service equity audit
• Consultation on any impact on the model would be undertaken with the Sexual Health Partnership members

South Tyneside Council currently uses herbicides to control weed growth on highways, council land, parks and open spaces. This allows the Borough to conform to both the Weeds Act (1959) and the Countryside Act (1981).

Herbicides provide the most effective treatment for controlling weeds, which are required to be controlled for a number of reasons, including aesthetic (they detract from the overall appearance of an area and trap litter) and structural (weed growth can destroy paving surfaces, force apart kerbs and crack walls, therefore increasing maintenance costs).

A less effective treatment, or increased time period between treatments would likely lead to higher rates of re-growth. This may cause structural issues such as an increase in cracked pavements, which would potentially have an adverse effect on all pavement users, but particularly those members of the community with mobility issues.

In terms of reduced aesthetics, the proposed reduction in service is likely to affect all residents, businesses, and visitors to the Borough.

No engagement has been completed or considered at this time.

The Council recognise that the Borough’s parks, open spaces, and estates provide significant opportunities for habitat enhancement to help buffer and connect the existing network of natural green spaces already designated and managed for their biodiversity value.

We also recognise that unwanted vegetation growing on hard surfaces associated with the public realm can compromise the structural integrity of these assets and create a public health and safety risk, including slips, trips and falls.

Explore the extended working day for mechanical sweeping brushes. However, this would present additional risks of vehicle breakdown, additional wear and tear, increased mileage and fuel usage which may impact on leasing arrangements. Staff shift patterns may also need to be reviewed to accommodate this.

Additional work with Friends of Groups in the wider community. This engagement may not be sustainable over a longer period of time.

Increased social media to explain the resource changes and frequencies.

It is inevitable that a reduced service is likely to result in increased weeds across the Borough and impact on our communities as outlined above.

The Council will be much less likely to be proactive in weed reduction and will continue to operate a reactive service.

However, it is anticipated that reduced weed spraying could help improve local biodiversity and wildlife.