Portsmouth residents could pay more for daycare services as the city council looks at removing spending cap
Portsmouth residents could pay more for adult daycare services as the city council looks at removing a cap which limits the cost people need to pay.
The council’s cabinet member for community wellbeing, health and care, Councillor Matthew Winnington, will decide whether to remove the current £250 a week cap at a special meeting next week (September 23).
The council previously had a cap of £60 per week on daycare, community support, and health and independence services, meaning no one would pay more than this amount. In 2018, the cap was removed for these services, bringing them in line with other adult social care provisions.
However, in January 2020, full council adopted a motion criticising the removal, saying that some clients were shouldering a “significant” financial burden. In July 2020, Cllr Winnington reinstated a £250 spending cap on a temporary basis in anticipation of adult social care funding reform, which has now been delayed until October 2025.
Cllr Winnington said that his decision in 2020 was made “with the express understanding that we would be getting funding reform for social care nationally”.
“We run a deficit in adult social care, costs are rising across all our services, and on top of that, we have more people needing social care support.”
It is expected that the removal of the cap would affect three residents. However, they have been financially assessed and “have the resources available to pay the full cost of their day services”.
The council has suggested a tapered approach, increasing the cap by £100 per month for the first three months of 2025 to lessen the financial impact of the change. It is estimated that removing the cap would generate £92,414 per year.
Cllr Winnington added: “Parties across local government have been calling for social care reform for a very long time, and we’ve been promised it.
“You don’t know when it will happen at this point. Do we continue with a situation that is costing the council tens of thousands of pounds a year, or do we bite the bullet and make it the same as for everyone else?
“If their financial assets depreciate to the point where they fall under the threshold, that’s when part-funding kicks in, and if it’s below the lowest threshold, the council covers all the costs.”