The Cabinet Member for Health and Social Services of Carmarthenshire Council met on Monday, 24 June 2024, to discuss the increase in Non-Residential charges for 2024/25. The decision was made to raise hourly and sessional charges by 10% to align with inflation and regional rates, despite the Welsh Government's financial cap limiting the potential revenue increase.

Non-Residential Charging 2024-25

The primary focus of the meeting was on the Non-Residential Charging 2024-25 report. The Cabinet Member, Councillor J. Tremlett, considered proposals to increase the Council’s Non-Residential charges in line with rising costs and inflation.

It was noted that the Welsh Government had set a financial cap of £100 for non-residential care charges. This cap limits the benefit of increasing charges beyond inflation. However, it was deemed essential to adjust charges to reflect inflationary costs, even if the resulting income increase for the authority would be minimal. The additional income would depend on the individuals' ability to pay and future decisions by the Welsh Government regarding the financial cap.

The decision was made to increase Carmarthenshire's Non-Residential charges for hourly charged services from £20 to £22 (a 10% increase) and sessional charges from £19.55 to £21.60 (also a 10% increase). This adjustment aims to recover as much revenue as possible within the constraints set by the Welsh Government and to align Carmarthenshire's rates with those of other local authorities in Wales.

Councillor J. Tremlett emphasised the importance of these adjustments, stating, Although inflation will only return a minimal increase in income for the authority, it is essential that charges are increased to reflect inflationary costs.

For further details, you can refer to the Public reports pack and the Agenda frontsheet for the meeting.