Purpose

A call-in was received for this decision,
which was rejected by the Monitoring Officer as invalid.

Content

The Cabinet received a post-consultation report on the
future Adult Social Care service model for day opportunities and
overnight respite for adults with care and support
needs.
 
The Council was grateful to everyone
who had participated in the 15-week public consultation. The
Council had listened to views, and the recommended approach had
changed in consideration of this feedback, alongside further
analysis on alternative options.
 
Day opportunities and overnight
respite services were offered to support adults to
live their best lives.
The Council wanted personalised and inclusive
support to be offered to everyone in need so that people were
empowered. This might be through support to access community
facilities, supported employment, volunteering or other practical
support. A smaller cohort of adults with more complex needs would
always need access to high quality building-based care and support
at centres across the county. 
 
Most day opportunities and
overnight respite care and support was delivered successfully by
delivery partners across the county, alongside a Council-run
service, called the short breaks service, that provided
building-based day opportunities (day centres) and overnight
respite (Seeleys House).
 
The current service model was
unsustainable and outdated, with an overreliance on
building-based provision to meet needs. The
Council-run services focused on the traditional building-based day
centre services alone and were underutilised.  There was a need to change to ensure that there was the right
community-focused provision to meet needs now and for the future;
the right high-quality facilities in the right places for the
smaller cohort of adults with complex needs who require building
based day opportunities; and ensure cost-effective service
delivery.
 
It was known that adults that
the Council supports, and families/carers were choosing to access
more community-based provision and activities outside of attending
a day centre.  Over the last few years,
this need and demand had translated to a wider range of provision
being available, such as supported employment and access to
community facilities, with greater choice for carers/families also
with personal budgets being available.
 
While the overall number of all
age adults supported by the Council to access day opportunities and
overnight respite had increased, there had been a marked decline in
the use of the Council-run centres. In 2020, 330 adults accessed
the Council-run day opportunities and overnight respite services
but now there were only 119 adults as of 1 July 2025. This
represented a 64% decline in the number of adults supported by the
Council-run service.
 
Several factors had influenced
this trend. Firstly, there had been an increase in the range of
alternative day opportunities provided by delivery partners,
offering a more diverse range of opportunities and
activities.  Secondly, there was now a
stronger focus in social care practice on supporting independence
of adults in communities and working to maximise opportunities such
as supported employment, volunteering or other community support
over traditional building-based day centres alone.  Thirdly, providers of residential and supported
living had also improved their day activities offer so that there
was no longer a need for adults to have to travel to separate day
centres to access activities.
 
The new service model would
enable the Council to deliver cost-effective services which was
vital in the increasingly challenging financial climate that the
Council faced.  It would deliver an
estimated full year annual adult social care saving of
£1.081m by 2028/2029, which was higher than the existing MTFP
revenue saving of £0.740m. This would support the Council to
continue to deliver vital services at a time of increasing
financial pressures.
 
The new recommended service
model included the following key changes:?

·      
Supporting adults with multiple and complex needs to access support at the
retained Council-owned centres;?

·      
Setting up a dedicated learning disabilities
team in adult social care to enhance specialist
support;

·      
Opening a new additional specialist
overnight respite centre for adults under 65? in
Aylesbury to provide better geographical coverage across the
county, alongside the retained facility in Beaconsfield
(Seeleys House);

·      
Upgrading facilities at all retained Council-owned and retained centres?;
and

·      
Opening new additional provision for up to
30 young people with special educational needs and disabilities
to access a local college from repurposing Buckingham
Day Centre?.
 
The Council recognised that for
those adults who attended centres proposed for closure, this would
have a significant impact in transition.  The Council was committed to working with adults
and carers to minimise disruption and individualised plans would be
put in place for all adults where moves were required. The Council
would continue to provide care and support for all adults at the
centres proposed for closure. All adults affected could be
supported at a retained council run centre.
 
During discussion, the Cabinet
agreed that recommendation 7 in the Cabinet report should be
amended to also include the deferral of the open marketing of the
Burnham Day Centre building for two months to allow community
groups an opportunity to prepare a bid.
 
RESOLVED that it be agreed

to
operate a specialist support service for adults aged 18-64 with
care and support needs from four sites: Aylesbury Opportunities
Centre, Chesham Day Centre, Spring Valley Day Centre and
Seeleys House – alongside
continuing to commission specialist care and support to meet
need.
to
discontinue providing adult social care day services at three
sites: Buckingham Day Centre, Hillcrest Day Centre, Burnham Day
Centre, noting that all adults supported from those sites will
continue to receive suitable alternative care and
support.
to set
up a new additional overnight respite facility at Aylesbury
Opportunities Centre.
for £0.942m capital contingency to be used to
provide the additional capital investment required to fund the
recommended new service model for day opportunities and overnight
respite services.
to note that the overall new service model proposed
should achieve capital receipts in the region of £1.7m. Any
capital receipts received will be used to top up the capital
contingency fund. 
to
repurpose the Buckingham Day Centre for use for young adults with
special educational needs and disabilities for college
provision.
to seek
a sale for the Burnham and Hillcrest Day Centre buildings through
the council’s disposal process, including inviting community
groups to purchase Burnham Day Centre, but defer open marketing of
the Burnham Day Centre building for two months to allow community
groups an opportunity to prepare a bid.