Purpose

Proposed Decision:
to implement a revised operating model for the
Community Warden service.
 
 

Reason for the decision
On 9 February 2023, KCC Members
approved the Council’s budget for 2023/24 and up to 2026, and
this included some difficult decisions to address the challenging
financial circumstances it was facing. 
As a result, the Kent Community Warden
Service (KCWS) was required  to reduce its base budget by £1m over
the next two years and by 2024/25. This is
almost half the service budget (primarily staffing costs) with
staffing having to be reduced by almost half. A new service model is required, which has been informed by
a public consultation, held 12 July to 3
October 2023. 
 

Background
The KCWS
is currently structured with 70 uniformed posts
(including six Team Leaders), two Area Managers, one Volunteer and
Apprenticeship Manager and one Business Coordinator.  The six teams cover two districts each and most
wardens are based within a particular community. The wardens
proactively identify needs as well as taking referrals from other
agencies including Adult Social Care and Health (ASCH). They
provide 1:1 support to residents as well as working with partner
organisations to address community safety concerns (eg doorstep scammers,
rogue traders and anti-social behaviour), reduce isolation and
loneliness and create opportunities for residents to participate in
groups or activities that improves health and wellbeing and builds
community cohesion.
 
 

Options (other options considered but
discarded)

 

i.       
Do nothing – there was strong objection to any
reduction to the service in the public consultation
responses.  However, this would not
achieve the required savings and does not support Securing
Kent’s Future’s priority for balancing the budget and
reviewing all discretionary services and minimum statutory
requirements.

ii.       
Non-staffing related savings (majority of budget
is staffing costs).

iii.       
Securing external funding, in part or full (ongoing
work, to date nothing
viable has been identified).

iv.       
Narrowing the service’s remit (not supported
by public consultation).

v.       
Becoming a reactive service (not supported by public
consultation).

vi.       
Reducing the size of the service and then having the
same number of wardens in each district (does not recognise
differing levels of need – public consultation responses
confirmed different levels of community need should be
considered).

vii.       
Reducing the size of the service and then allocating
wardens based on need only, with no minimum commitment to each
district. (public
consultation responses showed low agreement from all 12 districts
to service reductions, i.e. all districts value and wish to retain
the service.).

viii.       
Cessation of the service – Although not
considered as part of the consultation, the subsequent publication
and adoption by the County Council of Securing Kent’s Future
requires cessation of the service to be considered as an option of
the Review. Work building on Universities of Essex and Kent's
impact analysis is to continue, supporting understanding and
evidence of KCWS's contribution to SKF's New Models of Care. A
further public consultation would also be required which would
result in not meeting the savings target in 24/25 due to the
timescales involved.
 

How the proposed decision supports ‘Securing Kent’s Future’
the new Strategic Plan:
 
The
prioritisation of New Models of Care and Support is also aligned to
as Community Wardens will continue to take referrals from ASCH in
the designated wards and where capacity and time allow, beyond
those areas.  The GAP also aligns with
the new prioritisations as it utilises indicators of relevance to
the significant budget pressure in ASCH care and support spend for
older persons, learning disability, mental health and physical disability.  Objective 2 of the Securing Kent’s Future
strategy includes opportunity areas to reduce future costs which
are relevant to KCWS work; ASCH social
care prevention and hospital discharge pathway.  Due to the preventative
nature of the service, attaching a monetary value of KCWS for
various partners including ASCH is not a simple task but has been
rigorously explored over recent years. 
The Social Care Institute for Excellence (SCIE) discuss prevention
in social care, recognising the challenges in providing
evidence[1]. 
With the Securing Kent’s Future focus on adult social care
prevention cost savings, strengthening the understanding of the
link between KCWS prevention work and savings in care costs will be
a priority. 
 
 

Financial Implications

 

-      
The KCWS budget is currently a total of £2.08m
(2023/24). The £1m saving was originally agreed as part of
the 2023-24 budget in February 2023 and saw the base budget reduced
by £500k in 2023/24 and with a further £500k required
in 2024-25. The reduced and updated base budget for 2024-25 has
been calculated to be £1.58m.  The
decision being implemented now will result in a service redesign
with reduced staffing capacity, within this budget. Given the
Council’s financial position, the priority in Securing
Kent’s Future is to ensure the Council’s budget is
sustainable going forward.

-      
There will be £1.06m gross saving from 24/25
which will be offset, in the short term, by both redundancy costs
and pension obligations. These are not known at this current time
as the staff consultation process, has not yet been
undertaken.  Due to the age/length of
service profile of this staffing cohort, these costs could result
in a shortfall of the savings target for 24/25.  Such a shortfall would be managed within the
division.

 

Legal Implications  

-      
A decision is required on the recommended option
which enables KCC to fulfil its responsibilities in achieving a
balanced budget.  The development of the
recommended option was informed by external legal
advice.

-      
The service contributes to KCC’s duties under
the Crime and Disorder Act 1998 (to tackle local crime and
disorder) and the Care Act 2014.  The
service undertakes referrals from Adults Social Care Services, self
identifies needs in the community and works with Trading Standards
in relation to potential or actual scam victims supporting
KCC’s duties under
Section 42 - Enquiry by local authority (inc. financial
abuse),   KCWS’s broader
role in communities also contributes to delivering KCC’s
duties under
Section 1 Promoting individual well-being
(which places the general duty on a local authority
to promote individual well-being), and
Section 2 Preventing needs for care and
support.  External legal
advice was for the reduced KCWS to achieve all that can be
reasonably expected in relation to these duties.  The impact of this decision upon
these duties will be outlined in more detail in the
decision paper.            
 

Equalities implications

 

-      
A full Equality Impact Assessment (EqIA) has been carried out to assess the impacts of
the proposals put forward.

-      
Four groups: the elderly; females; people with a
disability or long-term impairment; and those with carer’s
responsibilities were identified as being more significantly
impacted by these changes as they represent the
majority of the wardens’ current service users*
(confirmed by the results of the public consultation).

-      
Mitigations: 
The recommended service model aims to target
resources in areas of highest need, and where a
warden can no longer continue supporting an existing community
/existing service user, procedures will be developed with
relevant KCC commissioned services and other local
partners (such as parish and district
councils, police, community, voluntary
and health services) to ensure
a handover is provided with contact details of remaining local
services given to residents.   Full
details of mitigation actions can be found in the EqIA.  Whilst the
service will seek to minimise the adverse impacts of the changes,
they cannot be eliminated.
 

Data Protection implications

-      
Due to staffing reductions, where a warden can no
longer provide support, handover procedures will
take data protection into account, with the service seeking
resident’s approval for sharing personal data with other
agencies to allow engagement with alternative
sources of support (as per current practice).
 

 

Decision

As Cabinet Member
for Community and Regulatory Services, I
agree to:
 

(i)           
AGREE a new Geographical Allocation Policy for the Community
Warden’s service;
 

(ii)         
AGREE to implement a new model of operation for the Community
Warden’s service; and
 

(iii)        
DELEGATE authority to the Director Growth and Communities to take
any necessary actions including but not limited to entering into
contracts or legal agreement as required to implement the
decision.