Purpose

Approval sought to consolidate North Yorkshire Council’s in-house Lifeline service provision and charging arrangements across the county, replacing legacy area based models with a single, consistent and sustainable countywide service.

Decision

The Corporate Director of Community Development, in consultation with the Executive Member for Culture, Arts and Housing approves the proposed future operating model for the Council’s Lifeline service, including the revised charging arrangements and implementation plan.

Reasons for the decision

The decision was taken as the current Lifeline arrangements are inconsistent across legacy areas and do not provide a resilient or financially sustainable countywide service. The review also identified operational and health and safety risks within the responder model and the need to complete the transition to digital ahead of the national analogue switch off. The approved model provides a clearer, more consistent and sustainable preventative offer, with resilient call handling, defined service boundaries and charges that better reflect the cost of provision.

Alternative options considered

Alternative options considered included retaining the current legacy arrangements, continuing or extending the responder model, and delaying implementation until later service reviews. These options were rejected because they would not address the current inconsistency in provision, would retain operational and health and safety risks and would not be financially sustainable on a cost recovery basis.