Purpose

Cabinet is recommended to approve the proposed
phased reduction to the Minimum Income Guarantee uplift.
 

Decision

Cabinet:
 
(1)           
considered the responses to the public consultation
and alternative proposals put forward by residents, as outlined in
Appendix 1 and Section 4.1 & 6 of the report;

 
(2)           
noted mitigating measures to support residents through any
transition set out in Section 3.5 of the report;
 
(3)           
noted the recommendation from Health and Adult Social Care Scrutiny
Committee set out in paragraph 6.10 of the report;
 
(4)           
agreed to proceed with the proposed phased reduction and removal of
the discretionary uplift applied to the Minimum Income Guarantee as
follows:
 
·      
2025/26: An initial reduction from 25% to 10%, in November
2025
·      
2026/27: A further reduction from 10% to 0% in November
2026
 
(5)           
delegated authority to the Strategic Director Adult Services to
make the necessary changes to the Fairer Contributions policy
reflecting these changes.
 

Options & Alternatives Considered

Of the 2574 individuals invited to participate in
the consultation, we received 109 responses representing a response
rate of 4%. Of those, 78 respondents were receiving non-residential
community care and support arranged by Waltham Forest and 45
respondents were carers for someone who received care and support.
Some individuals fell into both categories. 45 respondents were
contributing towards the cost of their care.
To
encourage greater participation significant efforts were made
through multiple engagement methods, including direct outreach,
targeted communications, and accessible formats. Further detail on
the engagement approach is provided in Appendix 1.

As part of the consultation residents were asked to
consider a range of alternative options to the proposed reduction
and removal of the MIG uplift (Reduced from 25% to 10% and the 0%
the following year) The response to these are summarised in Table
3.