Common use of Local Background Clause in Contracts

Local Background. Disabled Facilities Grant is used to fund adaptations to property to help disabled people to remain independent in their homes. The requirement for Councils to deliver a Disabled Facilities Grant (DFG) service is a mandatory and statutory function for local housing authorities. The delivery of this function sits within District Council housing services. It is governed by the Housing Grants, Construction and Regeneration ▇▇▇ ▇▇▇▇. Total spend on DFG and HRA adaptations by district councils within the county has been of the order of an average of £6.2m per year in recent years. In addition, HCC funds minor works: £378k was budgeted for these in 2014/15. In the same year, District Council staffing costs totalled an estimated £624k, with HCC’s Housing Occupational Therapy service delivered via Serco costing £804k. A number of national developments created an opportunity to review the delivery of DFG within the county area and consider how to integrate provision of help with home adaptations across housing, health and social care systems: In 2013, the Government announced the creation of the Better Care Fund (BCF), as part of ongoing changes to the delivery of health and social care services across the country. Health and social care services were required to create a single pooled fund to support closer working between organisations in the area. The BCF includes the Government’s capital grant contribution for Disabled Facilities Grants (DFG). This had previously been provided to District Councils directly from Central Government. This funding change for DFG provided an ideal opportunity, especially as the BCF may not have the requirement to passport funds directly through to local authorities in the future. For the first time the contribution of housing to the care and support system has been recognised via the Care Act, defining housing as a ‘health related’ activity The Care ▇▇▇ ▇▇▇▇ also stipulates that Hertfordshire County Council retains social care duties in relation to the delivery of home adaptations. In response, a partnership review between the District and Borough Councils and the County Council was commissioned by the Chief Executive’s Co-Ordination Group (CECG). The governance arrangements for the review include a Steering Group with representatives from each of the Councils and a project group made up of two representatives from the local authorities, HCC project management resource, a professional lead and an external subject matter expert. The partnership has undertaken work to develop a proposal for a Shared HIA Service and brought a paper to the CECG in December 2015 setting out the options for the delivery of the service.