Citizen Participation and Rewards Policy

CITIZEN PARTICIPATION AND REWARDS POLICY

EXECUTIVE MEMBER: BOB KERR DEPUTY MAYOR

DIRECTOR OF HR: LINDA MAUGHAN

14 MARCH 2008

PURPOSE OF THE REPORT

To approve the Citizen Participation and Rewards Policy (Appendix 1).

BACKGROUND AND EXTERNAL CONSULTATION

The policy is intended to provide clear and consistent council-wide guidance covering recognition, incentives, reimbursement of expenses and payments for service users, carers, volunteers and other citizens participating in council consultation exercises or involved in developing or advising on council services.

The Council is committed to effective community engagement in developing and delivering its services. The involvement and participation of citizens in service area activities is valuable and citizens need to be recognised and supported in working with us to improve services and the quality of life in Middlesbrough.

This policy has been developed by a small project team from across the Council to ensure a fair and consistent Council-wide approach to recognition, incentives, reimbursement of expenses and payments that will maximise community participation. The policy also sets out the responsibilities for both participants and the Council and highlights issues such as employment status, taxation and impact on benefits that need to be considered by participants.

The policy draws much of its content from Reward and Recognition, the principles of service user payment and reimbursement in health and social care issued by the Department of Health. Local Authority departments delivering social care services are required to have appropriate guidance in place.

The project team consulted with a wide range of Council and Mouchel officers with an interest in community engagement and service development as well as corporate HR, finance and legal staff in developing the policy.

The Policy was deferred by CMT last year to allow further work, particularly in relation to Social Care, to be undertaken to establish whether the adoption of the policy would result in any financial implications for the Council. On 21 February 2008 CMT agreed to Policy subject to implementation costs being met from within existing service area budgets and to a review of the financial implications of the policy in 12 months time.

OPTION APPRAISAL/RISK ASSESSMENT

Consultation and service development activities are undertaken regularly by Council service departments. Although financial practices are in place and well documented there is no guidance available to staff on how to apply these to citizen participation, what the issues and responsibilities are and what processes to follow.

This guidance will help to ensure that all people (individuals and groups) will be treated fairly and consistently in determining rewards (where applicable) and reimbursement of expenses for participation and that the Council’s financial and HR policies and practices are followed. The guidance makes clear that only certain participation activity should involve a reward. The guidelines will also help to maximise participation from all people in consultation and service development activities by helping people to understand their roles and responsibilities more clearly and what they can expect.

This policy is designed to assist Council officers with responsibility for community engagement and for Members when making decisions about engagement activity. It may also be used by citizens participating in Council service development or consultation activities (although a leaflet summarising the policy will also be produced). The policy is not designed for the payment or reimbursement of expenses to employees of Middlesbrough Council or to professional contractors / consultants engaged by the Council on a contract for service basis under procurement policy.

The financial implications are outlined in the next section. If agreed, the policy will be printed and also published on the Council’s website. An information leaflet will also be produced for members of the public interested in participating in Council consultation or service development activities.

FINANCIAL, LEGAL AND WARD IMPLICATIONS

Following a lengthy consultation process with service areas, additional costs of implementing the policy were identified by the following two services areas:

Social Care £45,379 per annum
Environment £1,650 per annum.

Consultation with Strategic Resources has revealed that due to the tight budgetary position, budget supplementation from central sources is not available to fund any implementation costs.

14. Social Care advise that they have recently been able to access funds for 2008/09 to allow the implementation of the policy. However, funding the policy beyond 2008/09 would need further consideration and review in the light of the actual annual costs of the policy.

15.Environment advise that due to the relatively small amount involved in implementing the policy that they are able to absorb the costs from within their existing budget allocations.

16. It is recommended that the policy be implemented immediately with service areas to monitor and fund the costs of implementation from within existing budget allocations. It is further recommended that a review of the ongoing costs of the policy and funding options be undertaken in 12 months time.

17.There are no ward issues. The policy will help to ensure that legal risks associated with engaging the public for rewards are minimised, both for the Council and for the individuals involved.

RECOMMENDATIONS

18.It is recommended that the Citizen Participation and Rewards Policy (Appendix 1) be approved with implementation costs to be met from within existing service area budgets subject to a review of the financial implications of the policy in 12 months time.

REASONS

19.The recommendation is supported by the need for clear and consistent guidelines on the application of rewards for people involved in consultation or service development activities.

BACKGROUND PAPERS

20. The following background papers were used in the preparation of this report:

Citizen Participation and Rewards Policy CMT Report 15 March 2007
Reward and Recognition, the principles of service user payment and reimbursement in health and social care Department of Health January 2006

AUTHOR: Scott Postlethwaite, Corporate Policy Manager

TEL NO: 01642 729208

Address: PO Box 99a, Town Hall, Middlesbrough, TS1 2QQ

Website: http://www.middlesbrough.gov.uk