Adult Services pOLICY AND PROCEDURE / Number: 15/14
Version:1
Co-Production Allowances : Fees and Expenses
EFFECTIVE DATE: / January 2015
CATEGORY: / Adult Services
SUMMARY: / This document provides guidance on the setting of rates, and mechanisms for payment,for co-production activity.
KEYWORDS: / Policies, Procedures, Protocols, Guidance, Practice Manuals
APPROVED BY:
DATE APPROVED:
PROCEDURES CANCELLED OR AMENDED: / 27/10 Fees and expenses for Service Users and Carers
AUTHOR: / Ed Walton, Senior Community Development Officer – Service User Involvement
SPONSOR: / Behrooz Vaezi
CONTACT: / 01962 845880
SIGNED:
DESIGNATION:
DATE:
YOU SHOULD ENSURE THAT:-
  • You read, understand and, where appropriate, act on this information
  • All people in your workplace who need to know see this procedure
  • This document is available in a place to which all staff members in your workplace have access

Purpose

The purpose of this document is to clarify the circumstances under which it is appropriate to offer payment to people who use services, including carers, in return for their involvement in the work of the department.

This document also outlines that any expenses incurred during involvement activity will be adequately reimbursed.

This document also provides details as to how such payments can be made through the Integrated Business Centre

Scope

This procedure covers all involvement activity where people who use services, including carers, are invited to work alongside staff in reviewing, designing, implementing and monitoring services commissioned or provided by Adult Services Department, Hampshire County Council.

References

Involve: 2013 –

SCIE: 2011 –

DoH: 2006 –

Authority to Vary

Departmental Management Team

Contents

Section / Page
Introduction / 4
Duties, Responsibilities, Roles / 4
Definitions / 5
Expectations / 6
Setting Allowances and Offering Expenses / 7
Mechanisms for Payment / 10
Implementation Considerations / 11
Monitoring Compliance / 11
Document Review / 11
References / 12
Impact Assessment / 12
Appendices – Payment Forms / 13

1)Introduction

Adult Services Department will offer payment to people who use services, including carers, in return for their expertise and experience when assisting the department in reviewing, designing, implementing, and monitoring services commissioned or provided by Adult Services, Hampshire County Council.

The initial offer of an allowance should not amount to lower than the minimum wage.

Adult Services Department will also offer to cover all legitimate expenses incurred as a result of participating in involvement activity.

2)Duties, Responsibilities, Roles

Officers - responsible for ensuring allowances are offered for all involvement activity covered by this policy.

Managers – responsible for ensuring staff are aware of the policy and how this relates to their teams’ practice. Responsible for ensuring appropriate resource is allocated with which to conduct involvement activity.

Operational Finance – responsible for providing information on which vendor accounts are used to pay Direct Payments

Senior Community Development Officer – Service User Involvement – responsible for monitoring the implementation of the policy. Responsible for providing advice and guidance as to the practical application of the policy.

3)Definitions:

3a) People who use services:

Any adults aged 18 or over with support or care needs. This includes people who have experience of accessing services to meet critical or substantial needs, along with people who have experience of accessing services that meet low or moderate needs. This reflects the need to involve people who may have substantial or critical needs in future, and the need to involve people with low or moderate needs in the development of prevention and early intervention services.

3b) Carer:

Any adult aged 18 or over who provides unpaid or informal care to any person with care or support needs.

3c) Expense:

Costs incurred by individuals as a result of participating in involvement activity.

3d) Allowance:

The maximum financial contribution that the department offers for a specific piece of work. This can be negotiated down at the request of the service user or carer in order to remain within “permitted work” or “earnings disregard” regulations stipulated by benefits agencies.

The person to whom the allowance is offered is responsible for deciding to accept the allowance, negotiate a lower amount, or decline the allowance altogether.

4)Expectations:

There are specific responsibilities relating to the offer of an allowance in return for participation in involvement activity. It is important to ensure that these are understood before any allowance payments are made. Details of these expectations can be found below, and on the payment forms attached as appendices to this document which should be signed by all parties.

  • That the offer of an allowance is made in return for that person’s specific and unique experience of care or support needs, or providing unpaid or informal care.
  • That the person receiving an allowance is expected to actively contribute
  • That allowances will not be offered if, for any reason, the person is no longer able to participate in the activity
  • That the offer of an allowance is made on a one-off or time limited basis dependent on the nature of the activity – for example: attending an interview panel; attending 3 meetings lasting 2 hours each over a 6 month period; representing service users at quarterly meetings for a 2 year period.
  • That there is no guarantee of further allowances being offered for other activity
  • That the person accepting an allowance accepts the responsibility to inform any relevant tax or benefit agency as to the amount earned. In some cases where service users do not have capacity to manage financial affairs but do have the capacity to participate, it may be necessary to involve additional parties, such as advocacy or someone with power of attorney, to ensure this expectation can be met.
  • That the department is legally obliged to retain records of who has received an allowance, for how much, and how frequently and that the department must share these details with HMRC or the DWP if requested to do so.

5)Setting Allowances and Offering expenses

This policy recommends that the offer of an allowance should be set to equate to between £7 and £10 per hour. Fees toward the upper end of this scale should be offered for more complex tasks that go beyond providing individual perspectives, require additional skills, or involve particularly complex tasks.

For examples of how this scale can be applied please see section 5g.

5a) Minimum Wage

From October 1st 2014 national minimum wage level will be set at £6.50 per hour. Any offer of an allowance should not equate to below minimum wage, however a lower fee may be agreed to suit the service user or carer’s requirements.

5b) Benefit Entitlement

For many people who use services and carers, receiving an allowance in return for their participation may impact on benefit entitlements. Each individual’s circumstances will differ so it is important that anyone receiving an allowance seeks advice from the relevant agency prior to accepting an allowance. This policy recommends that the allowance should be set at the maximum level the individual can receive without impacting on their benefits.

It remains the responsibility of the individual receiving an allowance to declare this to the relevant agency and the responsibility of the department to keep a record of payments made.

The department should signpost the person receiving an allowance to the relevant agency for advice on their specific circumstances.

For benefits such as Job Seekers Allowance (JSA), Income Support, and Employment and Support Allowance (ESA) there are specific amounts that are permitted as earnings. These are either known as “earnings disregard” or “permitted work” and range from a minimum of £5 per week to over £100 per week in some cases. In most cases, including JSA, it is possible to average the income from allowances over a period of weeks.

For example, a person with an earnings disregard of £5 per week would be able to attend a regular 6 weekly meeting and receive an allowance of £20 without impacting on benefits.

5c) Tax

For tax purposes, reimbursement of expenses is not considered as earned income. Any payment of an allowance would be considered as earned income.

Although in most cases, the total earned annually is unlikely to exceed to personal tax allowance, any person receiving an allowance should seek advice from HMRC in order to address any concerns relating to tax.

5d) Activity for which an allowance can be offered

An allowance should be offered for the following activities:

  • Developing specifications for services
  • Developing evaluation criteria for the selection of providers
  • Evaluating the effectiveness of services
  • Monitoring the quality of services
  • Developing policies and strategies
  • Participating in research
  • Staff recruitment
  • Co-facilitating or facilitating training
  • Providing user perspective at meetings, conferences and other events

5e) Costs that can be covered by expenses

The following expenses can be reimbursed or arranged in advance by the department:

  • Mileage rates at 45p per mile
  • Public transport
  • Reasonable cost of taxis where necessary
  • Provision of alternate care, including child care
  • Contribution toward meeting costs if meetings are to be held away from HCC venues - eg room hire and refreshments
  • Translation of documents into alternate formats
  • Provision of interpreters and translators
  • Provision of advocacy support

5f) Exceptions

An allowance should not be offered under the following circumstances:

  • The purpose of the involvement is primarily therapeutic – eg counselling, assessment of needs, peer support activity, safeguarding investigation, follow up to a complaint
  • The person claiming an allowance is already attending in a paid capacity on behalf of an external organisation

Certain expenses will not be reimbursed, for example:

  • Transport costs if the person would usually be expected to be in attendance on that date and at that time – eg at the Hexagon centre, or, attending a community group that the person usually attends
  • Parking fines

5g) Examples of activities and allowances

a)A working group of carers is set up to review the assessment process for carers. Individuals are invited to comment on the assessment template and whether it covers all the relevant needs. The carers are invited to contribute their own personal views on the assessment template and whether it captures their own personal needs. The meetings last two hours. It is agreed that an offer of £15 per meeting is appropriate.

b)A group of service users and carers is set up to serve as a reference group to guide the implementation of the Care Act. Participants are invited to contribute their views as to how policy changes would impact on the wider support and care system. The meetings last two hours. Given the scope of the work a fee of £20 per meeting is appropriate.

c)In order to set the evaluation criteria for a tender exercise, the procurement team works with the commissioner to hold a meeting with a group of service users. Each service user is invited to rank a list of criteria in order of importance. The meeting takes an hour. Participants are offered £8 each.

d)A half day training session for newly qualified social workers is taking place. A service user is invited to co-facilitate the session, lead a workshop discussion and feedback to the learning and development team. The session lasts 4 hours, but requires some time before and after the session to prepare and consolidate. An offer of £60 is agreed as appropriate

e)A “mystery shopper” scheme is set up where service users and carers spend two hours per month to contact services via telephone and monitor the quality of the interactions. This is fed back at a one hour meeting every two months. At each meeting a payment of £40 is offered.

f)A service user conducts 5 interviews with residents in an extra-care setting. Each session lasts an hour. The service user then requests to be paid £50 by Adult Services. No fee is offered as the activity was not undertaken at the request of the department.

6)Mechanisms for Payment

6a) Non-Purchase Order Upload

Payments of allowances and expenses can be made via the Non-Purchase Order method. For one-off payments it is not necessary to set up the payee as a vendor, however for more frequent payments it is recommended that a vendor number be established in order to track and monitor payments. For either method, certain details are required in order to make payments; more details are on the links below in section 6c.

For practical purposes, please use the payment forms attached as appendices to this document to serve as a record of the agreement. Details from these forms will then need to be manually inputted into the non-PO upload spreadsheet and sent to for payment to be made.

6b) Vendor Numbers

Vendor numbers may already be in place in order to make Direct Payments into specific bank accounts. These vendor numbers must not be used to pay Co-Production allowances.

It is possible to search for vendor numbers via the E-store tab in the IBC, there are a number of possible options as outlined below:

  • If there is no vendor number established, one will need to be set up
  • If there is a vendor number established, check with Operational Finance if this is used for Direct Payments. If it is, a further vendor number will need to be set up.
  • If there are two vendor numbers already established, it is most likely that one of these is a Direct Payments account. Check with Operational Finance as to which vendor number can be used.

The Senior Community Development Officer for Service User Involvement will maintain a list of vendors for service user involvement.

6c) Guidance

Guidance on making non-Purchase Order payments for Co-Production Allowances is below:

2014-2015 - Fin Man - HLTHNOPS - AS Service User Engagement - draft guidance for coproduction payments form

Guidance on setting up a vendor number is below:

7)Implementation Considerations

This policy and procedure document should form part of the social care practice manual, finance manual, and any guidance for project managers.

This policy will be further communicated through hantsnet and will feature on the service user involvement webpages on hantsweb to be accessed internally or externally.

There are no suggested training requirements necessary to support implementation of this policy.

8)Monitoring Compliance

Budget holders are required to keep an up to date record of payments of allowances and expenses. This is in order to comply with the requirement from HMRC and DWP to provide this information in the event a request is made to investigate payments to individuals.

Departmental spend will be monitored periodically via use of the SIO codes, and cross referencing with budget holders’ records.

9)Document Review

There is a review scheduled for September 2015 to determine the degree to which the policy has been implemented.

Further review of the policy and procedure should take place 18 months after initial implementation – June 2016.

10)References

Involve: 2013 –

SCIE: 2011 –

DoH: 2006 –

11)Equality Impact Assessment

Screening for equality impacts shows no adverse impact on the specific groups covered by law. However, owing to regulations around some specific benefits, individuals in particular circumstances may be unable to choose to accept a paid allowance, the opportunity to participate will still be made possible via provision of expenses.

Co-Production Allowances – Payment Form

Name of Payee: ……………………………………………………......

First line of address: ……………………………………………………

Summary of payment details / Cost
Mileage @ 45p per mile
Public Transport
Privately Hired Transport
Additional Support costs
Expenses sub total
Agreed allowance
Total

Payment options:

Bank Transfer / Cheque Process for Immediate Payment

Service User Declaration:

I confirm that the above information for this expense claim is correct.

I understand Hampshire County Council Adult Services will keep a record of this payment and may be required to share this with Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs.

Signed …………………………………………………………

Date ……………………………………………………………

In accordance with departmental procedure I can confirm the above named service user or carer is eligible to receive the total amount detailed above.

Approving Officer: ………………Print:………………………………...

Co-Production Allowances: “Vendor” Details Form

Personal Details:

Name …………………………………………………………...

Address ………………………………………………………...

……………………………………………………………......

Post Code …………………………………………………......

Bank details:

Bank name ……………………………………………………..

Sort Code …………………………………………………...….

Account Number ………………………………………………

For Sole traders only:

HMRC number ………………………………………………….

(if you are not a sole trader please leave this blank)

Service User Declaration:

I understand my responsibilities when receiving fees for involvement activity and agree to notify any relevant agencies if necessary.

I understand Hampshire County Council Adult Services will keep a record of this payment and may be required to share this with Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs.

Signed …………………………………………………………

Date ……………………………………………………………

Agreement for Service User Engagement

This agreement is not a contract for employment, but sets out the expectations of parties involved with Service User Engagement.

Definitions

In this agreement:

  • “Us” and “we” refers to Hampshire County Council.
  • “You” and “your” refers to an individual with care or support needs, or providing unpaid or informal care, who we wish to engage with.
  • “Engagement” means an activity or activities determined by us, for example undertaking of research, reviewing services, monitoring the quality of services, identifying gaps in service, specifying the outcomes services should achieve, developing criteria with which to evaluate potential providers of services, contributing to the delivery of training, attendance at an interview panel or meeting(s).
  • “Allowance” means an amount determined by us that we offer you, in return for your participation in the engagement activity. The allowance will not be offered if, for any reason, you cease to participate in the engagement activity.

What we expect from you:

  • To contribute to the engagement activity from your specific and unique experience of support and care services in Hampshire. You may not substitute anyone else to participate in the engagement activity on your behalf although you may bring someone with you to help you express your views, such as a family member or advocate, if required.
  • To focus on the task at hand and the core purpose of the engagement activity.
  • To respect the views of others participating in the engagement activity.
  • To determine whether you are required to make any declarations of payments that we make to you. Organisations that you may be required to make declarations to include, but may not be limited to HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) and the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP).

What you can expect from us: