Letter requesting enquiry and reasoning for PB holders staff not getting uplift of pay from recent funding.

It's come  to our attention that the Goverenment gave extra funding to Authorites at the end of 2021 to help with the care staff crises for retention and pay rise. 

Some authorities distributed this money to CQC registered care agencies but not to Personal budget holders.

We've drafted a letter that you can send out to your authorites requesting an explanation of this using Freedom of Information to get an answer, whilst also suggesting that the treatment  may be discriminatory on the grounds of less favourably treatment and ensuring PB staff don't get treated differently.

 

Dear Director of Social Care

 

Last December, the Government announced a £462.5m workforce retention and recruitment fund​ in response to the staffing crisis facing the sector. The cash  which was for bonuses, overtime and bringing forward planned pay rises for care staff was available to local ​authorities until the end of this March.

 

Some Authorities we believe have given some of this money to CQC registered companies as a one-off payment of £600 to their staff.

 

I would like to request that the County Council, under a Freedom of Information Request, please advise how much the Authority received in this funding and how it was spent. Specifically advising if CQC registered companies did in fact receive money to distribute and retain staff.

In the event that this is the case, can you please explain how this is not discrimination against those disabled people who run their own social care budgets via personal budgets under Equality Act 2010. My claim for discrimination is based on the Norfolk Judicial Review case, where the judge stated that blanket rules for people are considered discriminatory, and individual circumstances should be taken into account. In this case, the individual circumstances of those who choose to run their own personal budgets.

 

I look forward to receiving a response within the allocated time limit of 20 days under the Freedom of  Information Act.