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9 April 2008: Trustees MinutesMinutes of the meeting of the Trustees of the Independent Living Fund (2006) held on Wednesday, 9 April 2008
The meeting commenced at 10.30 am
In attendance: John Fuller (Strategic Policy Director) The Chairman welcomed everyone to the meeting. 1 Apologies None. 1.1 Conflicts of Interest and or Loyalty on Agenda Trustees were asked if they had identified any area on the agenda where there was an actual or potential perceived conflict of interest or loyalty. All Trustees confirmed that no issues had been identified.
The minutes of the meeting held on 12 March 2008, with minor amendments, were approved by the Trustees and signed by the Chairman at the end of the meeting. 3 Matters Arising 3.1 CRAG Limits The Finance and Corporate Services Director explained that the new limits had been reflected in the COGA. An e-mail had been circulated to Trustees confirming that the letter sent to LAs had not suggested annual uprating of capital limits therefore Trustees can now formally state their decision not to uprate independently of CRAG changes. Outcome: Decision - policy to be signed by Chairman 3.2 Possible Policy Sub Committee It was agreed to follow up the suggestion of a “policy sub-committee” up at a later meeting. Outcome: Decision - add to future meeting agenda 3.3 Trust Deed DWP confirmed that the Trust Deed had been signed by the Minister on 31 March 2008. The Finance and Corporate Services Director said that he had arranged to collect the document from DWP later in the day. Outcome: Information 3.4 Statutory Declaration for the Lease Marie Martin confirmed that this document had been signed and given to the Chief Executive’s Secretary. Outcome: Information
The Chairman said that Trustees’ had received a remuneration payment and thanked all involved in the process. The Finance and Corporate Services Director explained that moving forward Trustees will receive payments monthly and will be processed within the same system as our payroll, he confirmed that Trustees should receive notification for their April payment. Outcome: Information 3.6 Social Care Agenda DWP confirmed that this issue had not moved forward and was still with the Minister for consideration. Outcome: Information 4 Chairman’s Issues The Chairman said that the May meeting would be held in Nottingham and set out proposals for the day. Outcome: Information 5 Outstanding Action Points The Chairman said that action points on the Skills Analysis, Frequency of Papers and Assessment of Board Effectiveness have been moved to May for clearance. The Chairman commented on the outstanding point on wording for indemnity for Trustees in the Trust Deed. Yogi Amin said that he would take this forward with DWP. An update was provided on DWP and joint ILF/DWP cleared and outstanding points. Chris Booth (DWP) said that he understood that NI were taking DEL on board. Chris Booth DWP said he would take forward certain issues and that Norman Cockett would be in touch to offer a date to discuss some long term issues. Outcome: Information 6 Finance 6.1 Grant In Aid and Benefit Forecast April 2008 The Finance and Corporate Services Director presented the paper to Trustees. He explained that expenditure was within budget for 2007-08 the cash carried forward at 31 March was higher than anticipated at £7.97 m, this was sufficient to cover user payments due 7 April 2008 which is in accordance with the normal working cash policy. He explained that current trend assumptions remain close to actual caseload and payment movement up to the end of March 2008 and the load and payment charts show the anticipated slow down as the application management policies begin to affect new and increased awards. He said that applications had averaged around 145 per week in February and that there had been a last minute surge of applications in the last week of March and currently there are 1500 applications in progress compared with 1,192 last month. The Finance and Corporate Services Director said that additions for GB had been adjusted to £6m in line with estimated expenditure arising from the new administration policies from April 2008. He said that now the NI position had been clarified he would write to them asking for confirmation of funding for indicative funding 2008-12. Outcome: Finance and Corporate Services Director to obtain letter from DSD re 2008-09 funding; and to provide analysis of March applications for next meeting.
7.1 Review of the Review Programme The Operations Director presented the paper to Trustees. He explained that currently the review programme is one of the main areas of operational work running at an average cost of £1.2m per annum. The Operations Director said that originally the review programme was to provide assurance that all funds were being spent as planned and customer service, however improvements have been made over past years to improve payment assurance and that the ILF no longer rely on the review programme for this with the new mechanisms in place. He explained that it was recognised that a regular revisit was crucial to maintaining a link with our users and to provide a customer service and asked for a steer from Trustees on the direction of the review programme in the future. He commented on recommendation 38 in the review that stated a ‘light touch approach to auditing ILF customers’ and felt that we should maintain this. Trustees agreed this and to be shown as cleared. Trustees discussed the area of cases that had been suspended and that the majority were due to no reply to correspondence. The Operations Director explained that usually this was due to receiving information from the LA and that this was a ‘last resort’ scenario. Trustees were concerned about suspending clients payments when awaiting information from the LA. The Finance and Corporate Services Director said that analysis could be carried out to aid better understanding for Trustees in this area. The Operations Director gave an overview of the new mechanisms in place to provide assurance that the users money is being spent correctly. Mike Boyall commented that there had been serious issues in the past however processes had been improved and moved forward. Nick Danagher raised a question as to whether the early review visit at six months needed to be compulsory, he said that the early review visit may send out the wrong message to users and that they should be able to opt out if they are confident with their care package without the need for an early review. The Finance and Corporate Services Director said that the feedback from users having an early review was positive and that they found the exercise helpful. Nick Danagher also commented on the ILFA visits along with the LA, and that we needed to be flexible on the visits and proposed that we also look at the ILF trying to be more flexible with LAs. A separate issue was raised regarding the business case for £1.2m expenditure on the review programme when the ‘audit’ focus ends. The Strategic Policy Director gave a brief explanation of hopes from IB sites that ILF reviews could be synchronised. Trustees recognised that outcomes of the IB pilots were not clear and agreed that face to face contact should be maintained. After further discussion Trustees agreed the recommendation to refocus the review programme on a customer service basis and the auditing process would be a subsidiary outcome. However the Chairman said that he would like assurance that there were sufficient systems outside the review programme to ensure users are spending monies correctly and a report to be provided to the Audit Committee. Along with this he requested to look into the issue with regards to ‘opting out’ of review visits. It was agreed to present a progress report to the Audit Committee in June. Trustees requested a further report on a ‘customer care’ focused review and in the meantime it was agreed to continue the programme but with a less regimented approach.
Trustees agreed that review recommendation 38 could be considered cleared and 26 and 27 will continue to be addressed through ongoing work. Outcome: Operations Director to provide risk analysis for Audit Committee on payment assurance; to provide analysis of final outcome of suspended cases; and to develop business case for the “customer focus” of a continuous revisit process 7.2 Consultation The Strategic Policy Director presented the paper to Trustees. He gave a summary of various points and alternatives for the way forward. DWP agreed the general content of the approach and would encourage the engagement with other parties as the right way forward. The Strategic Policy Director gave an overview of Option 1 to have formal consultation and aim to have revised financial arrangements for introduction in April 2009. Trustees discussed this option including timings, they agreed that they do want to initiate discussion and not just respond to wider reviews, however they felt there was insufficient time to carry out this thoroughly within a single year. The Strategic Policy Director gave an overview of Option 2 to have informal dialogue linked with the pilot and formal consultation with possible changes from April 2010. Trustees agreed that this was the preferred option, it gave a timetable to a formal consultation, this was important and could be amended due to subsequent developments, it was accepted that it was better to take more time in developing this rather than push for consultation to inform new decisions for April 09. Yogi Amin commented on legal concerns and that we need to ensure that what is carried out is legal, and importantly that we have backing from the Minister. It was noted that contingency measures would run parallel to the consultation and that the main response would be to review the £500 bar. The Finance and Corporate Services Director said that first indications would be available at the July meeting. Yogi Amin felt that it was necessary that all stakeholders were aware of this so that they can comment. Trustees agreed with this and discussed various options of communication. The Strategic Policy Director gave an overview of Option 3, to have informal dialogue but no advance commitment to formal consultation. Trustees agreed that formal consultation was necessary. Nick Danagher commented on timing of involvement of disabled people and that dialogue should inform equality impact assessment of potential changes. The Strategic Policy Director said that involvement was proposed from the outset and before carrying out impact assessment. The Chairman said that Trustees supported informal dialogue on a broad range of issues to include ILF in the social care agenda and use the information to construct a plan for formal consultation to potentially implement changes in 2010. Trustees agreed in principle with the formation of a scrutiny group to support the process which should include disabled people from various organisations, not exclusively ILF users. It was agreed to work through proposals for Option 2 and to include the TOR for the scrutiny group for the May meeting. It was agreed to liaise with DWP to secure their agreement. Outcome: Decision to develop proposals under option 2 Outcome: Strategic Policy Director to put more detailed proposals to next meeting and clarify DWP position/approval Outcome: Chief Executive to consider any further information to be given to User/LAs on 2008-09 financial management options 8 Governance 8.1 Audit Committee Minutes 27 February 2008
The Chairman of the Audit Committee presented the minutes to the board. He said that the meeting mainly focused on IT Security. The Chairman of the Audit Committee commented on the amount of work carried out by the Chief Executive and her team and commended them for all their hard work. Outcome: Information 8.2 Report on Effectiveness of Audit Committee The Chairman of the Audit Committee presented the paper to the board. He commented on the feedback given which was positive. Management, External and Internal Auditors felt that the Audit Committee performed effectively, however there were areas in which the committee could improve and will be taken on board. He said that the Committee now has four members with a good spread of skills and experience. The main areas focused on had been the accounts qualification (which has been satisfactorily resolved) and ongoing IT security which is likely to become a regular agenda item. The Chairman of the Trustees said that he recognised the amount of work involved in the Audit Committee and on behalf of the board would like to thank them for all the work carried out. Outcome: Information 8.3 HR Committee Minutes 12 March 2008 The Chairman of the HR Committee presented the minutes to the full board. She explained that Sue Winterburn has now joined the Committee and attended the March meeting as an observer to replace Peter Cooke from April 2008. She said that HR policies had been discussed and agreed and that it was a useful meeting. She said the HR Committee had originally been set up to take work pressures off the main board and the Audit Committee and that the time demand for meetings was manageable. Outcome: Information 8.4 Outstanding Trust Deed Changes The Finance and Corporate Services Director explained that the Trust Deed and COGA were effective from April 2008, however it was recognised that some desired changes were still outstanding and that certain issues needed to be rectified as soon as possible. DWP will arrange a meeting with the Chief Executive to review other desirable Deed changes. DWP commented that a joint meeting would be arranged as soon as possible to draw up an action plan to take issues forward. Yogi Amin agreed to liaise with DWP regarding Trustees indemnity it was accepted that this may take some time in view of Cabinet Office and Treasury role changes. It was agreed that the issue regarding parenting needed swift attention, so that the agreed policy can be introduced. With regards to “IS & Similar”, the deed has been amended however Trustees are asked to endorse the way they wish the delegation involving IS similar to operate. Trustees agreed they would set a policy and requests to be considered exceptional would be considered by the SMP with final appeal to UPCC. The Finance and Corporate Services Director explained that the trust funds wording had not fully achieved what was desired due to drafting difficulties. Various points relating to capital assets and trust funds for new applicants and current Users were discussed. Trustees agreed that the intention is to have a single new limit for all capital including money in trust and that this would apply to both new applicants and current users being awarded trust fund monies. Trustees accepted that when the DWP/ILF meeting takes place it will also cover any other items of detail that need consideration. Outcome: DWP to arrange meeting to discuss outstanding points 8.5 TOR for the Senior Management Panel The Finance and Corporate Services Director presented the paper to Trustees. He explained that the TOR were similar to those of the Trustees sub committees’. He brought Trustees attention to an error on the grid which should show the UPCC as decision maker on close relative cases. Trustees agreed that all close relative cases should go to the UPCC. He said that the SMP will look at cases every two weeks and the first meeting has been arranged for 17 April 2008. A quarterly report will be presented to the main board of Trustees. Outcome: Decision - Trustees approved the Terms of reference which were subsequently signed by the Chairman Outcome: Details to be included in Scheme of Delegated authority Outcome: Operations Director to discuss possible delegation of “close relative” cases with UPCC 8.6 ILF Framework The Finance and Corporate Services Director presented the paper to Trustees. He explained that this was in draft form and that final versions will be presented at the May meeting. The Chairman commented that this was a helpful document for all. Trustees approved the document. Outcome: Final document to be provided for next meeting 8.7 Scheme of Delegated Authority The Finance and Corporate Services Director presented the paper to Trustees. He explained that this was an update of the scheme agreed by Trustees in 2004, but is set out in an improved format to show the full extent of delegation from Trustees to ILF staff. He gave an overview of the document and said that appendix 7 will be incorporated into the document as the TOR of the SMP had now been agreed. Trustees agreed the content of the document. The Finance and Corporate Services Director said that the final version would include a cross check against the latest Trust Deed/COGA. Outcome: Final document to be provided for next meeting 8.8 ILF Corporate Plan 2008-11 The Finance and Corporate Services Director presented the paper to Trustees. He explained that amendments had been highlighted in red text. Trustees accepted the amendments and approved the plan. Outcome: Decision - Corporate Plan approved 8.9 Business Plan 2008/09 The Finance and Corporate Services Director presented the paper to Trustees. Trustees agreed the publication of the business plan and asked for it to be circulated quite widely. Outcome: Decision - Business Plan approved
These papers were approved by the Audit Committee and circulated to all Trustees by e-mail in advance of the meeting. No issues had been raised by Trustees and the documents were signed by the Chairman at the end of the meeting. 9 AOB 9.1 Date of Next Meeting The date of next meeting will be Wednesday 14 May 2008 There being no further business the meeting ended at 14:00 hrs. |
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