The Cabinet considered a report of the Executive Director (Adults and Communities) presenting the proposal to end the Dementia Community Support Service (DCSS) by the end of March 2024.

The Cabinet also received a supplementary paper setting out the feedback from the People Scrutiny Committee on 27^th February 2024, together with a revised recommendation.

Resolved:

1. That the closure of the DCSS in its current format and the restructure of adult social care services, to include a prevention and enablement service to ensure that continuous appropriate and accessible information and advice is available, be approved.

2. That in response to the public consultation and views expressed,  four new full-time equivalent posts (dementia community navigators) and one part-time community builder be developed as part of the new prevention and enablement service in Adult Social Care.

3. That the development of 4 locality-based support groups for people with dementia and their informal carers, be approved. This would make accessing a club local to them easier for residents across the city.

4. That additional investment to enable relevant carer organisations to be able to attend the proposed locality groups more regularly to support carers, be approved.

5. That the new community navigator roles, locality groups and additional support for carers be funded via the investment of £100,000 from the additional social care grant recently announced by Government.

Reasons for decision:

Continuing to provide the service in its current format is not financially sustainable because of the financial pressure experienced by Southend City Council and removal of funding from partners.

Other options:

1. Option 2 (not recommended) End the service without providing support for the clubs or new community navigator roles. The outcome of the public consultation showed the value people place on the support groups, especially in supporting  informal carers in their caring roles.

2. Option 3 (not recommended) Continue to provide the service in its current format. This is not financially sustainable and would retain the financial risk for the areas outside of Southend that were funded by partners. t would also leave the council continuing to be the provider of a service while being responsible for the Quality Assurance.

Note: This is an Executive Function

Not eligible for call-in

Cabinet Member: Cllr Nelson