Designers of failed council firm were paid £160,000

EXCLUSIVE by EWAN LAMB

The 'specialist' firm of consultants brought in by Scottish Borders Council to set up the ill-fated arms length company SB Cares received more than £160,000 of taxpayers' cash for their work after warning the local authority adult social care services could not remain in-house.

Twelve separate payments were made by SBC to Wolverhampton-based Care & Health Solutions in 2014 and 2015, according to figures released via Freedom of Information [FOI].

The lucrative fees included four invoices for a business case totalling £58,400, a sum of £20,000 for the original options appraisal and seven different sums for 'implementation work'. The total consultancy bill came to £160,854.

The switch of the care services from SBC to SB Cares in 2015 included the transfer of a thousand front line staff and involved significant expenditure on set-up costs and branding.

But after SB Cares, a Limited Liability Partnership (LLP), failed to meet financial targets and could not maintain adequate standards of care councillors decided in September this year to dissolve the semi-privatised organisation and return the adult care service to full local authority control.

According to a council insider the venture had been a 'shambolic failure'. Now SB Cares and its sister company SB Supports are set to be wound up and dissolved by the end of 2019. The hundreds of clients who receive the service have received assurances from the council that nothing will change under the 'new' arrangements.

The FOI request also shows that none of the 34 elected members voted against the establishment of SB Cares when the previous SBC administration sanctioned the move in 2015.

According to SBC: "There was unanimous agreement for the decision from those present at the meeting at the time. Six Councillors had given apologies; one Councillor left the meeting prior to the decision being taken; three Councillors declared an interest and left the Chamber, taking no part in the decision."

In a report to the full council in September it was stated: "The delivery of savings has been variable over the first four years of operation and it is doubtful whether there is capacity within the business to generate further significant financial benefits under the current operating model.

"It seems reasonable to conclude, in the absence of evidence to the contrary, that the majority of benefits have not been delivered solely due to the nature of the LLP and several could have been delivered by the council adopting similar approaches.

"Recently concerns have emerged with regards to the safety of some individual services, and the challenge of meeting the requirements of the Care Inspectorate.Given the limited capacity issues which exists within the stand alone business it is not considered likely, however, that the arms-length model will be able to drive forward significant further improvements in quality scores."

The damning document showed SB Cares had come up £822,000 short in predicted efficiencies for its first four years.

Savings of £3.65 million were achieved, which included £600,000 from a change in accounting policy, £220,000 by closing its Bordercare alarm centre in Galashiels, the closure of catering kitchens, a review of management structures and staff rotas, and tighter absence management.

But the savings came at a cost to Scottish Borders Council with the local authority's Human Resources, payroll and IT staff providing dedicated support and services. And the report showed it cost an additional £360,000 to run SB Cares every year as an arms-length company.

The council has released a number of confidential papers linked to the formation of SB Cares, including the final Business Case, a 75-page report from Care & Health Solutions. There is no indication in any of the documents as to which member of staff or elected councillor came up with the idea for the arms length company. And no-one has "claimed" responsibility for the ALEO's palpable failure.

As we have reported previously, Care & Health Solutions used the example of SB Cares on their website to promote their work until after SBC axed their flawed ALEO. The consultants were also involved in the creation of Buckinghamshire Care, another arms length council care company which failed. In that case the county council had to take the services back in-house.

The contents of the seemingly flawed Business Case for SB Cares will be discussed in a future article.