202312 - Northern Ireland Stakeholder Group Minutes - December 2023 (Easy Read)

The meeting happened on Tuesday 5 December from 11.30am to 3pm.

The meeting happened in 2 ways:

• on Zoom
• at the Mount Conference Centre in Belfast

Who could not come to the meeting?

Michaela Hollywood

• Linda to share with Bryan the AI / Uplift records of the accounts that Lothian Council for Inclusive Living manage

An uplift is an increase in the level of pay.

• Linda will email the group with the main ways that money could be saved when the fund is re-opened

• Lee will email:

- details of training of PAs to the Stakeholder Group

Insurance could be invalid if PAs are not trained properly.

- the link from the ILF Scotland website on Advanced Care Planning to the Group

Advance care planning means making decisions about the care you would want to get if you could not speak for yourself in the future.

• assessors from Northern Ireland will find recipients to be interviewed by Finbarr as part of the social return on investment evaluation work

A recipient is someone who gets ILF money.

David welcomed everyone and checked everyone was okay with the meeting sound being recorded.

Everyone agreed the Minutes from February 2022 were fine.

The Minutes will be put on the ILF website.

Actions from the last meeting:

• Colin and Linda will talk about increasing the rate of PA pay by 12 per cent before April 2023 and backdating the increase to 1 April 2022

This action has happened.

• Lee will share weblinks from Michaela to the communication team on PA support and training

There were no new things we needed to talk about.

Harvey said that because there is no Northern Ireland Assembly in place, they do not know if the fund can re-open.

Colin will work on a new proposal to be sent to the Permanent Secretary in April 2024.

David suggested that people leaving hospital and returning home should be part of the new proposal.

Harvey agreed that this will be included.

Niqi suggested that it would be a good idea to include information comparing ILF Scotland recipients to non ILF Scotland recipients for how many people had to have a hospital stay, particularly for Covid.

A recipient is someone who gets ILF money.

Linda said we could give the number of recipients who have advised ILF Scotland of hospital stays but was not sure if they will be able to mention Covid or not.

ILF Scotland will look more at this.

Linda confirmed that all uplifts have happened to the new maximum of 43 pounds a week or less.

David thanked Peter, Harvey, Linda and everyone else at ILF Scotland and Mark and Colin at the Department of Health who have worked hard on this.

Linda asked the group if they agreed with the way to uplift PA rates by 12 per cent, as agreed between the Department of Health and ILF Scotland.

Any recipient who pays their PA 14 pounds and 75 pence an hour keeps this rate.

Any recipient’s PA who is paid below the national minimum wage will be increased to 9 pounds 50 pence an hour.

These increases will happen for most recipients by the beginning of April 2023.

The increases may take a bit longer if a recipient is having a review visit or their money has been suspended.

The Group accepted the proposals and thanked everyone involved at ILF Scotland and the NI Department of Health.

It will make a big difference to hiring and keeping PAs and to all our lives.

Members asked that future increases happen in time for recipients and Award Managers to increase PA wages on 6 April.

Peter will talk to the Government about this as soon as possible.

Robert said that ILF Scotland are behind on review visits because:

• it is complicated to hire and keep PAs

• assessors are finding it difficult to have social workers at review visits

Urgent reviews will always happen first.

Robert will keep giving the Group information about this.

Harvey said we must send a proposal to the Scottish Government before ILF Scotland can plan a joint event.

David will invite the Permanent Secretary of the NI Department of Health.

A working group will start in April or May with members from Scotland and Northern Ireland to plan the event for September or October.

Linda said that ILF Scotland has added information about advanced care planning to its website.

David asked that we talk about this at the next meeting so Michaela can be there.

Peter said the Department of Health are looking at this and Colin will then give an update to the Stakeholder Group.

Emma will arrange a working group to decide what work is the most important.

Linda said that ILF Scotland are looking at what recipients said in feedback surveys and this will be linked into the Charter.

Linda said that working groups will be arranged to start in the first 3 months of 2024. ILF Scotland will publish an updated action plan in April 2024.

No one had anything to add.

Lee will check potential dates with The Mount and will send out ‘save the dates’ emails to Group members.