The Scottish Government

« Previous | Contents | Next »

Listen

Services by the Scottish Commission for the Regulation of Care. Proposals for Maximum Fees to be set by Scottish Ministers for 2005-06: Consultation Paper

THE REGULATION OF CARE (SCOTLAND) ACT 2001 - SERVICES REGULATED BY THE SCOTTISH COMMISSION FOR THE REGULATION OF CARE
PROPOSALS FOR MAXIMUM REGULATORY FEES TO BE SET BY SCOTTISH MINISTERS FOR 2005-06

Purpose

2. This paper sets out Scottish Ministers' proposals for the maximum regulatory fees to be applied from 1 April 2005 by the Scottish Commission for the Regulation of Care (the Care Commission) under the Regulation of Care (Scotland) Act 2001 (the Act).
4. Comments on the proposals in this paper are requested no later than 9 February 2005. All responses should be sent to Jane Martin, Care Standards and Sponsorship Branch, Scottish Executive Health Department, 2-E(S), St Andrew's House, Regent Road, Edinburgh EH1 3DG (E-mails to standardsandsponsorship@scotland.gsi.gov.uk).

5. Background

6. The Care Commission was established under the Act on 1 April 2002 to regulate a wide range of care services. It took over functions from local authorities and health boards, who had previously operated a variety of regimes with varying degrees of consistency against a range of standards. Some of the services to be regulated by the Commission were already regulated, some were only partially regulated (eg local authorities' provision of certain services at their own hand) and others had not previously been regulated at all eg housing support services and care at home. Policy on charging and fees was also inconsistent and in most cases did not reflect the true or full cost associated with the regulatory process. At the same time as the Commission was established the Scottish Executive published a suite of National Care Standards, which set out from the user's perspective the standards to be delivered by care providers. The Commission inspects care services against the Act and its associated regulations and must take account of the standards in any decisions it makes under the Act. Importantly, the regulatory process now involves gathering the views of users.
8. The establishment of the Commission introduced a consistent national system of regulation of care services which covered more services than before and involved new work in relation to users. Its key aims and targets for the next 3 years are set out in its Corporate Plan 2004-2007: Improving the Quality of Care in Scotland. Its first Annual Report, which sets out is achievements and progress against targets in its first year of operation was published in December 2003. The next Annual Report is about to be published.

9. Fees

10. In terms of section 24(1) of the Regulation of Care (Scotland) Act 2001 (the Act), Scottish Ministers prescribe the maximum registration fees which may be imposed by the Care Commission. The Commission imposes fees under section 24(1) for:

• applications for registration and for cancellation of registration;
• the annual continuation of registration;
• variation or removal of a condition of registration; and
• issue of a new certificate.

7. The policy on registration fees was originally set out in the Financial Memorandum to the Regulation of Care Bill when it was introduced in the Scottish Parliament in December 2000. In line with that policy, fees for services regulated immediately before 1 April 2002 (under the previous regulatory system) were increased by 10% (or 10 per place) in 2001, 2002 and 2003. Services new to regulation have had their fees set from the start at a level considered at the time to reflect the likely full direct cost to the Care Commission of their regulation.
9. The final stage of the policy on fees at that time was that they should all be at full cost recovery level from 2004-05. In other words, the Care Commission was then to be self-funding. The reason for this was and is to ensure that there is transparency in the costs of both delivering and regulating services. Regulation is part of the cost of providing a service, and so it should be met by that service. The only exceptions to the full cost recovery policy were childminding and day care of children, which were to continue to be subsidised by the Scottish Executive. During the passage of the Bill, Ministers indicated that they would keep the full cost recovery policy under review and take into account any effect which fee increases in 2001-02 onwards had on the care service market.
11. Ministers believe that the reasons for a self-funding regulatory body still hold good and remain committed to delivering that. However, last year the Executive announced that the timetable for achieving the aim of full cost recovery fees would be extended until 2006-07. This was in recognition of the difficulty (both practical and financial) in moving to full cost recovery fee levels in 2004-05 for these services. The extension would also allow providers time to plan and make provision for the move.
13. The Regulation of Care (Fees) (Scotland) Order 2004 which sets out the current maximum fees for regulated services is attached at Appendix A. The Order can also be accessed at

14. http://www.scotland-egislation.hmso.gov.uk/legislation/scotland/ssi2004/20040093.htm

    Proposed increases in current fees maxima

15. As advised in the consultation paper on fees for 2004-05, Care Commission data pointed to a need for very significant increases in the registration fees for services not yet at full cost recovery if the original policy to deliver full cost recovery in 2004-05 was to be achieved. This helped inform Ministers' decision to phase the move to full cost recovery over the 3 years to 2006-07. For those services not yet at full cost recovery the increases in registration and continuation fees in the current year represent the first of 3 similar increases needed to deliver full cost recovery by 2006-07. This proposal was set out in the consultation exercise issued on 15 December 2003 for fees in 2004-05. Experience over the past year has confirmed that increases similar to those in the current year will be required in 2005-06 if we are to maintain a steady path to full cost recovery in 2006-07. Service sectors for which regulation has commenced since April 2002 (e.g. housing support services, care at home services) to regulation have had their fees set from the start at a level considered at the time to reflect the likely full direct cost to the Care Commission of their regulation in line with the original policy intention. This policy will continue.

16. The Executive will be working with the Care Commission over the coming year on fees for 2006-07. We will look at the evidence it has gathered on the activity levels required to regulate the various care sectors, the overall cost of the Commission and the implications of that for fees across all services. There will then be a consultation on full cost recovery fees for all services in 2006-07.

17. The fees proposed for 2005-06 are set out in Appendix B.For services which have been regulated since the Commission was established, the level of increase in 2005-06 varies from service to service. This reflects the fact that the current fee levels from sector to sector are at different levels in relation to the full costs of regulation, in turn reflecting the widely varying fee levels set in the past.

18. In line with the stated policy, a subsidy will continue to be provided by the Scottish Executive to enable fees for childminding and day care services for children to be kept at affordable levels. Increases have been proposed in line with the policy expectations set out in the Financial Memorandum to the Regulation of Care Bill that, while a subsidy was appropriate, fees could be increased and held to a maximum of 50 for childminders and 250 for daycare services (the overall fee income with the proposed increases in 2005-06 represent under 4% of the total cost of regulation).

19. For services new to regulation, the maximum fees proposed for 2005-06 for registration and continuation have been uprated by 2.5% in line with inflation. The delivery of housing support services and care at home services is often inextricably linked. In the interests of equity the care at home fees have been brought into line with those for housing support services (see also paragraph 32 of the Regulatory Impact Assessment).

20. Some school care accommodation services are already being regulated because they were regulated under the previous regime and the rest are to be regulated from April 2005. It is proposed that, in the interests of equity, all should pay the same fees from that date, set at full direct cost recovery levels. Fee levels for these services are based on information provided by the Care Commission on the activity required to regulate these services (including the Care Commission's input to the joint inspection process with HMIE) and assume different fee levels for small, medium and large services depending on the number of boarders.

21. It should be noted that, for some services, different fee levels are proposed for different sizes of service. The criteria for determining the fee levels, related to the number of whole time equivalent (WTE) staff (discounting volunteers), remain unchanged. As at present, the calculation would be made on the number of whole time equivalent staff numbers, discounting volunteers.

22. Fees for variation or removal of a condition and cancellation fees have been increased in line with inflation.

23. It is proposed that the maximum fee for a new certificate of registration should be increased from 75 to 77 in line with inflation.

    Regulatory Impact Assessment

24. A partial Regulatory Impact Assessment is attached at Appendix C. The full regulatory impact will not be known until the conclusion of the consultation exercise.

    Responding to this consultation paper

25. We are inviting written responses to this consultation paper by 9 February 2005. Please send your response to:standardsandsponsorship@scotland.gsi.gov.uk

or
Jane Martin
Care Standards and Sponsorship Branch
Community Care Division 2
Scottish Executive Health Department
2-ES, St Andrew's House
Regent Road
Edinburgh
EH1 3DW

22. If you have any queries, please contact Jane Martin on 0131 244 3515.

23. We would be grateful if you could clearly indicate in your response which parts of the consultation paper you are responding to (using the respondee information form at Appendix D) as this will aid our analysis of the responses received.

24. This consultation, and all other SE consultation exercises, can be viewed online at http://www.scotland.gov.uk/consultations. You can telephone Freephone 0800 77 1234 to find out where your nearest public internet access point is.

25. The Scottish Executive now has an email alert system for SE consultations ( SEconsult). This system allows stakeholder individuals and organisations to register and receive a weekly email containing details of all new SE consultations (including web links). SEconsult complements, but in no way replaces, SE distribution lists. It is designed to allow stakeholders to keep up to date with all SE consultations activity, and therefore be alerted at the earliest opportunity to those of most interest. We would encourage you to register.

Access to consultation responses

26. We will make all responses available to the public in the Scottish Executive Library by 6 March 2005 and on the Scottish Executive consultation web pages by the same date, unless confidentiality is requested. All responses not marked confidential will be checked for any potentially defamatory material before being logged in the library or placed on the website.

Care Standards and Sponsorship Branch
Community Care Division 2
Scottish Executive Health Department
December 2004

« Previous | Contents | Next »