30 March 1971

Dear Colleague

HOME HELP SERVICE

Summary

1. The Circular notifies local authorities of two Commencement Orders relating to the home help service which have been made by the Secretary of State:

i. the Social Work (Scotland) Act 1968 (Commencement No 6) Order 1971, which brings section 14 of that Act into operation on 1 April 1971 and;

ii. the Health Services and Public Health Act 1968 (Commencement No 5) Order 1971, which brings section 13 of that Act into operation on 31 March 1971.

Social Work (Scotland) Act 1968, Section 14

2. Subsection 1 of section 14 of the Social Work (Scotland) Act places a duty on local authorities to provide on such scale as is adequate for the needs of their area, or to arrange for such provision, home help for households where such help is required owing to the presence, or the proposed presence, of a person in need - this expression being devised in section 94 of the Act - or a person who is an expectant mother or lying-in. This duty replaces the power to provide a domestic help service contained in section 28 of the National Health Service (Scotland) Act 1947. This subsection also gives local authorities a power to provide or arrange for the provision of laundry facilities for households for which home help is being, or can be, provided under the 1968 Act.

3. Subsection 2 of section 14 provides that a local authority may, with the approval of the Secretary of State, recover from persons receiving home help or laundry facilities such charges (if any) as the authority consider reasonable, having regard to the means of the recipient and the cost of the help or facilities made available to them. The Secretary of State hereby approves the recovery of charges in terms of this provision and asks local authorities to review their scales of charges in the light of the statutory requirement that they should have regard to the means of the recipient as well as to the cost of the service.

4. Subsection 3 of section 14 provides that it is not a requirement that matters concerning the home help service and the provision of laundry facilities by a local authority under the Social Work (Scotland) Act shall stand referred to the Social Work Committee.

The authority may therefore arrange for these services to be dealt with by any of its Committees, provided that the services are available to meet the needs described in the section.

Health Services and Public Health Act 1968, Section 13

5. The Health Services and Public Health Act 1968 (Commencement No 5) Order 1971 brings section 13 of that Act into effect on 31 March 1971. This section replaces in Scotland the power to provide a domestic help service contained in section 28 of the National Health Service (Scotland) Act 1947, and it will itself cease to apply to Scotland on 1 April 1971 on the commencement of section 14 of the Social Work (Scotland) Act 1968. This order is technically required by the wording of the Acts, and the effect of both Orders is to replace section 28 of the National Health Service (Scotland) Act 1947 by section 14 of the Social Work (Scotland) Act 1968.

6. It is proposed in due course to issue further guidance on the development of the home help service.

7. Additional copies of this Circular are enclosed for the Medical Officer of Health, the Director of Social Work and the Chief Financial Officer. Copies of the 2 Commencement Orders can be obtained from HMSO.

Contact Point

8. Please direct any enquiries about this Circular to Miss Mary Forker, Social Work Services Group, Room 44, James Craig Walk, Edinburgh EH1 3BA

(telephone 0131 244 5456).

Yours faithfully

GAVIN ANDERSON