Mike Freer's Answers - No 3 - sheltered Housing

This blog is No 3 in the series dedicated to Leader of Barnet Council, Mike Freer's Answers to my questions at the last cabinet meeting. You decide if he's given a satifactory answer. No comment from me.

RT Q4. What is the expected travelling time per day for
wardens under the new scheme?


MF - A4: We are building into all service specifications the principle of local delivery so that
providers of services are clustered in specific localities. This has the added
benefit to those older people who live in the same catchment area as those in the
sheltered scheme but who don’t live in a sheltered housing tenancy. At present
we are looking at basing the teams in 3 geographical locations around the
Borough.

RT Q5: Will wardens under the new scheme be
remunerated at the same rate as under the existing
scheme?

MF A5: Wardens are currently paid on a range of scales, depending on their
responsibilities and the employer. The new service will not be employing wardens
in their former roles and salaries.

RT - Q6: What provision has been made for disruption to
warden visits by road congestion or weather?

RT - Q7: Will wardens be able to claim overtime when
delayed by congestion or weather under the new
scheme?

RT - Q8: How much does the Council anticipate for
increased overtime claims by travelling wardens?

MF - A 6, 7, 8: It is not intended that the future support service will undertake alarm response activity.

Currently most visiting and scheme based wardens only work normal
office hours Monday to Friday. When they are not working, sheltered schemes are
covered by ‘out of office’ arrangements. These include emergency phone
numbers and on most schemes a community alarm or warden call system.
Neither the existing services nor the proposed support service are intended as a
substitute for the emergency services provided by the local health service and the
police. It is worth noting that in the last severe weather episode in Barnet all
community services maintained delivery to all clients across the Borough – there
was also a pulling together of all the community services during this period to
ensure no older person was left without the support they needed.

The arrangements for overtime, out of hours payments will be the responsibility of the
support provider to determine as part of the contractual process with the Council.