Councils ordered to repay erroneous charges for re-ablement services

Some councils appear to have erroneously charged for the provision of re-ablement services on the basis that they are not intermediate care services, the Department for Health has revealed.

In a circular to local authorities, the Department said: “Councils should review the arrangements they have in place and satisfy themselves that these comply with the legislation with a view to repaying any amounts that may have been wrongly charged (and received).”

The circular said the majority of councils do not collect charges for the first six weeks and only raise charges where this extends beyond six weeks in accordance with s. 15 of the Community Care (Delayed Discharges etc.) Act 2003 and the relevant regulations.

The Department for Health said regulation 4(2) of the 2003 regulations required intermediate care to be provided free of charge for the first six weeks.

It added: “Accordingly, re-ablement services are likely to fall within the definition of intermediate care services and should not be charged for the first six weeks. Whether or not the re-ablement services provided to a person do in fact fall within the definition of intermediate services will need to be examined on a case by case basis.

“It is to be noted that ‘community equipment (aids and minor adaptations) service’ (within the meaning of the 2003 Regulations), sometimes part of a package of re-ablement, is also to be provided free of charge where the cost of making the adaptation is £1000 or less whether as part of a re-ablement package or stand alone.”

The circular also contained a copy of a letter from NHS Deputy Chief Executive David Flory, called on primary care trusts to develop local plans in conjunction with local authorities and FT/NHS Trusts and community health services on how best to spend the additional £70m announced for post-discharge support in 2010/11.