New Day Care Charge
21st September 2010
From Monday 4 October, The Highland Council is bringing itself in line with most local councils in Scotland by introducing a flat rate weekly charge for day care services.
The £5 per week charge incorporates the existing transport charge of 50p per journey to a day care centre.
The Council has 1,000 day care service users per week and the estimated annual income to be generated from the full-cost recovery of providing day care services is £230,000.
Initially, day care staff will collect the £5 contribution from users in the same way as they collect other contributions, such as meals. However, the Council will also introduce measures to support payment for services by direct debit, should users wish the charge to be automatically paid through their bank on a monthly basis.
The introduction of the charge was agreed by The Highland Council's Housing and Social Work Committee in May as a means of generating income. It will help make essential day care services sustainable into the future.
Councillor Margaret Davidson, Chairman of the Housing and Social Work Committee, said: "Local authorities are facing a challenging financial situation and we are having to make difficult decisions in respect of fees and charges for all services. The Council carefully considered and assessed the impact of introducing any new charges when it was setting the service budget. We are confident users will see this modest weekly charge as very good value, and it ensures we are able to continue this much-used and valued service."
She said the Council is committed to modernising day services to support earlier intervention and community-based support, together with the provision of more intensive services for those who require them.
Related Businesses
Related Articles
As intimated in Highland Council's budget plan, a new senior management structure is to be implemented following approval by Council 14th March. It reconfigures the senior management team into two layers, rather than three and brings Highland Council into line with other benchmarked authorities.
Today, Morrison Construction introduced some of their local apprentices who are working on the UK Governments' Levelling Up Funded refurbishment project at the Northern Meeting Park in Inverness. All these apprentices have been recruited from the Highland area.
The by-election to elect a councillor to represent Ward 19 - Inverness South on The Highland Council has been won by Duncan Cameron McDonald - Independent who was one of the eight candidates who contested the vacancy. Voters in the ward went to the poll yesterday (Thursday 11 April) and the by-election count was held this morning in The Highland Council Headquarters in Inverness.
The Technology Placement Programme offers funding to businesses in the Highland Council area to cover up to 70% of the cost of employing a student or graduate. The Technology Placement Programme offers funding to businesses in the Highland Council area to cover up to 70% of the cost of employing a student or graduate.
Following the success of its Business Digital Grant scheme launched last year, The Highland Council is delighted to announce further funding. This is to help Highland companies access digital support alongside other business growth support.
The Highland Council is delighted to confirm a highly successful second year for Public Service Obligation (PSO) flights between Wick and Aberdeen. The period from April 2023 to March 2024 has seen a substantial increase in passenger numbers, with several months seeing over 1,000 passengers using the service, and overall the service has seen year on year growth of 25%.
Members of Highland Council, who met on Thursday 14 March 2024, approved a corporate Digital Ambition, which has been designed to deliver significant organisational change across Council services, recognising the current priorities within the organisation. The Strategy, which is embedded within the wider Council Delivery Plan, has been developed to focus attention and resources on areas of change which will deliver the greatest benefit to the Council.
The Council remains committed to supporting mentoring in our schools, including the support that is currently delivered through the MCR Pathways programme. Highland Council is currently undertaking a review of Employability Support provided by a number of different council services and how these relate to the work carried out by external partners and in our schools.
Highland Council members have considered and agreed a revised draft Highland Outcome Improvement Plan. The partnership plan has been reviewed and updated by the Community Planning Partnership.
Members at today's (14 March 2024) meeting of The Highland Council agreed the local authority's new draft Community Wealth Building Strategy. They were also asked to note that a period of public engagement on the draft will now begin, with a final strategy returning to full Council for consideration in September.
