Spend And Cost of Care And Support At Home

WSCC currently spends around £37m per annum on care and support at home services, although this is expected to increase as the strategic direction is to support more people at home and therefore demand is expected to increase.

The recent tender reported that the amount WSCC will spend on care and support at home depends on demand factors and the mix of providers who will deliver the care. These cost drivers are all subject to change, especially as the priority is to support a greater proportion of people to live independently in the community rather than in residential care. The average hourly cost for existing customers of providers that were accepted on to the framework was £28.66 per hour, which was an increase of 1% on the previous hourly rate, and follows 3 years of significant investment in uplifts on rates payable to care and support at home services in recognition of cost pressures and National Living Wage increases and to support sustainability of this sector.

Cost is an important factor of WSCC’s commissioning of services. WSCC utilises public funding to pay for services, and must seek value for money options and protect the budget to ensure all residents eligible needs can be met where they do not have the resources to pay for services themselves. As part of the new commissioning arrangements, cost is a key factor in determining which provider should provide the care for customers referred by WSCC. However, front and foremost in the decision, is selecting providers that can meet the outcomes required for the individual customer. In addition, in order to get on to the framework providers were required to pass due diligence checks on areas such as health and safety, financial stability, CQC requirements, insurances and mandatory exclusion grounds. Where providers were rated ‘requires improvement’ by CQC, additional checks were undertaken on action plans, and where providers were not yet inspected, a reference from a public sector commissioning body or response to a quality based method statement question was required alongside self-certification quality assessment.

Now that the framework is in operation, WSCC are visiting providers, prioritising those not yet inspected, to assure on quality and sustainability of provision, with any quality concerns managed through the established quality pathway and contract management mechanisms.

Direct Payments

WSCC Social Care Strategy identifies that 17.5% of people or their carers manage their care through direct payments. This can give people more choice and control over the care they receive and is an area that WSCC would like to develop further to respond to the feedback that people felt they needed more flexibility on what they spend their direct payment on, less bureaucracy and more support to employ people. To provide more flexibility, WSCC would like to explore more alternative options for people needing care and support.