Care Provider Alliance Update: Fair Cost of Care exercise
The following update will provide helpful materials and insight into the Fair Cost of Care exercise currently underway. If you have further questions, concerns or require support after reviewing the below, please email FCC@CareProviderAlliance.org.uk or reach out to the various tool providers directly to resolve registration or technical issues. Their contacts are contained in the following links:
FAQs for both Care Homes and Domiciliary Care:
The Care and Health Improvement Programme (CHIP – jointly delivered through ADASS and LGA) and the Care Provider Alliance (CPA), in consultation with DHSC, have put together responses to the most common questions received from Local Authorities, care providers and partners. Please see the link for the Fair Cost of Care FAQS which shows these questions and responses and aims to support those involved in Fair Cost of Care exercises to work together to obtain a robust picture of local costs of care and meet the Department of Health and Social Care grant conditions.
A significant area of confusion has been how providers report their Return on Capital and Return on Operations. Click here to review the guidance provided recently which clarifies the meaning of ROC and ROO. For those using the iESE CareCubed national tool, you will report ROO and ROC separately, for those using the National ARCC Domiciliary care tool, you will report ROO and ROC jointly, and excluding rent which is allowed for within the Overhead Section (J).
For Domiciliary Care Only:
For providers using the national LGA/ADASS cost collection template, further guidance has been provided to assist providers and ensure accurate information is submitted and reduce the burden on authorities and providers of having to validate and verify all responses. To access the Common Error Checking Guide, click here, and to review FAQs, click here and lastly, to review helpful video guides on how to complete your date, click here.
For Care Homes Only:
For those who are already registered to use the iESE national tool, updates have been made and you should have received a note, click here, to explain what you need to do. If you have not yet participated in the exercise or registered to provide data, you can do so, and review helpful support materials and guidance by clicking here.
General Information:
Some providers have said they have not been made aware of the Fair Cost of Care exercise by their Local Authority. We have provided links to the information relating to the Fair Cost of Care exercises conducted as part of the Market Sustainability and Fair Cost of Care Fund: purpose and conditions 2022 to 2023 in accordance with the Market Sustainability and Fair Cost of Care Fund 2022 to 2023: Guidance and encourage you to review if you are in doubt as to whether or not you should engage in this exercise after being asked to do so by your Local Authority. This is a Government led initiative via Local Authorities seeking to establish the Fair Cost of Care as part of the wider Social Care Reforms announced by Government, namely the revised Means Test and the Cap on Care (click here for more information).
You will have seen communications in recent weeks from Councils regarding the Fair Cost of Care exercise for Domiciliary Care 18+ and Care Homes (65+), which form an integral part of the Governments Reforms of Adult Social Care. To assist you the CPA would like to ensure a full representation of small, medium, and larger sized organisations engage in the Fair Cost of Care data collection exercise, and encourage you to participate. Why?
Possibly the most significant reason, is that from October 2023, those funding their own care are able to seek support from their council under Section 18(3) of the Care Act (already in place for Domiciliary care) and who could in future be funded by the council, at a rate the council can afford to pay for care in line with the personal budget. Councils will be able to consider first-party and third-party top-ups where an individual chooses care above what the council would usually fund, however, this could see a significant reduction in the current levels of cross-subsidisation offsetting lower council fees paid for care and support currently. This renders the Fair Cost of Care exercise incredibly important to alert Government to the actual cost of providing care in each council to ensure appropriate funding is provided to offset losses of any cross-subsidisation currently propping up the sector.
Collectively we have been lobbying Government for many years to secure funding for the sector, and this is a once in a lifetime opportunity for care providers to influence how social care services are to be funded in the future. By submitting your data via the data collection tools, the Council will be able to submit a Cost of Care Report to DHSC reflecting the representative median cost of care in each Local Authority, using your data to release additional funding from Government. Each Local Authority will also submit to Government Market Sustainability Plans informing how fees will be reviewed and inflated from 2023/24. Any outliers or unusual data are to be verified and validated by the Local Authority to gain a full understanding of cost pressures and any treatment of these must be reported to the DHSC in the Cost of Care Report rather than simply being excluded giving the provider assurance that all costs will be considered.
The council, along with CPA member associations, are here to support you in making your submission. This is a chance to be heard unlike any other exercise conducted on this scale previously. We urge you to disregard your thoughts and feelings on past cost of care exercises by Local Authorities; this is a Government led initiative via each Local Authority and the DHSC will be reviewing all responses from each of the 152 authorities to determine if they have delivered the exercise as it was intended prior to releasing funding for Local Authorities to move towards paying the Fair Cost of Care locally.
We encourage all providers invited to participate, and to take advantage of the support offered. Without your participation, the likelihood of additional funding being made available is significantly reduced. We trust you will engage in the process and take advantage of the support offered. If you require support or have specific questions, please email FCC@CareProviderAlliance.org.uk who will respond in total confidence and will use your questions to inform future FAQs provided above
Kind regards,
The CPA