BCP-Council-logo

Bournemouth Christchurch and Poole Council (BCP) engage Valuing Care to undertake their Extra Care Housing Financial Review

Bournemouth Christchurch and Poole Council (BCP) engage Valuing Care to undertake their Extra Care Housing Financial Review

BCP have worked with Valuing Care since June 2022, with the company completing their residential and domiciliary Fair Cost of Care reviews to provide the foundation for the Market Sustainability Programme.

BCP-Council-logo

Valuing Care are now supporting the Council in completing its Working Age Adults review as part of the phase 2 cost of care programme. The Working Age Adults Review includes:

  • Supporting Living
  • Complex Residential and Nursing Placements
  • Specialist domiciliary support
  • 24-hour live-in carers

An additional element for Phase 2 has now been agreed, with BCP commissioning Valuing Care to review the current Extra Care Housing provision.

In common with most councils, BCP currently provide support for a range of ECH schemes which differ in size and needs levels. In addition, the merger of the two Councils in 2019 resulted in differences contract and charging approaches across the newly formed Council. This has resulted in inequality, both to the council on what they are paying for the services and the level of income service users contribute to the services.

To create a standard approach, BCP Council have commissioned support in the following areas:

      • A cost of care review of the current portfolio to regularise the current financial support.
      • A review of current client charging to create a more equitable income policy
      • A strategic financial business model template to inform future ECH commissioning and/or reviewing of current provision

The survey collection will complete by the end of 2022 with report writing due to start in January 2023. Once completed, the final proposed model rates for 2023/24 will be recommended to the Council.

By conducting the exercise in this way, BCP can be reassured that their market is equitable for Extra Care Housing providers and creates a level playing field for a range of community providers across the local authority area.

If you are interested in knowing more about the project or Valuing Care’s Cost of Care reviews including Extra Care Housing reviews, please click here


Contact Us

News, , , , , , ,

Newcastle City Council choose Valuing Care to undertake their Domiciliary Fair Cost of Care Requirements and support the production of their Market Sustainability Plan

Newcastle City Council choose Valuing Care to undertake their Domiciliary Fair Cost of Care Requirements and support the production of their Market Sustainability Plan

Newcastle City Council contacted Valuing Care in June 2022 to discuss supporting them in completing their domiciliary fair cost of care (FCOC) exercise. They were aware of other councils in the area following similar approaches and wanted to gain consistency in a key market for them.  

Valuing Care were assigned the following tasks:

  • Understanding the current cost structure through surveying the market
  • Managing the data collection process
  • Checking provider templates for accuracy and consistency
  • Identification of fair cost of care rates from the survey results
  • Creation of Valuing Care model benchmark rates to match the geographical area
  • Final reporting and data loading

As well as completing the survey and reporting, Newcastle City Council have commissioned Valuing Care to support them in completing their Market Sustainability Plan. By using Valuing Care in this way, they have access to market insight, both in their region and through the company’s support for trailblazer authorities. 

All of the data collected used the LGA toolkit so that a common approach could be taken regionally on reporting and data recording. The Council will also use Valuing Care’s benchmarking data which will prove invaluable in completing the exercises. 

The survey collection  

The survey collection will complete by early September 2022 with report writing due to start in the same month. Once completed, the final proposed model rates for 2022/23 will be recommended to the Council. The report will be completed with sufficient time for the Council to meet the 14th October deadline.

By conducting the exercise in this way, Newcastle City Council can be reassured that their market sustainability plan captures the balance between paying providers a sustainable rate and ensuring value for money for council taxpayers.

If you are interested in knowing more about the project or Valuing Care’s Benchmarking data and software, please click here.

For more on our cost of care surveys please click here.  

Contact Us
6th September 2022 | Ray Hart
News, , , , , , ,

Bath and North East Somerset choose Valuing Care to help them better understand their Care Costs

Bath and North East Somerset choose Valuing Care to help them better understand their Care Costs

Bath and North East Somerset (BANES) have used Valuing Care for a number of years to conduct cost of care exercises. With the DHSC requirement deadline approaching, using Valuing Care again seemed a natural way forward.  

The company had completed a range of exercises between 2016 and 2020 so a mixture of new surveys and ‘refreshes’ were needed. Looking across the market they concentrated on three key areas:

  • Older People’s Residential and Nursing Care
  • Learning Disabilities Residential, both in and out of the local authority area 
  • Domiciliary Care for 18+

Older People’s Residential and Nursing Cost of Care Review  

Valuing Care conducting a full survey of all care homes for older people within the BANES Council area. The company met with provider representatives to explain the process and answer any initial question they had. 

The company used the IESE templates and are are currently collecting provider returns. Survey requests are due at the middle of August 2022 with the Council expecting the final report in September. 

This report will be used as the basis for setting fee rates for 2022/23 and will include:

  • Aggregated Provider survey returns analysed for reasonableness and reported using Median rate analysis
  • A comprehensive benchmarking exercise against Valuing Care’s independent model rates which have been built up through over 50 area wide surveys over the last decade

In addition, the information collected will provide the Council with a dataset and methodology ready for setting the metered Care Cap rate. This comprehensive approach will be crucial for any scrutiny the new Care Cap rate will receive ready for its implementation in October 2023.

Creating a Sustainable Learning Disabilities Cost Model using Valuing Care’s Purchaser Software  

The Council wanted to create a sustainable framework for all their residential placements, one that could be used for both new placements and reviewing existing placements. In addition, with so many placements spread across the southwest they want to be sure that any model they used could be flexed to meet geographical variations. Based on this, they asked Valuing Care to collect information on all their current residential packages and load them onto their Purchaser software to create a BANES specific cost model. 

By proceeding in this way BANES Council created a long lasting and maintainable record that they could easily update going forward. 

Working in partnership with Valuing Care they are collecting:

  • Underlying cost details of their targeted residential packages
  • Staff rotas relating to each individual package 
  • Comparing this information to Valuing Care’s national and local models to provide a detailed breakdown of cost per package
  • Storing all of this information into their own environment within the Purchaser software so all information can be captured once and reused over future years 
  • Using Valuing Care’s software and models to manage inflation requests from providers

The project will leave BANES Council with all cases recorded on a central system with detailed breakdown of their costs. Going forward commissioners will be able to:

  • Continuously compare current costs to Valuing Care’s model costs
  • Uplift cases by inflation in a targeted manner ensure value for money and sustainability
  • Review cases with the greatest variance, either by Provider, profitability or sustainability

Domiciliary Care Survey and Cost modelling 

In addition to the above survey areas, Valuing Care also provided support for the Domiciliary FCOC exercise. This included presenting to provider groups. All of the data collected used the LGA toolkit so that a common approach could be taken regionally on reporting and data recording.

Within the project Valuing Care were tasked with the following:

  • Understanding the current cost structure through surveying the market 
  • Managing the data collection process
  • Checking provider templates for accuracy and consistency
  • Identification of fair cost of care rates from the survey results
  • Creation of Valuing Care model benchmark rates to match the geographical area
  • Final reporting and data loading

Based on the three project being completed by December 2022, BANES Council will be in a good place to better understand the current cost pressures in the market. Refreshing the data and creating a consistent basis for capturing base costs puts the local authority on a good forward for their market sustainability plan and beyond.

If you are interested in knowing more about the Cost of Care review project or Valuing Care’s Purchaser software please contact us here. 

To view a video of the Purchaser software link here

 
Contact Us
22nd August 2022 | Ray Hart
News, , , , , ,

Hertfordshire County Council Commission Valuing Care to support their residential Fair Cost of Care Exercise

Hertfordshire County Council Commission Valuing Care to support their residential Fair Cost of Care Exercise

Valuing Care are supporting Hertfordshire County Council with their residential cost of care submission. They are providing a seamless service that encompasses the collection of provider data and template checking. 

The support includes: 

  • Helping Providers to complete the templates including 1-1 telephone support
  • Managing the data collection process 
  • Checking provider templates for accuracy and consistency
  • Identification of fair cost of care rates from the survey results

All of the data collected will use the IESE tool for residential and nursing. This will ensure a consistent approach can be taken regionally and help providers concentrate on one reporting format. The survey collection started in June 2022 and is well on its way towards completion. The target date is the end of August 2022. 

In addition to supporting the survey collection, Hertfordshire County Council will have access to Valuing Care’s benchmark data for both domiciliary and residential care. These benchmarks can be used to analyse individual cost lines against the survey results.

This independent dataset, built up over the last 10 years, can give the local authority confidence that their statistical sample is accurate in the wider market. It can also provide an anchor point to challenge any survey figures that appear out of kilter from the wider market.

Using Valuing care to support the Fair Cost of Care Exercise in this way, Hertfordshire can be reassured that their market sustainability plan captures the balance between paying providers a sustainable rate and ensuring value for money for council taxpayers.

If you are interested in knowing more about the project or Valuing Care’s Commissioner and Benchmarking software, please click here.

To find out more about Valuing Care’s cost of care reviews, please click here.

 
Contact Us
10th August 2022 | Ray Hart
News, , , , , , ,

Valuing Care are commissioned by North Tyneside Council to undertake their Domiciliary Fair Cost of Care Requirements and Extra Care Cost Review.

Valuing Care are commissioned by North Tyneside Council to undertake their Domiciliary Fair Cost of Care Requirements and Extra Care Cost Review.

North Tyneside Council contacted Valuing Care in May 2022 to discuss supporting them in completing their domiciliary fair cost of care (FCOC) exercise. They were aware of other councils in the area following similar approaches and wanted to gain consistency in a key market for them. 

Valuing Care were assigned the following tasks:  
  • Understanding the current cost structure through surveying the market
  • Managing the data collection process 
  • Checking provider templates for accuracy and consistency
  • Identification of fair cost of care rates from the survey results
  • Creation of Valuing Care model benchmark rates to match the geographical area
  • Final reporting and data loading

In addition to the domiciliary review, North Tyneside Council were keen to understand more fully the cost of Extra Care providers in their area. With that in mind they commissioned Valuing Care to complete an additional project that will start after the main FCOC exercise is complete.

All of the data collected used the LGA toolkit so that a common approach could be taken regionally on reporting and data recording. The Council will also have access to Valuing Care’s benchmarking data which will prove invaluable in completing the exercises. 

 

The survey collection

The survey collection will complete at the end of July 2022 with report writing due to start in September 2022. Once completed, the final proposed model rates for 2022/23 will be recommended to the Council. The report will be completed with sufficient time for the Council to complete their market sustainability report before the October 2022 deadline.

The Extra Care review project will start in October2022 with a planned end date of December 2022. By conducting the exercise in this way, they can be reassured that their market sustainability plan captures the balance between paying providers a sustainable rate and ensuring value for money for council taxpayers.

 
 

If you are interested in knowing more about the project or Valuing Care’s Benchmarking data and software, please click here.

For more on our cost of care surveys please click here.

 
Contact Us
25th July 2022 | Ray Hart
News, , , , , ,

Valuing Care are commissioned by Middlesbrough Council to undertake their Domiciliary Fair Cost of Care Requirements

Valuing Care are commissioned by Middlesbrough Council to undertake their Domiciliary Fair Cost of Care Requirements

Middlesbrough Council contacted Valuing Care in April 2022 to discuss supporting them in completing their domiciliary fair cost of care (FCOC) exercise. They were aware of other councils in the area following similar approaches and wanted to gain consistency in a key market for them.  

Valuing Care were assigned the following tasks:  
  • Understanding the current cost structure through surveying the market
  • Managing the data collection process 
  • Checking provider templates for accuracy and consistency
  • Identification of fair cost of care rates from the survey results
  • Creation of Valuing Care model benchmark rates to match the geographical area
  • Final reporting and data loading

All of the data collected used the LGA toolkit so that a common approach could be taken regionally on reporting and data recording.

In addition, the Council were keen to ensure a source of benchmarking data that could be used to compare their survey results against. This would ensure that the information supplied by providers could be “sense-checked” against other independent sources.

The survey collection

The survey collection will complete at the end of June 2022 with report writing due to start in July 2022. Once completed, the final proposed model rates for 2022/23 will be recommended to the Council. The report will be completed with sufficient time for the Council to complete their market sustainability report before the October 2022 deadline.

By conducting the exercise in this way, they can be reassured that their market sustainability plan captures the balance between paying providers a sustainable rate and ensuring value for money for council taxpayers.

 

If you are interested in knowing more about the project or Valuing Care’s Benchmarking data and software, please click here.

For more on our cost of care surveys please click here.

 
Contact Us
11th July 2022 | Ray Hart
News, , , , ,

Meet the Team

Meet the Team

Our consultants are cost of care specialists with years of experience and knowledge of analysing provider returns, their accounts and constructing and reporting model rates.

Ray Hart, CIPFA Qualified
Director

One of the founders of the company with responsibility for business development. Ray’s work includes advising senior members of the NHS and Local Government on the care market and in particular the cost of care. He is also responsible for the media management of the company and has provided commentary on BBC Radio 4 and 5 as well as national newspapers.

Formerly a Director and Assistant Director in Local Government he has a wealth of experience at a senior level in Finance, Commissioning and IT.

Jim White, CIMA Qualified
Senior Finance Consultant

Jim is responsible for bespoke financial models, benchmarking and assessment of value, pricing strategy, contract review, commercial negotiations and report writing.

He helps develop a range of cost models which estimate what health and social care services should cost, facilitating cost benchmarking and identification of where value is not being achieved.

Jim successfully leads numerous cost surveys for local authorities and health commissioning groups which identified the usual cost of providing services locally, providing advice on future rate setting for services. He supports independent provider organisations to review their cost structure, to identify potential efficiencies and assist their pricing strategy / inform tender prices.

Angie Wadsworth
Operations and Product Manager

Leading The Operations Team, Angie ensures that all customer projects run smoothly and meet quality standards. 

With a background in both direct care provision and the implementation of complex social care databases across both adults and childrens services for many Local Authorities, Angie understands how to enable the smooth running of complex public sector projects.

Angie has a wealth of experience in managing all aspects of a successful project including GDPR requirements / Freedom of Information requests, IT Training, Process Reengineering and Workforce Transformation. She is responsible for the development of Valuing Care’s Software Portfolio providing the essential interface between technical experts and the user experience.

Contact Us
Uncategorised, , , , ,

Bournemouth Christchurch and Poole (BCP) Council Choose Valuing Care to help them better understand their residential Care Costs

Bournemouth Christchurch and Poole (BCP) Council Choose Valuing Care to help them better understand their residential Care Costs

With the DHSC October deadline fast approaching, BCP Council recognised they needed to better understand their core provider costs in their local market. 

Looking across their services they concentrated on three key areas:  

  • Older People’s Residential and Nursing Care
  • Older People’s Domiciliary Care 
  • Learning Disabilities Residential, both in and out of the Local Authority area

Following recommendations from neighbouring councils they chose Valuing Care to support them across the projects. The company recommended taking a different approach in the two service areas to ensure the better match the particular cost structures of their core markets.

Older People’s Residential and Domiciliary Cost of Care Reviews

Valuing Care is conducting a full survey of all care homes for older people and domiciliary providers within the BCP Council area. The company is meeting with provider representatives to explain the process and answer any initial questions they had. 

The company will use the LGA toolkit for home care and the IESE tool for residential. By doing so it is hoped that this will increase consistency and take-up.

Using the survey data, Valuing Care will use their skills and experience to create a report. This report will be used as the basis for setting fee rates for 2022/23 and will include:

  • Aggregated Provider survey returns analysed for reasonableness and reported using Median rate analysis
  • A comprehensive benchmarking exercise against Valuing Care’s independent model rates which have been built up through over 50 area wide surveys over the last decade

In addition, the company will collect self-funder pricing information which will provide the Council with a dataset and methodology ready for setting the metered Care Cap rate and First Party Top Ups. This comprehensive approach will be crucial for any scrutiny the new Care Cap rate will receive ready for its implementation in October 2023. 

 
Contact Us

Creating a Sustainable Learning Disabilities Cost Model using Valuing Care’s Purchaser Software 

Whilst not directly relating to the DHSC FCOC deadline, The Council wanted to create a sustainable framework for all their residential placements. This included one that could be used for Learning Disabilities for both new placements and reviewing existing placements.

In addition, with so many placements spread across the southwest they want to be sure that any model they used could be flexed to meet geographical variations. Based on this, they asked Valuing Care to collect information on all their current residential packages and load them onto their Purchaser software to create a BCP specific cost model.  

 

By proceeding in this way BCP Council created a long lasting and maintainable record that they could easily update going forward. 

Working in partnership with Valuing Care they are collecting:

  • Underlying cost details of their targeted residential packages
  • Staff rotas relating to each individual package
  • Comparing this information to Valuing Care’s national and local models to provide a detailed breakdown of cost per package
  • Storing all of this information into their own environment within the Purchaser software so all information can be captured once and reused over future years
  • Using Valuing Care’s software and models to manage inflation requests from providers

The project will leave BCP Council with all cases recorded on a central system with detailed breakdown of their costs. Going forward commissioners will be able to: 

  • Continuously compare current costs to Valuing Care’s model costs
  • Uplift cases by inflation in a targeted manner ensure value for money and sustainability
  • Review cases with the greatest variance, either by Provider, profitability or sustainability

If you are interested in knowing more about the Cost of Care review project or Valuing Care’s Purchaser software please contact us. 

For more information on Valuing Care’s benchmarking data link here

To view a video of the Purchaser software see below.

 

Contact Us
14th June 2022 | Ray Hart
News, , , , , , , ,

Southend City Council Commission Valuing Care to complete and support their Fair Cost of Care Exercises

Southend City Council Commission Valuing Care to complete to support their Fair Cost of Care Exercises

Southend City Council contacted Valuing Care to discuss project support capacity in completing their Fair Cost of Care requirements for the DHSC. For this exercise Valuing Care are supporting the survey collection exercise in both residential and domiciliary care. 

The support includes:  
  • Helping Providers to complete the templates including 1-1 telephone support
  • Managing the data collection process 
  • Checking provider templates for accuracy and consistency
  • Identification of fair cost of care rates from the survey results 

All of the data collected will use the LGA toolkit for domiciliary care or the IESE tool for residential and nursing. This will ensure a consistent approach can be taken regionally and help providers concentrate on one reporting format.

The survey collection started in May 2022 and is well on its way towards completion. The target date is the end of July 2022.

In addition to supporting the survey collection, Southend City Council will have access to Valuing Care’s benchmark data for both domiciliary and residential care. These benchmarks can be used to analyse individual cost lines against the survey results.

This independent dataset, built up over the last 10 years, can give the local authority confidence that their statistical sample is accurate in the wider market. It can also provide an anchor point to challenge any survey figures that appear out of kilter from the wider market.

 
 

Using Valuing care to support the Fair Cost of Care Exercise in this way, Southend can be reassured that their market sustainability plan captures the balance between paying providers a sustainable rate and ensuring value for money for council taxpayers.

If you are interested in knowing more about the project or Valuing Care’s Commissioner and Benchmarking software, please contact us. 

 
Contact Us

To view a video of the Commissioner software see below. 

24th January 2022 | Ray Hart
News, , , , ,
Page 1 of 4
1 2 3 4