GET READY – it’s coming – the Care Cap is on its way!
As we all know by now, English Local Authorities need to be ready to provide Care Accounts and adhere to the new Care Cap from October 2023, with early assessments recommended from April 2023.
This means there is limited time for Local Authorities to embed a very new way of working for social workers, and to make the necessary changes to social care case management systems. It will inevitably have a profound impact on already stretched Adults’ Social Care teams.
The Charging Reforms will present several operational challenges to Local Authorities, such as:
- Increased demand: Local Authorities will be obligated to offer additional support to self-funders in terms of assessments, care accounts and provision of support packages. Reviewing of cases and monitoring of care caps will also place increased pressure on local authority resources
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Up to date information: Local Authorities will need to ensure they are offering accurate, up to date information, advice, and signposting to services, requiring additional effort in keeping information accurate
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New ways of working: Local Authorities need to be able to handle new ways of working, including the ability to effectively support self-funders, the provision and support of Care Accounts and the transfer of Care Accounts between authorities
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Training: Staff across services need to understand the reforms and be able to advise and assist citizens at all stages of their social care journey
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Support: There will be new processes and likely functionality that need supporting from a business and IT perspective
In addition to the operational challenges, there are implementation challenges that Local Authorities need to be aware of:
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There will be a greater focus on portability of information, so Local Authority processes and systems must meet requirements outside of their teams and systems.
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Local Authorities will need to complete a fair cost of care analysis exercise to determine what charges self-funders will be required to pay for their care.
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There will be additional reporting requirements that need to be supported by processes and systems, potentially including new statutory requirements.
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Case Management system processes will need to be updated to ensure data is being captured and surfaced accurately and securely.
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Additional functionality may be required, depending on system maturity in each authority e.g., online portals, self-assessment tools, service directories, care account reporting etc.
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There is limited time to implement the changes to processes and systems
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New case management system functionality may attract additional charges that Local Authorities need to plan for
How BetterGov can help
BetterGov are specialists in social care consultancy and systems implementation. Our experienced teams have successfully implemented over two dozen social care case management systems and are well placed to support clients navigate and overcome the challenges created by the adult social care reforms.
We can help with:
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Full reconfiguration projects considering all the Care Cap and Adults’ Social Care Reforms
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Business Process re-engineering of current workflows and forms redesign to take account of new ways of working
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Workflow recommendations and re-configuration of current case management systems
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Option appraisals of supplier’s additional case management system modules and functionality to meet the charging reform requirements – portals and other online offerings will be a particularly important aspect of doing more with little or no additional resource
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Any additional infrastructure requirements to meet a potential increase in data and storage needs
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Additional testing support
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Reporting needs analysis and report writing
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Training needs analysis and training
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Implementation support at go live
Interested in a conversation? Please contact Martin Johnston – [email protected]
