Nottingham City Council has approved additional funding for external providers to conduct reviews and assessments in the Adult Social Care sector.
The city council has allocated £429,000 to continue with the Strength Based Review Transformation Programme, using two existing external providers. Currently, about 260 people are awaiting a Care Act assessment, and 600 are waiting for occupational therapy assessments. This lack of capacity has led to increased delays and costs in crisis response.
The council says that it has recognised several key factors that necessitated this decision:
Reducing Financial Burden: Proactive review and re-assessment help in reducing unnecessary support, thus cutting down on expenses. Delaying these processes can lead to costlier crisis responses.
Improving Service Efficiency: The strength-based approach aims to tailor care packages to meet individual needs, potentially leading to significant savings.
Meeting Targets: Additional investment is required to complete the target of 3,947 reviews. So far, 3,220 reviews have been completed under the programme.
Financial Implications and Savings
- Previous Commitments: The project has already committed £1,379,000 to date.
- Projected Savings: Reviews by social work practitioners save an average of £659 per year, while those by occupational therapy practitioners save about £1,166 per year.
- Long-Term Benefits: The planned activity is expected to achieve £12.434 million in gross cumulative savings across the medium-term financial plan (MTFP).
The Care Act 2014 imposes a duty on the Council to undertake and keep under review care and support plans. In trying to meet this duty, the Council has already engaged external providers to undertake such reviews.
These providers were sourced via a framework (which will have provided a compliant route to market) and the intention is to use the same providers as they are now fully up to speed on the Council’s systems and approach; to engage other providers would entail delays to get them up to speed, further delaying reviews thus impacting directly the beneficiaries of such reviews and potentially increasing the risks to the Council of successful claims.
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