Operational commissioning

Market intelligence reports: Commissioners can get insight into the state of providers in their area through reviewing our market intelligence reports. These reports utilise information from the CQC records of registered locations and more in-depth insights from the Provider Information Return (PIR) responses submitted by registered care providers (residential and community based) in the last 12 months.

Market oversight of adult social care: Care Quality Commission:  The CQC operates the market oversight scheme which assesses the financial viability for ‘hard to replace’ providers of adult social care. Commissioners may also wish to review CQC guidance and regulations for social care providers.

Contingency planning toolkit and guidance: North West ADASS: North West ADASS published a 'Contingency planning toolkit and guidance' to assist councils in that region with their contingency planning for potential or actual provider failure. This guide has been developed utilising best practice from the region and national approaches, whilst recognising that every situation is different and it is up to the responsible officer to decide the best approach for their council.

Business continuity guidance and templates - Care Provider Alliance: The Care Provider Alliance (CPA) has produced guidance and templates to help independent and voluntary providers ensure continuity of care, and to ensure their business can continue, if a problem occurs.

Home care market: Understanding and mitigating failure: Our commissioning team ran a roundtable discussion in October 2021 with the East Midlands ADASS team and the Nuffield Trust to explore what actions commissioners can take to mitigating failure in home care.

• In 2022, PCH, then CHIP, developed a wide suite of support for councils to enable to complete cost of care exercises required of them by a DHSC grant.
• This support was well-received and included the commissioning of access to cost of care tools on behalf of all councils, with around 80 per cent of councils using our commissioned tools to complete the exercise.
• Councils can access the home care cost of care tool, alongside accompanying how-to videos and written guidance for utilising the tool.
• Following on from the cost of care exercises in 2022, commissioners expressed a desire for tools to help them understand the costs involved in supported living settings. 
• We have purchased access to a supported living cost of care tool developed by ARCC, which will help councils and partners obtain a shared understanding of the costs of providing supported living care. 
• Councils can access the new tool. The tool is excel-based, and has been made open access, so it can be freely used by all councils and providers, and has guidance embedded within it.

Information and guidance on various critical aspects contributing to a stabilised workforce:

• Top tips for retention – A briefing for adult social care providers captures insights and approaches taken by organisations to reduce staff turnover and help retain people in the care and health workforce.
• Flexible working in social care is a suite of products produced with social care teams, occupational therapists, trade unions and professional leads to help to make flexible working a viable option for people working in social care.
• Overseas recruitment bite-size guide for social care providers is a bite-size guide for social care providers in England which may also be relevant to providers in the UK, to help explore and maximise opportunities overseas recruitment offers.
• Top tips for embedding a wellbeing culture was produced jointly by councils and providers, and looks at the importance of health and wellbeing in the workplace and shares several innovative approaches.