The landscape of social care funding is often complex, requiring meticulous assessments to ensure fair and efficient allocation of resources. For care managers navigating this intricate system, tools that enhance objectivity and streamline processes are invaluable. One such tool making a significant impact across England is the Care Funding Calculator (CFC) assessment tool. This article delves into how the CFC functions as a vital assessment tool, offering insights from a care manager who has firsthand experience using it to improve care planning and resource management for individuals with learning disabilities.
Understanding the Care Funding Calculator Assessment Tool
Developed by the Improvement and Efficiency Social Enterprise (iESE), the Care Funding Calculator is a freely available Excel-based tool designed to support local councils in efficiently managing social care funding negotiations. It’s specifically tailored for residential care and supported living placements for individuals with learning disabilities. While not recommended for older people’s services, its impact in its target area has been substantial. Reports indicate that its adoption by 125 councils across England has resulted in significant savings, estimated at £45 million across 51 councils between 2008 and 2012.
The tool’s value is also recognized by care providers. The Voluntary Organisations Disability Group (VODG) acknowledges that despite some limitations in its costing assumptions, the CFC remains a “useful tool for calculating fees”. This acceptance is further solidified by a protocol developed jointly by council and provider leaders, promoting fair negotiation and a balanced approach to risk and service user outcomes when using the CFC.
Image alt text: Liz Williams, a Buckinghamshire Council care manager, explains how the Care Funding Calculator enhances care assessment processes.
Practical Applications of the CFC in Care Management
To understand the practical application of the CFC, we spoke with Liz Williams, a care manager at Buckinghamshire Council. Liz has been utilizing the Care Funding Calculator Assessment Tool for the past two years and shared her experiences in an interview, highlighting its role in various assessment and review processes.
When is the CFC Utilized?
In Buckinghamshire, the CFC is integrated into standard reviews for individuals with learning disabilities residing in residential care or supported living arrangements. It is also employed in cases where individuals are transitioning to different living situations, aiming for greater independence or closer proximity to their homes, under the council’s My Life My Home (MLMH) program. Liz herself conducts reviews within the MLMH framework and finds the CFC to be an essential component.
How the CFC Assessment Process Works
Liz describes her review process as a two-part approach. First, a narrative assessment is conducted to gain a holistic understanding of the individual’s life and circumstances. This is followed by the CFC assessment, which delves into the specifics of their care and support needs in granular detail. Care managers like Liz utilize tablet computers during these reviews, enabling them to directly input information into the CFC system in real-time.
Data for the CFC assessment is gathered from various sources, prioritizing the service user’s input whenever possible. This is supplemented by information from their family, support network, or existing care providers, drawing on existing support plans and daily support logs to evidence the level of assistance required for different activities. Liz notes that once the necessary information is compiled, inputting it into the CFC spreadsheet typically takes around 30 minutes, demonstrating its efficiency in data processing.
Key Questions within the CFC Assessment
The Care Funding Calculator assessment tool is structured to systematically capture the full spectrum of an individual’s support needs. It prompts care managers to consider activities, tasks, and other needs across several key areas:
- Personal Care: Encompassing assistance with daily living activities such as washing, dressing, and hygiene.
- Social Activities: Including support for participation in community events, hobbies, and social interactions.
- Independent Living Skills: Covering areas like cooking, cleaning, managing finances, and using public transportation.
- Staying Safe: Addressing needs related to personal safety, risk management, and health monitoring.
For each of these areas, the CFC requires detailed information regarding the level of support needed (staffing ratios and skill levels), the frequency of support, and the duration of each support instance. For example, when assessing laundry needs, the tool asks whether support is required, if it’s shared or one-on-one, the weekly frequency, duration per session, and the necessary staff grade (basic care worker, senior care worker, or nurse).
Furthermore, the CFC includes a section focused on “improving outcomes.” This section specifically addresses activities where the service user aims to enhance their independence, recognizing that temporary additional support may be crucial to achieving these goals. Liz highlights that the structured nature of the CFC acts as a valuable “aide memoire,” ensuring comprehensive assessments that cover all relevant needs and prevent oversights.
Benefits of the CFC for Care Managers and Councils
Liz emphasizes several key advantages of using the Care Funding Calculator assessment tool, both for care managers and the wider council system:
Time Efficiency and Streamlined Approvals
The CFC has significantly reduced the time required for placement agreements and reviews. The objectivity and structured approach of the CFC instills confidence in senior managers and panels, leading to faster sign-offs for new placements and care package adjustments. Liz contrasts this with the previous process, which was “very time-consuming” and often required extensive senior management involvement to authorize placement costs.
Objective Measure of Need
The CFC provides an objective and consistent measure of an individual’s care needs. This objectivity reduces subjectivity in assessments and ensures that resource allocation is based on demonstrable need rather than potentially biased perceptions.
Tracking Progress Towards Independence
The tool facilitates the tracking of a service user’s progress over time. By comparing assessments across reviews, care managers can readily identify reductions in required support time for specific tasks. This provides a quantifiable measure of progress towards greater independence, crucial for individuals on pathways to more autonomous living. Liz describes it as providing “quite a good measure of time reduction,” valuable for monitoring and demonstrating positive outcomes.
Equitable and Consistent Assessments
Liz highlights the CFC’s role in promoting equity. By standardizing the assessment parameters across all care managers, the CFC ensures consistency in approach and reduces reliance on individual care manager’s advocacy skills to secure appropriate resources. This fosters a fairer and more transparent system.
Personalized and Bespoke Care Planning
Despite its structured format, the CFC enables highly personalized care planning. The level of detail it captures allows for assessments that are specific to the individual’s unique needs. As Liz explains, “If someone needs 45 minutes for personal care, that’s how much they need. It’s not about the provider allocating a block of time for personal care for every service user. It’s completely bespoke.” This emphasis on individual need ensures that care packages are tailored to the person, not generic service blocks.
Image alt text: Informative table outlining key details of the Care Funding Calculator, including its developer, usage, and reported savings.
Addressing Potential Concerns
Focus on Needs, Not Just Costs
A crucial point Liz emphasizes is that the care manager’s version of the CFC focuses solely on needs assessment, not cost calculations. “It’s not a cost issue,” she states. The care manager’s role remains centered on accurately assessing the individual’s requirements in collaboration with home managers and support staff.
A separate negotiator’s version of the CFC is used by commissioners to determine placement fees, incorporating support hours, overheads, and other costs. This separation ensures that care assessments remain needs-led, with cost considerations addressed in a distinct phase of the process. While care managers may occasionally be involved in cost discussions to bridge gaps in understanding between providers and commissioners, their primary focus remains on advocating for the individual’s needs.
Improving Council-Provider Relationships
The CFC can also positively influence the relationship between councils and care providers. It provides a clear framework for providers to articulate the rationale behind their service provision and associated costs. By acting as a neutral “third party,” as Liz describes it, the CFC facilitates more transparent and constructive dialogues, moving away from potentially adversarial negotiations towards a shared understanding of needs and resource allocation.
Conclusion: A Valuable Tool for Modern Care Management
In conclusion, the Care Funding Calculator assessment tool emerges as a significant asset for care managers navigating the complexities of social care funding. Its structured approach, focus on detailed needs assessment, and contribution to efficiency and objectivity make it a valuable instrument for improving care planning and resource allocation for individuals with learning disabilities. As Liz Williams’ experience demonstrates, the CFC not only streamlines processes and saves time but also fosters more equitable, personalized, and ultimately, more effective care management practices.
