Local care market exercise
In 2021 the government set out its plan for adult social care reform. Local authorities were required to conduct an exercise with their local care market to establish the costs of providing the following types of care:
- residential/nursing care for adults over 65 years and
- domiciliary care for adults over 18.
The aim was for local authorities to develop a shared understanding of the costs of delivering care in Cambridgeshire to better understand where fee rates may need to increase.
Cost of Care reports
Published below are the two cost of care reports we submitted to government in October 2022. The exercise has helped the Council to better understand the costs of care delivery in Cambridgeshire. The information will help to inform the development of our Market Sustainability Plan. However, the Council wish to state that the funding received to support Adult Social Care market sustainability is not sufficient enough to meet the identified funding gap identified by the cost of care exercise.
The Cost of Care reports contain a median care cost based on information supplied to us by c.50% of the local market. This 'middle' average masks the natural variation in care costs. It may not be fully representative of Cambridgeshire’s care market. In reality, fee rates are determined by several factors such as:
- a person's individual needs
- workforce availability
- operating costs
- quality
- location
- occupancy
- each provider's business model.
As such, we expect fee rates will continue to vary across providers and areas.
We will continue to use commissioning processes and individual contract negotiation to determine the fee rates we pay. We strive to balance our duty to get best value for public money with the costs incurred in the delivery of care.
We want to thank the care providers who took part in the cost of care exercise.
Market sustainability plan
Following the publication of our Cost of Care reports, we are pleased to publish Cambridgeshire’s Market Sustainability Plan. The plan has been informed by engagement with the local care market and information from our Cost of Care reports. We would like to thank all providers who attended the engagement events in February.
The Market Sustainability Plan sets out: -
- An assessment of the sustainability of the local care market
- An assessment of the impact of future market changes between now and October 2025 (given that charging reforms are no longer planned for October 2023)
- Our plans to address the issues identified and improve market sustainability
The plan includes the sectors covered during the Cost of Care exercise (care homes and homecare) as well as the wider adult social care market.
Cambridgeshire County Council's Market Sustainability Plan can be found below.
