Savings, Solutions, and Sustainability - Issue 1

CARE ENGLAND Savings, Solutions, and Sustainability

The big energy debate Brokers, contracts, and market trends

Workforce wellbeing Preventative approaches

Shifting perspective Sustainability in social care

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Care England

CONTENTS 5

Welcome from Care England Professor Martin Green OBE, Chief Executive of Care England, outlines the objectives of this new publication.

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Money saving updates The Care England team shares its pick of offers and saving opportunities not to be missed.

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10 In the hot seat: An interview with Damien Wilkins, Cohesion Recruitment Discover how to run a successful recruitment campaign and ensure new recruits stay for the long haul.

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Supporting our care workforce: Why wellbeing must take a preventative and proactive approach Karl Bennett, Wellbeing Director at Vivup and Chair of EAPA (Employee Assistance Programme Association), tells us more about the impact of staff absence due to mental health.

18 Member spotlight: Nightingale Hammerson Nuno Santos Lopes, Director of Research, Innovation and Community Engagement, talks about the impact of research in Nightingale Hammerson’s care homes.

22 The big energy debate: How providers can work effectively with brokers, renew contracts and understand the market Richard Ayres, Social Care Advisor at Care England, caught up with David Woodward, Director at Focus Energy Services Ltd, to find out what providers need to consider.

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28 How to… Keep agency staff costs down Christoph Marr, Managing Director at Marr Procurement, shares some key strategies to help achieve better agency rates.

32 Is it essential to focus on sustainability?

Jonathan Freeman, the Group Sustainability Director at CareTech Ltd and Chair of the Social Care Sustainability Alliance, outlines the key areas to help you on your journey.

38 Legal matters Rob Walton, a Partner at legal firm RWK Goodman, explains how providers can generate additional income from your care home estate.

40 Food for thought: How care homes can cut food costs Richard Woodward, General Manager of apetito’s care home division, looks at how care homes can save money in the kitchen.

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Care England

44 Members' voice: Your questions answered Care England answers questions on transitioning to digital, updates on local authority commissioning, and outlines how Care England is creating policies around net zero and climate change.

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CONTRIBUTORS 1

Professor Martin Green OBE

Chief Executive, Care England @ProfMartinGreen

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Richard Ayres

Social Care Advisor, Care England

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Damien Wilkins

Recruitment and Retention Specialist, Cohesion Recruitment

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David Woodward

Director, Focus Energy Services Ltd

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Nuno Santos Lopes

Director of Research, Innovation and Community Engagement, Nightingale Hammerson @NGHHammerson

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2 3

1

5 4

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Karl Bennett Wellbeing Director at Vivup, Chair of the Employee Assistance Programme Association (EAPA) @wearevivup

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Christoph Marr

Managing Director, Marr Procurement Ltd

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@christoph_marr

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Jonathan Freeman

Chief Executive, CareTech Foundation @jonathanfreeman

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Rob Walton Partner, RWK Goodman @RWKGoodman

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Richard Woodward

General Manager, apetito’s care home division @apetitouk

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Charlotte Lezard

Policy and Public Affairs Officer, Care England George Appleton

Head of Policy, Care England

EDITORIAL editor@caremanagementmatters.co.uk Editor: Olivia Hubbard Content Editor: Aislinn Thompson

PRODUCTION

Olivia Hubbard

Designer: Ruth Keating, Director: Lisa Werthmann Studio Manager: Jamie Harvey

ADVERTISING Advertising Manager: Aaron Barber aaron.barber@caremanagementmatters.co.uk

Care England

WELCOME FROM CARE ENGLAND Welcome to our first issue of Savings, Solutions, and Sustainability – a publication focused on helping care providers navigate challenging financial pressures to support business operations.

As we step into a new year, Care England will continue to work tirelessly and support social care providers to put their best foot forward; this publication aims to remain on top of the economic, sustainability and procurement issues hitting the headlines nationally and will offer solutions. Alongside this publication, our latest report, CARE FOR OUR FUTURE: The roadmap to a sustainable future for adult social care, is essential reading for care providers and we have big ambitions in terms of our policy and influencing work.

Whilst we continue to work with our local and national partners in relation to the delivery of these recommendations, it’s now incumbent upon us, as sector professionals, to look inward and reflect on how we can provide our own solutions to the problems we face.

Each edition of Savings, Solutions, and Sustainability includes expert-led technical features covering operations and solutions in relation to Care England

cost saving, and several salient themes including workforce and funding. Collaboration and partnerships are central to Care England’s ethos and this publication is part of an exciting collaboration with Care Management Matters (CMM), which has been publishing in the social care sector for 20 years.

Adult social care providers are facing increased running costs, including food and electricity, with some struggling to pay their staff a wage in line with inflation, which affects recruitment and retention. There is currently no long-term plan for staffing and the challenges of the last four years have seen years wiped off the balance sheet of care providers. Surveys have shown that between 40% and 50% of care providers have considered exiting the market in the past 12 months and a growing number believe they may need to exit the market in the next six months to two years if the environment does not change. Against an increasingly challenging

backdrop of ongoing pressures and in the likely absence of further Government action this side of the general election, it is imperative that care providers are part of a wider community of opportunities to help troubleshoot the issues affecting your service and push you forward to deliver your core ambitions. Care England is the body to help foster those opportunities.

Our ‘Cinderella service’ has been neglected time and time again, at the expense of staff, the people we support and wider society.

Despite these challenges, the sector remains one that is hopeful and brimming with talent and enthusiasm. Care providers up and down the country continue to deliver essential services, supporting vulnerable individuals to maintain their independence, achieve their individual goals, and enjoy a high quality of life. Thank you to everyone who delivers selfless acts of kindness every single day in this incredible sector that I’m lucky enough to have worked in for many years.

Ensure your voice is heard and submit your questions and content suggestions for future editions. We are here to help, listen and act on your behalf. I would like to thank our contributors and supporters who have been involved in this issue.

I hope you have a wonderful end to 2023 and look forward to hearing your news, whether it’s good or bad, in 2024. I really hope you enjoy the publication and welcome your feedback.

Professor Martin Green OBE Chief Executive, Care England 5

IMPLEMENTING SUSTAINABILITY IN SOCIAL CARE THROUGH TECHNOLOGY Organisations within social care are increasingly prioritising eco-friendly practices in order to achieve their environmental objectives. With the Care Quality Commission assessing the negative environmental impact of care providers’ activities, sustainability has become more important than ever.

Despite the high energy consumption in the health and social care sectors, sustainable technology can be leveraged to benefit both residents and the planet through the incorporation of preventive care and operational changes such as solar panel installation and locally sourced food. Electronic reporting systems, such as those provided by Radar Healthcare, are a key driver for sustainability as they reduce the reliance on paper-based processes and promote continuous improvement through enhanced oversight.

Our partners, including Hallmark Care Homes, frequently cite Radar Healthcare’s positive impact on sustainability as a deciding factor for implementation. “Not only does the platform eradicate paper-based methods, it also aligns with the sustainability goals of our organisation.”

Why Partner with Radar Healthcare?

Radar Healthcare is a market-leader in risk management, quality assurance, and compliance software. We operate globally, catering to whole health and social care continuum, empowering organisations to make a significant impact. As a software supplier, we take pride in being flexible, innovative, and resourceful in catering to the everchanging regulations and requirements of the industry, ensuring we are continuously working towards lasting digital transformation.

With over a decade of experience working closely with a range of health and social care organisations, we share the same values and mission as our partners, to create safer and more positive outcomes for everyone. Which is why 60% of the top ten care groups in the UK and many more NHS Trusts, Dental Groups, Government Bodies, Primary Care Providers, Patient Transport Services and charities trust us.

For more information on partnering with Radar Healthcare, scan the QR code below. We look forward to speaking with you!

Radar Healthcare has totally changed the way we record and use data. Prior to Radar Healthcare we used paper-based system, which was time-consuming and cumbersome to manage. Radar Healthcare allows real time reporting, clear escalation of events where required, easy access to all data via analytics. All of this has improved our clinical and quality governance, allowing us to look at trends in individual service as well as in a group.”

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Care England

MONEY

SAVING UPDATES

Secure the lowest possible energy rates available How do care providers know who they should and shouldn’t listen to – who can genuinely save them money on their energy renewals and who are sales-led organisations incentivised to chase hidden commissions? The latter may leave the care provider with contracts that are not always in their best interest, resulting in overcharges or penalties. Since January 2023, Focus Energy Services has saved 100% of care providers up to 300% on their energy renewals and achieved the lowest possible rates via a care sector energy tender, which has never been seen before and caused quite a stir, and has helped secure the lowest possible energy rates and recovered millions of pounds in overcharges whilst unlocking benefits previously only open to the largest providers. Care providers whose energy renews in the next three years can participate and those who have already renewed may be entitled to a free audit to see if they can recover any incorrect charges.

To access these services contact: David Woodward on T: 01904 202294 M: 07969 590083 or E: david@focusenergyservices.co.uk and quote Care England.

Reduce agency costs by up to 20% Challenges with agency staffing can be a huge distraction with hours spent sourcing staff, checking credentials and ensuring compliance, which can also result in non-attendance by the worker and a huge inconvenience and risk to the care provider. Neuven offers a best-inclass solution for health and social care agency staffing, whether the provider is a single service or operates multiple locations. Neuven reduces agency costs by up to 20%, often with the provider's existing trusted and dedicated care partners, by leveraging their £250m of agency spend and offering transparency, compliance reporting and enhanced administration to deliver increased agency performance at a reduced cost.

They transact over 58 million hours per annum, saving clients millions of pounds whilst enhancing the agency service to over 1,000 care services offering 99.9% fulfilment and 100% compliance.

To discuss their services, contact: Ian Roth on M: 07759 834445 or E: ian.roth@neuvan.co.uk and quote Care England.

Find solutions to increasing catering costs Catering is an integral part of care service provision and with food and beverage costs increasing by 35% in the last three years according to a Creed Foodservice report this autumn, the pressure to balance food service with cost pressures has never been more challenging.

Care providers can tackle some of the recent food inflation in a variety of ways, such as a food and beverage audit and by leveraging their spend with other care providers via a care sector catering tender, as well as by making appropriate substitutions without risking quality, by reducing waste, and by moving to semi-pared items.

All these solutions have been packaged together by Creed Foodservice who can assist all care providers with inflation-busting solutions designed to sustain or increase quality and reduce cost to the care provider.

To participate in any of these solutions, contact: Andy Williams on M: 07753 498980 or E: andywilliams@creedfoodservice.co.uk and quote Care England.

Care England

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MONEY SAVING UPDATES CONTINUED

Controlling consumable and equipment costs can deliver huge savings Care, cleaning, continence, medical consumables, and equipment can be incredibly costly and complex for care providers to manage. This is in terms of stock levels and keeping track of usage and expenditure. Proactively controlling the purchasing of the correct items that use dedicated software, as well as ongoing support from a helpful account manager who provides management information on expenditure, is key to reducing costs.

Care home essentials that prioritise people, planet, and pocket A dedicated and award-winning healthcare supplier to care homes, CareHomeLife is committed to making a positive difference for care homes to take advantage of significant savings resulting from more efficient ordering, MI, and consumption, as well as more sustainable choices, such as concentrates and auto-dosing. Personal protection and infection control are critical and costly areas to manage where huge savings can be made.

People: Success comes from being an extended family to care for and provide ongoing and proactive support.

Planet: Helping care homes to do more with less, using fewer but more effective products.

Pocket: CareHomeLife can save care providers up to 20% on their overall expenditure through a mix of savings in products purchased, staff time, effort, utility savings and waste reduction.

To take advantage of the potential savings and enhanced reporting and MI to significantly reduce costs, contact: CareHomeLife on T: 01772 425310 or E: info@carehomelife.co.uk and quote Care England.

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Recover £30 per week per resident in VAT* Most people’s eyes gloss over when we mention VAT, or they simply believe that it’s not applicable to care providers, which is not true! Care providers can recover VAT via local authority and NHS-funded placements, which has no impact on self-pay clients. Currently, more than half of local authorities and Integrated Care Boards (ICBs) permit VAT recovery; however, that is changing. Even if your current local authority or ICB has not yet permitted VAT recovery, now is the time to lodge a claim.

Three recent and very significant changes have paved the way for care providers to recover VAT. An NHS paper in support of VAT recovery, a court hearing in favour of care providers and a legal case all support care providers to recover VAT of between £30 to £50 per week per resident. This can equate to around £30,000 per annum for an average care home of 30 beds with 60% of public-funded residents.

There may also be opportunities to recover up to four times that amount retrospectively meaning an average home could see up to £150,000 in VAT recovered and claims for groups would be commensurately larger. Care providers can lodge a claim to establish how much VAT they can recover and pay a success fee only when funds are recovered.

To lodge a claim, contact: Kieran Lynch on T: 0114 262 2127 or E: VATsupport@kieran-lynch.co.uk and quote Care England.

*Saving is based on an average care service with 30 service users and an average cost of care of £750 per week with a mix of 60% public-funded residents and their public funders agreeing to VAT recovery.

For more information on further discounts and free offers of support to all care providers, search ‘Care England Discounts’ to review multiple ways to save even more money on purchased goods and services.

Care England

CARE HOME ESSENTIALS that prioritise people, planet and pocket “CareHomeLife have an amazing ethos. Excellent pricing and quality all laced with courtesy. A wonderful company to deal with.”

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Q& A

In our first interview, Care England speaks to Damien Wilkins, Recruitment and Retention Specialist at Cohesion, to find out how providers can work towards a sustainable workforce and what his top tips are for running a successful recruitment campaign.

IN THE HOT SEAT An interview with Damien Wilkins, Cohesion

Care England: Why is it so important to spend time getting to know new starters?

CE: Do you have evidence to highlight the turnover rate in the sector?

Damien Wilkins: Aiding retention starts from the beginning of the recruitment journey and efforts should not stop at any point, but it is even more crucial in the initial weeks and months into an employee’s new role. When asking this question, it’s important to remember that there are added factors to consider. For example, whether the colleague is new to care. If they are new to care and have a poor onboarding and new starter experience, then they are more likely to re-evaluate whether care is the right sector for them. Plus, no two care settings are the same. This may mean that, even if someone has worked in care before, it may not translate to your organisation’s structure and work pattern. As with any employee/employer relationship, it’s essential to spend time engaging with your new employees. This is the time to myth-bust preconceptions that someone might have about social care as a career. Remember that this is the ‘honeymoon’ period – so make it as memorable as possible.

DW: Skills for Care reports that the turnover rate for directly employed staff working in the adult social care sector was 28.3% in 2022/23.

This equates to approximately 390,000 people leaving their posts over the year. Not all people leaving their posts leave the sector. Around 59% of filled posts were recruited from other roles within the sector.

The turnover rate, for all sectors, decreased from 28.9% in 2021/22 to 28.3% in 2022/23. For independent sector establishments, the turnover rate decreased from 31.7% in 2021/22 to 30.4% in 2022/23. This decrease was influenced by an increase in international recruits.

The key is to find the right people in your recruitment process, make sure you onboard them well, and give them a reason to stay.

Turnover data should be tracked and analysed and, whilst many providers do track data, it’s important to consider specific metrics. Look at new-to-care starters and other factors such as workforce demographics to measure improvements. Care and support staff tend to move around within the sector. Providers need

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to focus on how to make their organisations a place employees want to stay in rather than moving to a competitor. Pay can be a contributing factor, but it is not the only one.

CE: What are some of the current recruitment and retention challenges for social care providers?

DW: There are several challenges for providers when it comes to improving retention and some of the main reasons include: • Lack of flexibility that can be offered to new and existing staff.

• New-to-care workers discover that care is not what they thought.

• Cost of living driving people to look for work in other sectors.

• A feeling of working long hours and work-life balance being negatively impacted.

• Poor induction training and career development opportunities within the organisation.

• Lack of access to a manager for discussions and one-to-ones.

• Poor hiring decisions, which are often made when operational teams are under pressure.

• Candidates failing to understand the available career pathways.

Care England

CE: Are you able to share some strategies that providers can implement?

CE: How can providers work towards having a sustainable care workforce?

DW: Values-based recruitment looks at a candidate’s values and helps determine their suitability for working in the care sector.

It has been proven to be more effective when it comes to both costs and results in comparison to traditional recruitment processes. Tools to aid valuesbased recruitment and retention need not be expensive and will provide a positive return on your investment when used correctly.

Care Character has been designed specifically to help care organisations find the right people and support to retain them. The tool was developed by bringing together the findings from a PhD study – Recruitment and Selection in the UK Care Sector – which explored the attributes of quality care and support staff and Cohesion's experience in delivering values based recruitment solutions within care. The tool includes a short online assessment for candidates prior to the interview and provides several useful reports.

The reports include a Candidate Report to help people prepare for an interview, and an Interviewer Report to allow assessment of the candidate against seven qualities of care with suggested interview questions. Other reports include a Development Report, which enables early learning and development discussions.

Using psychometric assessments such as Care Character to identify the most suitable candidates for your organisation can go a long way in helping you begin to solve the retention issues we face.

These tools can often be a low-cost and high-impact solution and could help generate a significant return on a small investment.

DW: Providers need to understand their current workforce. What is the age of your workforce? How much are your agency costs? How many people are in your bank workforce?

What are your demographics? What are your challenges and where are your problem areas? And how well suited to working in the care sector are your existing staff? If you know this, then you can focus on the actions you need to take, whether that’s working on reducing your agency spending or converting temporary workers to bank or permanent contracts.

You also need to work on providing meaningful development opportunities. 72% of leavers surveyed during thousands of exit and retention interviews highlighted hunger for better learning and development opportunities early on in a new role. By using tools such as Care Character, you will be able to better identify the learning and development that your team wants.

CE: How can smaller providers still deliver an effective six-week onboarding process given possible restraints?

DW: Whether you have 20 employees or 1,000, a positive onboarding experience isn’t a niceto-have, it is something you must provide. Many smaller providers report it can be easier to develop consistency in onboarding than those with different processes across different homes and services.

There are lots of resources available to help with onboarding, such as the Care England workforce group and the Skills for Care checklist, or recruitment and onboarding tools such as Care Character. Employers should look to these resources to improve their current processes to increase retention and avoid high attrition in the early stages of the recruitment process.

CE: Considering the current challenges and the cost-of-living crisis, how should providers be approaching their recruitment and retention campaigns?

DW: There are several considerations and preparingahead tasks that will help to retain your workforce. These include: • Take the time to understand your staff’s current situations.

Make sure you conduct stay interviews; these give critical feedback you can act upon before a resignation occurs.

• Be flexible. Look at shift planning differently to allow for a more flexible pool of staffing teams.

• Encourage your team to join your bank pool to opt into completing extra shifts before going to recruitment agencies for temporary shift cover.

• Consider the benefits you offer and make sure they are advertised, for example, free meals, vouchers, discounts, EAP support, etc.

• Offer a retention bonus and/or a ‘refer a friend’ bonus.

• Target your local community and ask for referrals – referred friends and family tend to stay longer.

• Be clear about your career pathways. Offer specialist development opportunities as not all will want to climb the traditional career ladder.

• Advertise to new audiences, such as students who are home during the holidays and/or retirees looking to earn some more money.

• Ensure new starters have access to support from buddies or mentors, especially if they are new to care.

• Equip managers with the tools to successfully support their teams.

• Reach out to recruitment and workforce experts who understand social care and ask for advice.

• Implement screening tools such as Care Character to help recruit those suited to care and reduce fallout in the early stages of onboarding.

Damien Wilkins is a Recruitment and Retention Specialist at Cohesion.

Email: damien.wilkins@cohesionrecruitment.com Care England

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Supporting our care workforce Why wellbeing must take a preventative and proactive approach

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Care England

If the wellbeing of care workers is a contributing factor to the current care sector workforce crisis, how can a preventative and proactive approach to wellbeing stop the care sector from reaching crisis point? Karl Bennett, Wellbeing Director at Vivup and Chair of the Employee Assistance Programme Association (EAPA), tells us more.

Over the last three years, the UK care sector has faced several challenges that have placed an unprecedented amount of pressure on its workforce.

Low wages, a cost-of-living crisis, and post-COVID burnout have together impacted on employee morale, productivity and presenteeism. Cumulatively, these factors have contributed to the current 152,000 sector-wide vacancies identified by Skills for Care in its July 2023 workforce report.

With over 800,000 people drawing on social care in England (according to the National Audit Office [NAO]), HR and business leaders must address wellbeing to deliver the standard of care that so many depend on. To achieve this, the most pressing concerns within the sector must be identified to deliver an all-encompassing support system that champions the mental, physical and financial wellbeing of the 1.6 million care workers currently employed in the UK.

Soaring absence rates Staff absence is costing the UK economy around £18bn annually and 12.7% of all sickness days in the UK can be attributed to poor mental health. With workers in care experiencing the highest absence rates (3.8%), it’s important to offer support options that help tackle absenteeism before it becomes a problem.

Without support in place, employers can expect to pay higher

Care England

overhead costs in agency reliance and/or overtime cover, while also experiencing reduced performance and service levels, workplace disruption and low morale. However, as the Mental Health Foundation confirms, a business investment in employee wellbeing is key to keeping absenteeism under control. The foundation estimates that, for every £1 invested in wellbeing, £8 is saved due to reduced absenteeism.

Low wages The issue of low pay is longstanding within the care sector. A report conducted by the Resolution Foundation confirms that the average care worker earns less than 80% of the wider workforce.

With the cost of living increasing above the National Living Wage over the last two years, care staff are struggling to afford the things they want and need.

Low wages also present wider issues with morale, productivity and retaining talent. The Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD) states that employers who pay the UK’s voluntary Real Living Wage experience enhanced reputation, easier recruitment, better labour relations, improved employee commitment and higher levels of motivation.

However, with pay rises not always possible in the care sector due to years of underfunding, social care workers are identified as the

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worst affected by insecure jobs.

As such, employers must provide financial wellbeing support to help keep their people on track; this can be done by: 1. Supplying staff with forums which promote open dialogue on financial concerns. Providing staff with financial seminars/ meetings within the workplace enables their people to gain useful information and muchneeded support. By encouraging regular and open communication, employers can help reduce any stigma around financial struggles.

2. Providing employees with a financial wellbeing benefit that offers debt advice as well as a variety of easy-to-access financial wellbeing tools and resources, such as financial calculators, information sheets, blogs and videos.

3. Using marketing materials to promote awareness of what financial support is available to staff and how they can access it.

The Care Workers’ Charity has produced several resources to support registered managers and care workers in managing their finances, including how to budget and a savings calculator. The charity also offers advice on energy and money-saving advice for social care.

Recruitment and retention roadblocks With staff turnover rates exceeding 28%, according to the Skills for Care Workforce Intelligence report, the UK care sector is double the 15% national average. During 2022-23, 390,000 staff members left their jobs and 130,000 of those left adult social care altogether.

Multiple reasons may account for high turnover rates, including low pay, the challenging nature of the role and better opportunities elsewhere. Despite national recruitment campaigns, 42% of providers noted a decline in the number of applications for care staff positions during 2022, making it difficult to fill workforce gaps and attract new people to the sector.

Care England

Unless employers, decisionmakers and governmental bodies act to resolve high turnover with meaningful benefits and solid wellbeing support, the challenges associated with poor retention will only worsen as the population ages and requires more care home support.

‘Over half of providers across the care sector turned down admissions, and nearly a fifth of providers closed their services due to high staff vacancies’ – Care England, 2022 Sector Pulse Check

Financial stress With 71% of care staff reportedly paid below the Real Living Wage, the occupation is one of the lowest paid in the UK. Employers are very aware that the impact of rising inflation is likely to exacerbate the already alarming labour gap within the sector, which could lead to implications for the quality of care. Once again, the need to offer financial wellbeing support becomes pressing.

Stress-related burnout The social care sector employs more workers than the NHS and research published by the Society of Occupational Medicine found that, in 2022, NHS England lost 75,000 staff to illness caused by burnout. A further 170,000 have left (or are planning to leave) due to workload pressures.

Because burnout is caused by excessive and prolonged workplace stress, it tends to occur once the employee has reached a point of crisis. At this point, the employee is likely to be experiencing a sense of disengagement and a loss of purpose within their role, which in turn can impact on workers' health, job performance, morale and quality of life.

Employers can help to prevent staff burnout by: 1. Ensuring staff levels meet productivity demand. It is crucial to have experienced staff available who are adequately trained to complete the task

at hand. Having a proactive approach to annual leave and sickness absence is vital.

Employers should ensure staff members can cover team members' roles should an absence occur and that they are fully aware of any ongoing projects.

2. Ensuring workloads are evenly distributed amongst staff with realistic and achievable deadlines.

Keeping up-to-date statistics on employees’ productivity levels, as well as conducting regular workload reviews, will help identify and address any areas of concern quickly.

3. Ensuring staff feel comfortable in approaching management should they feel their workloads are unachievable. Having regular one-to-one meetings and an ‘open door’ mentality will assist this.

4. Encouraging teamwork and acknowledging achievements, which will help staff feel supported and valued. Employees who feel appreciated in their workplace feel more engaged and are less likely to want to leave their employer.

5. Encouraging staff to take regular breaks and to maintain physical activity throughout the day.

Without preventative healthcare tools and in-the-moment support services, the issue of burnout will continue to cost the UK care sector dearly. It is therefore essential that care sector decision-makers invest in interventions and strategies to address burnout before it impacts on employee mental wellbeing.

Bereavement support Care workers build long-term relationships with the people they care for and coping with their loss can be difficult – so difficult, in fact, that the National Library of Medicine found grief reactions in staff ‘reflected many of the core grief symptoms reported by bereaved family caregivers’.

Professor Martin Green OBE, Chief Executive of Care England, said that bereavement support within

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the care home sector is a ‘very neglected area’ and also noted that he would like to see ‘better support and greater recognition of the emotional cost of caring for people at the end of their lives’.

Employers need to prioritise bereavement support in the workplace. They can do this by giving managers the tools they need to best support their staff in their time of need. Empowering them with the necessary communication skills and training in bereavement support is essential. They should also have a complete understanding of policy and procedures, so they are best placed to answer any staff members' queries.

Awareness sessions could be held in the workplace, which acknowledge the impact bereavement issues have on the care worker’s role and encourage discussion. Additionally, supplying people with a range of self-help guidance gives the employee extra support they can access when they need it most.

With around two million people in employment experiencing grief to a degree that impairs their ability to work and puts them at risk of physical or mental illness, staff must be able to access in-the-moment support at the point of need. After all, employees who feel unsupported at work after experiencing a death are 56% more likely to leave their company.

Possible solutions There are several wellbeing solutions to support care staff – one of these is the Employee Assistance and Wellbeing Programme (EAP).

By introducing an EAP to support care staff, employers can equip the workforce with the tools they need to build personal resilience and deal with issues before they escalate, become difficult to treat or affect workplace performance and presenteeism.

An EAP will not only help to keep

staff well and at work by supporting their mental, physical and financial health with a blend of preventative and in-the-moment solutions, but will also help employers demonstrate their commitment to the workforce and, in turn, attract and retain more valued staff.

EAP solutions ensure care staff will have access to a wide range of services that work in unison to support their wellbeing across all life stages. A proactive health management platform to deliver effective, evidence-based interventions that help people live happier, healthier lives includes: • 24/7, 365-day Telephone Helpline with in-the-moment support.

• Telephone Counselling.

• Face-to-Face/Virtual Counselling.

• Online GP Services.

• Access to resources including: • CBT Self-help Workbooks.

• Domestic Abuse Resources and App. • Online Debt Advice.

• Legal Support.

• Dependent Family Support.

• Financial Support.

• Peer-to-Peer Support.

• COVID-19 Recovery.

• Carer Support.

The true value of financial support With access to EAP, care home staff would also benefit from a wide range of lifestyle savings on essential areas like supermarket shopping, utility bills, insurance and motoring. If employers can make the rising cost of living more manageable for their people by offering a valuable, meaningful pay-rise alternative, they can gain a competitive edge when recruiting and benefit from a more motivated, loyal and productive workforce.

Making impact The positive impact of providing this kind of mental and financial support is already being experienced in other

care-related organisations. Cwm Taf Morgannwg University Health Board provides community, primary, mental health and hospital care to 450,000 individuals in the local community.

When COVID-19 hit, it became clear that a dedicated mental health programme was needed to safeguard employee wellbeing, after leaders realised their existing services no longer met requirements given the huge spike in anxiety, stress and uncertainty brought about by the pandemic.

During the early days of COVID-19, Cwm Taf Morgannwg University Health Board had just two mental health counsellors providing face-to-face support to over 12,000 employees. With a long waiting list driven by a huge influx of staff now requiring assistance, it was decided that the introduction of a consistent wellbeing provision was key.

An EAP solution provides three vital strands to form good mental health habits in and out of the workplace. First, a 24/7 telephone helpline calmed the high levels of fear and anxiety being experienced by staff and reassured them that support was always available. Next, access to responsive counsellors with high referral rates allowed for more in-depth mental health care.

Finally, a wide range of available online resources enabled staff to initiate self-help behaviours to work through challenging times.

An employer of choice Demonstrating a commitment to employee wellbeing through long-term solutions, such as preventative mental health support and financial assistance, will help organisations within the strained care sector to establish themselves as an employer of choice. In turn, these organisations will be better positioned to attract more talent and ensure that talent stays on board by offering a secure career that supports staff now and in years to come.

Karl Bennett, Wellbeing Director at Vivup and Chair of the Employee Assistance Programme Association (EAPA).

Email: karl.bennett@vivup.co.uk @wearevivup

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Care England

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MEMBER SPOTLIGHT Nightingale Hammerson In each issue of Savings, Solutions, and Sustainability, we will hear directly from providers about solutions that have worked for them. Whether it’s a new tech solution, a workforce management tool or partnerships to strengthen operations, this feature will showcase solutions and encourage providers to think differently and try new practices. In this feature, we hear from Nuno Santos Lopes, Director of Research, Innovation and Community Engagement at Nightingale Hammerson, on the impact of research in care homes.

Nightingale Hammerson comprises two care homes: Nightingale House in Balham and Hammerson House in East Finchley. Nightingale Hammerson is an independent charity that has been serving older members of the Jewish community for over 180 years. Its homes offer individually tailored, compassionate care for residential, nursing, dementia, respite and palliative care.

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At Nightingale Hammerson, we have worked with multiple researchers over the past few years. Researchers are our ‘critical friends’. They see what we do and how we do it, and ask us why we do what we do.

Working with researchers offers us a great opportunity to reflect on our day-to-day practice and challenge ourselves to always strive to improve and provide better care to our community.

Over the past year, we have engaged with 14 different studies and researchers on topics like palliative care, human rights, respiratory infections, COVID-19 response, dementia, oral care and others. Care homes are a gold mine for researchers. A great variety of topics require research and the social care sector needs researchers to invest more time within the sector to help us challenge the status quo and shape Government policy to provide the right level of support to our communities in the coming decades.

Care England

Planting the seed Traditionally, researchers approach care providers with the topics they are interested in, which on occasion are not the priority for the care providers. That does not help with engagement with care homes. We want to change the way research happens in the care sector. For this reason, we convene our Care Home Research Forums. The third forum took place on 29th November at Hammerson House (for further details visit https:// nightingalehammerson.org/events/ chrf2023/).

At this event, we invited researchers to share the findings of their studies with an audience of researchers, care home staff, CQC inspectors, local authorities, care home residents and their relatives.

With such a broad group of attendees, each presentation generated interesting and insightful discussions. This event is the seed that Nightingale Hammerson has planted to help bring about change to social care research.

necessary one-to-one therapies for the residents in need. This means that, when residents require support, they can have daily physiotherapy and/or occupational therapy that will improve their quality of life and reduce health risks associated with contractures. This new model improved the healthcare outcomes for the residents and created a new form of income that helps to fund charitable therapies for the residents who are unable to pay.

A host of benefits As a result of COVID-19, the Government is investing record funds into research in social care through the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHCR).

While, in the past, providers would not be keen to engage with researchers as they would have to assume the costs of releasing team members to support the researchers, now the costs of running research in care homes can be fully funded by the research team and providers can even have a surplus.

However, not all the benefits are financial only. We have learned over time that linking researchers with key team members in care homes improves their motivation, making them feel valued, and this leads to an improvement in their retention and career development. For the residents and relatives, this can also be a platform to feel they have a say in reviewing how the services are run and to have a voice in how the sector is researched.

Research studies helped to shape the work we do, for example, the outcomes of a research study about contractures in older people and its consequences on the residents’ quality of life. Since then, we reshaped the way we deliver therapies in our homes and we introduced a mixedfunding model for the provision of the Care England

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→ A sustainable future We now have a unique opportunity to embrace research in our sector and open our doors to universities to show them how fantastic we are. We are experts in care and we need researchers to demonstrate to the Government the impact we have had on people's lives. We need to show how much we are helping to sustain a healthier, safer Britain, including the NHS. Some of the areas that need further research include: • How the patchy GP provision to care providers across the countries changes the outcomes for residents (for example, the number of hospital admissions, place of death and falls that lead to fractures).

• What the correlation is between Local Authority/Continuing Healthcare funding and the healthcare outcomes for the older population in that area.

• What the impact is of the lack of dental care provision for people living in care homes.

• What the correlation is between the free or non-free incontinence pad provision in nursing homes with the hospital admissions for people with urinary tract infections.

These are just some of the questions the social care sector and its service users are facing. We need to bring the researchers on board to help us progress in the next five to 10 years. This is not a quick fix but, with an evidence-based approach, we will be able to work alongside the Government and the NHS to get our sector into the right shape and offer ‘Outstanding’ care to our most vulnerable population.

Time to participate To help shape the future of social care, get involved by contacting the NIHR within your area. You can also check the studies that are going on with your local universities, discuss the funding available to participate in the studies and involve your teams. It is now or never! Our sector won’t have many more opportunities than it currently has. You will enjoy the journey and care home residents, relatives and team members will benefit. Plus, you will be getting extra marks towards an ‘Outstanding’ CQC inspection.

Nuno Santos Lopes, Director of Research, Innovation and Community Engagement at Nightingale Hammerson. Email: nlopes@nightingalehammerson.org @NGHHammerson

Care England

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te

The BIG energy deba How providers can work effectively with brokers, renew contracts and understand the market

The energy markets have been unstable since the autumn of 2021 and providers faced higher energy costs, along with all the other rising costs involved with providing care. Richard Ayres, Social Care Advisor at Care England, caught up with David Woodward, Director at Focus Energy Services Ltd, to find out what care providers can do to ensure they obtain the best value and most suitable energy contracts when it comes to working with energy brokers and suppliers.

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Care England

At the time of writing, the biggest problem affecting energy prices is uncertainty both in terms of conflict and environmental factors – the latest cause of volatility in energy prices is the Israel-Hamas war.

Anything that affects the flow of ships through the Suez Canal will also cause the markets to spike; as the energy markets react to fear and uncertainty, renewal rates can change by 30% and more hourly. A consultative rather than a sales-orientated broker will advise on the factors currently affecting energy prices, to help understand when a care provider is best placed to make energy purchase decisions and what the full range of options available are. This type of broker will clearly show how much and how they are being paid their commission/fees so the care provider can make the best and most informed energy purchase decision.

The market at a glance A significant part of our electricity generation comes from gas. The UK is only able to store around four days’ worth of gas in a cold spell – most European countries can store 25 to 30 days of usage. A cold spell leaves the UK with no option other than to buy energy at whatever the market dictates and, with any cold spell likely to also be affecting some if not most of Europe, all countries are then in competition for supplies and prices increase.

The gas storage situation is easier to resolve than the inability of the UK to move electricity from where it’s generated to where it’s needed at the time it is needed, resolution of which will take considerable time and money and is thus unlikely to happen for many years, which will keep a floor under electricity costs and sustains the prices we experience today.

Finding the right broker A consultative and knowledgeable broker should understand the care sector as well as the provider’s needs and future plans. The care sector’s energy consumption isn’t the same as other sectors, something many brokers do not understand. For example, care services operate differently from hospitality or manufacturing. Care services operate 24/7 and 365 days a year – they are not nine-to-five businesses. As a result, different tariffs suit the care sector better than others. Care services differ greatly too and, therefore,

Care England

23

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New eLearning resource for care staff From December, Better Security, Better Care are launching a free data and cyber security e-learning resource for frontline care staff that will satisfy key requirements in the Data Security & Protection Toolkit (DSPT).

Return on Investment tool A new Return on Investment (ROI) tool will be available from the end of November to help care services estimate

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an indicative return on investment and financial savings from adopting a piece of technology.

The tool has been developed in partnership with ARC England and tested with care providers. It’s free to use with a full user guide.

You can access the eLearning resource and the ROI tool on the Digital Care Hub website using the QR code above.

Care England

energy brokers need to understand not only the nuances of the care sector but also the nuances within the care sector.

Care providers are not generally experts on buying energy and often do so only once every one to three years. It is therefore likely and appropriate to use the services of energy brokers who possess up-to-date information about how the energy markets are moving and changing, and can better advise care providers on the best possible purchase decision for their specific business.

Some brokers claim to be looking at the whole of the market when they aren’t. The best energy contract is one that is with a financially stable energy supplier, is suitable for the care provider’s needs, is competitively priced, is understood by the care provider, and is not based on how much commission the energy supplier allows the broker to add or hide in the quote. Transparency is the key. How much does an energy broker charge and what are they doing for it? Many energy brokers will try to sell the longest contract with the higher paying commission and look to speak to you again in three years for their next commission – many get away with it and have done so for many years. In my opinion, energy brokers should be regulated in a similar way to financial services or care providers. It’s ridiculous how care homes are regulated by the CQC, but the broker isn’t regulated

by Ofgem.

I think that every energy invoice should state how much the broker earned from that month’s bill. With regards to a broker fee, the absolute maximum should be a half pence per kWh for arranging the contract.

An extra cost may be added if the provider requires other services, such as monthly invoice validation, depending on the amount of work required to carry that out. Some large brokers have huge overheads to recover and, as such, big is not always best, especially if they are not offering the care provider the level of transparency necessary for a care provider to determine that they have been offered the best possible contract available on the market.

My questions to ask any broker before agreeing to a contract are: • Why have you recommended these energy suppliers, the contract type and term?

• Can I see the quotes received from the other energy suppliers?

• Have you checked that the energy consumption is correct and is suitable for our needs for the length of the contract?

• What will you do for us after we sign a contract?

• Have you clearly documented your charges/fees?

The contract offered by energy suppliers is subject to a care provider credit rating. We often see providers come to us who have perfect credit records but have been placed with a supplier with whom I would never even consider placing them. These supplier rates are aimed at those with poorer credit scores.

Care England

A lot of providers wouldn’t realise that their quotes are often provided prior to credit checks being carried out and, as such, the best possible quote is not provided for them and they may not know for a few days that the quoted supplier won’t accept them after signing a contract once they have completed a credit score on the care provider. A knowledgeable broker will know your credit score before quoting and seek the best possible quotes for you. Being offered a contract that will later be incapable of acceptance due to credit scoring may see a care provider forced to accept a less viable contract due to time pressures or expiring contracts.

Renewing contracts In order to obtain the most suitable quotes, based on contract terms and price, your broker must know your credit score and should know (or ask) for your annual consumption (and consumption broken down into half-hour data, if you have a half-hour meter); renewal date, if you need to give notice to your current supplier; if you anticipate any significant changes to your consumption in the future (solar, extending the home, changing bulbs to LEDs, moving your laundry facility from in house to external or vice versa); the contract term you require; if you have smart meters and, if not, whether you would like them (some suppliers insist on them).

Your broker should also discuss the benefits of moving your renewal date to the summer (if it’s currently in the winter), combining renewal dates if your contracts don’t renew on the same date and asking if you would like monthly or quarterly invoices.

When energy prices are high, we suggest you exercise caution regarding the length of the contract or only enter into these when financial certainty is essential for business planning purposes.

Sales-orientated brokers push longer term contracts as they will receive higher commissions for less work.

Unusual-term contracts are available but the broker must work harder to obtain them, so many only give the options of one, two or three years, which may not always be in the care provider's interest. Every renewal will require a broker to do the same amount of work and you can see why most would prefer to sell longer term contracts, which may not be in the care provider's best interest. Sadly, most care providers lack the detailed knowledge to know if a contract offered by a broker is or is not in their best interest and will rely on the advice given, knowing there is no recourse on the broker given they are not sufficiently regulated.

Care should be taken with the standing charge or cost per kWh, as it’s the total annual cost that’s important. Many brokers concentrate on the daily standing charge, but a high standing charge doesn’t matter if the cost per kWh is low and the annual cost is lower. Brokers often use this as a tactic to sell contracts which are a higher annual cost overall.

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→ Understanding usage Accurate usage figures are essential to obtain the most suitable contract/quote. Obtaining annual gas consumption is easy, as that’s available on a central database. Obtaining electricity consumption is more difficult. Some renewal offers from existing suppliers give a breakdown of your consumption as well as the annual total; however, many don’t and your broker will often need to obtain that for you, which can take 10 days. It is needed before an accurate quote can be achieved. As well as consumption, many electricity suppliers have a KVA rating (which is where you are charged for the maximum electricity that can be delivered via your meter at any one time).

Energy contracts often have a volume tolerance clause, which generates penalties if you use less than 80% or more than 120% of the contract volume. But some energy providers use 90% and 110%. Those lower tolerance figures can easily be breached during a cold winter or a hot summer, by closing a unit or rooms or changing bulbs to LEDs, for example. A good broker will help to negotiate these terms to reduce the risk on the care provider, especially if a large extension were to be built or solar was to be installed where a change in usage could result in significant uncontrollable penalties to the care provider.

Ways to buy energy Care providers can simply renew their contracts with the same energy suppliers or speak directly to other energy suppliers to seek pricing; however, most care providers would not possess the knowledge needed to compare one energy provider with another or one contract type to another. We have seen many contracts which have been arranged via a broker with the same energy supplier at significantly reduced rates. As such, an energy broker who is informed and knowledgeable in the care sector could be better placed to support energy purchase decisions, and to explain the language used and the costs associated with contracting for energy, better than a care provider seeking to tackle this on their own.

Energy brokers can put a care provider's energy usage to the whole market to establish the best possible energy deals available for the care provider which meet their current and future needs, along with advising the most suitable term and renewal window.

Ensuring a broker possesses the right knowledge and support to achieve the best possible contract (as opposed to the best possible commission to the broker) is the challenge faced by care providers.

To navigate these challenges, the Care England energy tender enables care providers to have access to the

best possible energy contracts available and has, to date, saved 100% of care providers money on their energy renewals and offers alternatives to fixed-price contracts that wouldn’t previously have been available to smaller care providers, due to consumption levels or meter types.

The increased staff cost of running your laundry at night can be outweighed by the saving in energy costs.

Energy efficiency A very helpful Energy Saving Guide on the Care England website, outlines how care providers can achieve energy efficiency in their homes. The suggestions include: • Getting someone less familiar with the care home to walk around the property – look at the light bulbs, are they LEDs? The cost of changing bulbs to LEDs can be recovered in as little as three days.

• Installing PIRs (motion detectors) – taking health and safety into account, installing these can substantially reduce costs.

• Doing laundry overnight – whilst it’s often not possible (if you have a half-hour meter), the increased staff cost of running your laundry at night can be outweighed by the saving in energy costs.

Future energy costs The UK needs to increase its gas storage capacity to prevent it from being forced to pay high prices during periods of increased consumption during cold spells.

This is something that should be achievable within two or three years if the Government has the will to do so/ force for it to be done.

The electricity system is broken and needs to have the one-price electricity model ended, moving to a two-price system – the first, cheap clean energy and the second, expensive dirty energy.

Additionally, the UK needs to be able to transport electricity from where it’s generated to where it’s consumed, something that will take many years and vast sums of money. Whilst the National Grid and its shareholders enjoy record profits, it remains to be seen if and how long the process takes to make a meaningful contribution.

David J. Woodward is the Director at Focus Energy Services Ltd. Email: david@focusenergyservices.co.uk 26

Care England

Care England

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HOW TO...

KEEP AGENCY STAFF COSTS DOWN So, you’ve negotiated better agency rates – what now?

Cutting agency hours is the real prize, says Christoph Marr, Managing Director at Marr Procurement Ltd. Over the last few years, care providers have seen their spending on temporary labour agencies skyrocket. From a rapid decline followed by a ‘low point’ during the first 12 months of the COVID-19 period, costs have risen steeply before starting to flatten out in the earlier part of this year. For many operators, this cost increase has placed significant pressure on the bottom line, as

well as challenging the delivery of continuity of care. Although we are now seeing costs stabilise and even flatten out, they remain at an unsustainable level.

We work with more than 50 care providers and we have heard first-hand about the issues and risks associated with the reliance on agencies and, therefore, the impact on operations.

Temp Agency Spend Tracked Across 36 Social Care Providers COVID Year 1

May ‘21 and April ’22

Decline in spend

Spend increased significantly

Com Jan ‘22 to Feb ’23 Spend high & stabilising

Jan-20 Feb-20 Mar-20 April-20 May-20 June-20 July-20 Aug-20 Sept-20 Oct-20 Nov-20 Dec-20 Jan-21 Feb-21 Mar-21 April-21 May-21 June-21 July-21 Aug-21 Sept-21 Oct-21 Nov-21 Dec-21 Jan-22 Feb-22 Mar-22 April-22 May-22 June-22 July-22 Aug-22 Sept-22 Oct-22 Nov-22 Dec-22 Jan-23 Feb-23

How ca

Temporary labour agency spend has stabilised but in many cases remains unsustainably high.

Now is the right time to address both the cost per hour and the volume of hours.

28

Care England

Fulfilm

Taking the hours down

Care Providers

Increased cost per hour Increased volume Compromising continuity of care and quality of care

Jan ‘22 to Feb ’23

nd high & stabilising

How can a reduction in costs be achieved without impacting on:

April-22 May-22 June-22 July-22 Aug-22 Sept-22 Oct-22 Nov-22 Dec-22 Jan-23 Feb-23

Fulfilment, quality and continuity of care and staff pay?

Start by saving on hourly costs There are many components to the cost rate that is paid to an agency, which will be well over and above the actual pay rate the worker receives. Protecting continuity of care is always a first-order priority and so it is key that savings made on the cost per hour must not reduce what the care worker gets paid.

Consistency of rates (and terms) between agencies is very helpful operationally – one way to do this is via either a master vendor or neutral vendor relationship, where the vendor will act to standardise rates by role and by shift. This removes the risk of last-minute rate hikes on difficult-to-fill shifts.

Vendor selection

When selecting a vendor to support your organisation, it is very important to understand the level of service they will provide. We would typically recommend our clients to go with a vendor who can deliver the online timesheet system, the fulfilment service and the managing of the temp agency supply base. multifactorial approach: The availability of rich reporting data is also critical to secure.

However, this is only part of the solution.

Creating a holistic resourcing strategy The real prize is to move from saving on agency rates (supply-side savings) to reducing the requirement for agency hours itself Perm.

Recruit (demand-side savings).

Resourcing Strategy

Care England Bank

e. g

ro s t e ri n g Agency

Where to start?

We have worked with clients who have first implemented an agency vendor solution and then gone on to reduce their agency costs by between 40 and 50%. This sounds unachievable but it can be done through a systematically planned combination of: • Better permanent recruitment.

• More effective resource planning.

• Use of technology, particularly an online timesheet system.

• The availability of a good and effective bank team.

Creating or building a bank team can be an excellent next step after reducing agency hourly cost rates. Often if the care provider uses an online timesheet system (either their own or a vendor’s), the request for a temporary worker can be set up first to go to the client’s bank team to see if the shift can be filled there, before only then routing the request to an agency. This ensures that the organisation’s own teams are prioritised when shifts become available.

If implemented, the online timesheet system can also support a more structured approach to the recruitment of permanent staff. Due to important continuity of care considerations, care providers will often have temporary workers who have worked for the organisation for many months. Typically, after a 12- or 13-week period, these workers can be converted to permanent staff members with no additional cost. Understanding this, and ensuring that a regular review of the tenure of agency workers is performed, is a key part of managing down your agency hours.

We also work with some of our clients to create a fulfilment capability team to allow care home managers to source workers when they need them.

Most of our clients decide to appoint a third party to provide the following: standardised rates, an online timesheet system (which links systematically to their bank staff) and a fulfilment capability. We work with them to find the right third party and we have done so now for more than 40 care providers. Once we have found the right partner, we then professionally manage them in such a way that the client’s values are closely reflected in how that agency operates.

Continued

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→ A holistic response During the course of this work, we have identified a series of interconnecting issues that require a holistic approach (see schematic below).

Our approach is to work through with our clients how they are currently performing

in each of these areas (the ‘as is’). We then workshop towards a solution or a ‘go to’ scenario. We might involve SME experts – from social care or other sectors – to determine the best course of action, mapping out the journey via a programme of actionable steps, milestones, a benefits case and return-oninvestment timelines.

Ultimately, the solution requries a multifactorial approach: Creating a holistic resourcing strategy Reducing staff costs

Perm.

Recruit

Better use of bank Help recruit permanent staff

Resourcing Strategy

Increase retention of permanent staff Reduce reliance on temporary staff Technology to support resourcing A strategic solution tactical problems

Bank

e. g

Where to start?

ro s t e ri n g Agency

to

Cutting both the volume of temporary labour hours and the cost per hour requires a multifactorial approach. The benefits can be substantial; improved quality of care, continuity of care and lower costs.

For example, we might start by asking a series of questions such as: • How good and how efficient is your recruitment process at identifying and onboarding the right people for your organisation, including alumni recruitment and employee referral?

• How quickly do you move from a successful interview to a job offer?

• Are you happy with your staff turnover? How well do you retain staff and do you understand the drivers of this in your organisation?

• How efficient is your shift planning in terms of process and use of rostering systems, and do you offer flexible shifts to attract candidates from new age demographics?

• Do you have an effective bank staff in operation and is it being optimised?

• Do you have the right data to understand where and why you are using agency hours?

• Have you got long-standing agency workers who could be converted into permanent staff?

• Do you have the right accountability structure and appropriate forum meetings in place to address it systematically?

The result is materially lower agency costs, reduced reliance on agency hours and a joined-up way of thinking about resourcing across the organisation.

Value of knowledge and experience These are critical programmes to get right – there is nothing more important in a care setting than having the right staff paid appropriately for the important work they do. We see agency cost savings being redirected to paying permanent care workers more money, improving retention rates and enhancing continuity of care and, ultimately, breaking the cycle of reliance on temporary labour agencies.

Christoph Marr, Managing Director at Marr Procurement Ltd. Email: christoph.marr@marrprocurement.com @Christoph_marr 30

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Is it essential to focus on

Social care providers must take action and gather the evidence to become environmentally sustainable, but what do we mean by sustainability in social care? Jonathan Freeman, Group Sustainability Director at CareTech Ltd and Chair of the Social Care Sustainability Alliance, outlines the key areas to help you on your journey to becoming Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) compliant.

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Care England

The new Adult Social Care Single Assessment Framework introduces the new ‘Environmental sustainability – sustainable development’ criteria to the CQC inspection regime. This puts environmental sustainability at the heart of what it means to provide a social care service the public can trust. Providers will have to be able to show and evidence that ‘we understand

any negative impact of our activities on the environment, and we strive to make a positive contribution in reducing it and support people to do the same.’

More generally, internal and external stakeholders are becoming more and more focused on the approach taken by providers to achieve net zero carbon and climate resilience.

Increasingly, commissioners are asking providers to demonstrate their sustainability credentials in tender exercises, with more demanding asks of providers and with this element becoming far more important in tender evaluations. We only need to look to the NHS to see what is likely to happen to the social care sector on this issue; the new NHS contractual requirements for healthcare providers now place very clear contractual obligations on providers around carbon reporting.

Sustainability and ESG are not a fad, nor a tick-box exercise. All the evidence points to sustainable businesses being, quite simply, better businesses.

Why and where to start on your sustainability journey?

‘We are on a highway to climate hell with our foot on the accelerator …. [We are in the] fight of our lives and we are losing.’ So said United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres at the COP27 meeting on climate change. In July 2023, leading climate change experts set out in the starkest terms yet their shared concern that action to date to limit global temperature rises to 1.5˚C is falling woefully short of what is required.

Unless decisive and significant action is taken, this is only going to get worse – much worse.

Everyone working in social care is in the same fight. We have as much responsibility as anyone – arguably more so than many – to address the challenges of sustainability.

Continued

Care England

→

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35,000 volunteers available to support this winter Care professionals can now access volunteer support through the NHS and Care volunteer responders programme.

Volunteers help in simple ways. Check In and Chat volunteers provide friendly phone calls to people in need of a bit of extra companionship.

Community response volunteers help with delivering essential shopping and medication.

The service is free of charge and open for referrals now.

To make a referral call 0808 196 3646 or search online for ‘Volunteer Responders’

Royal Voluntary Service is a registered charity 1015988 (England and Wales) & SC038924 (Scotland).

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Service provided by: Care England

→ What is sustainability?

Sustainability is about creating the conditions for businesses and organisations to thrive but doing so within the parameters of what the world’s natural resources can support.

Sustainability is about taking action today to protect the long-term future of our planet, our communities and our people. Or, as the United Nations Brundtland Commission better defined it: ‘Meeting the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.’

What is sustainability in social care?

The challenges of sustainability apply as much to the social care sector as any other sector, as the following three examples show: • Climate change. Mounting pressures driving global warming are increasing the costs to deliver high-quality social care, notably rising energy and fuel costs. The sector is characterised by an ageing property stock and high vehicle dependence. Historic underinvestment and old-fashioned regulators have led to a heavily paper-based system with little investment in technological innovation.

• Population growth. Global population growth is placing an increasing strain on health and social care demand. In the UK this is exacerbated by an ageing population, which is significantly increasing demand for elderly care social care services, particularly for specialist care. The growing number of individuals with increasingly complex care needs is heightening the need for greater and more sophisticated provision.

• Growing inequalities. Increasing demand for social care is outstripping the public sector’s capacity to provide adequate funding through current funding mechanisms, leading to unmet need and individuals having to self-fund more elements for their care with a disproportionate impact on the poorest.

‘Postcode lottery’ inequalities of social care provision and increasingly inappropriate distinctions between the availability of public support for different health conditions are fuelling new inequalities.

As a sector, we face enormous challenges.

The economic situation is further squeezing commissioners’ budgets; inflation is driving up core costs; recruitment and retention continue to be key challenges; regulators’ expectations can be inconsistent; and there are increasing calls to curb private operators’ profits and, indeed, nationalise the sector.

Care England

Some might be tempted, given these pressures, to pull back on investment in sustainability initiatives. However, I believe that this would be a huge mistake – both morally and commercially.

Legislative, regulatory and commissioner pressure It is becoming increasingly clear that the pressure to deliver on sustainability will result in all businesses and organisations having to comply with new requirements. In order for governments to meet international and/or national targets, many climate-related requirements will become mandatory in due course. Those organisations getting ahead of the game and dealing with these incoming requirements in a managed way are most likely to be able to adapt to this new landscape.

Properties The Government estimates that the average residential property contributes six tonnes of carbon every year. There are some 14,500 care homes in England, providing a home to around 425,000 people; 70% of these are residential settings. So, that would suggest that care homes are contributing around 87,000 tonnes of carbon every year. The UK’s first carbon-neutral care home – Luxurycare Group’s Eagles Mount care home in Poole – calculated that its annual carbon impact amounted to 163 tonnes per year! If this figure were replicated for all care homes, we would be looking at an annual total carbon impact of the UK’s residential care homes of more like 2.8 million tonnes.

Despite recent policy changes, the long-term push to ensure that properties achieve a minimum Energy Performance Certificate (EPC) rating of C in the short term, and B in the longer term, remains. An estimated 60% of residential care homes will need to improve their energy efficiency by at least one EPC level over the next few years. Each EPC grade climb represents around a 30–40% reduction in CO2e emissions per year. So, bringing all residential care homes up to an EPC C rating could deliver as much as a reduction of over 500,000 tonnes of carbon!

According to the National Care Forum, all care homes that are privately rented or bought and sold should have secured an EPC that is rated band E or less before 1st April 2023 and there are plans to significantly reduce this band rating for 2030.

Energy costs 60% of social care providers cite utility bills as a key cost pressure, with some providers reporting 500% increases in energy costs over the last 18 months. We cannot continue to power our estates using fossil fuels, which contribute to global warming and air pollution. The cost-benefit analysis of reducing our energy usage is equally clear, with the recouping of the initial investment for improved energy efficiency and more renewable energy sources such as solar PV panels becoming ever shorter.

The most common energy efficiency improvements you can make require relatively modest investment. Things like low-impact lighting, draught-proofing, improved insulation, replacement windows and better heating controls. Modest improvements could include just adding some draught excluders, turning lights out in empty rooms and other small but

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important changes. More expensive – but often of much greater impact – improvements such as installing solar power and heat pumps are becoming increasingly common. In view of energy costs that have spiralled and are unlikely to be reduced any time soon, the case for these investments has never been greater.

their local communities will attract more local talent. These employers are less likely to trigger concerns about having a care service in the community and will help to promote a more positive view of the social care sector.

Vehicles

Consumer demand

The Homecare Association recently suggested that UK homecare workers travel more than four million miles per day; that equates to 423,000 metric tonnes of carbon emitted each year! You would have to plant almost 2.8 million trees every year to offset the impact on the environment of car miles in social care. Also, that figure doesn’t include the impact of the hundreds of thousands of care professionals commuting to work every day by car.

In December 2022, a third of all new cars sold in the UK were electric vehicles (EVs) – a staggering increase from just three years earlier when the equivalent figure was less than 2%. The upfront costs of EVs are still higher than combustion engine equivalents but when you look at the whole-life costs, however, the latest research shows that EVs are now slightly cheaper to run than their petrol equivalents.

There are some great examples of social care providers already seizing the initiative, such as Northern Ireland’s domiciliary care provider Connected Health, which has introduced a fleet of electric cars and electric bicycles. This introduction is part of its Carbon Neutral Care Initiative.

Taking advantage of new EV salary sacrifice schemes can be a really useful part of your benefits package. At no cost to the organisation (in fact, most will actually save money) providers can offer their staff access to EV-leased cars that, thanks to their tax efficiency, can instantly make EV ownership a reality for many staff. Most of us lease our cars these days, so why not provide your staff with this option to get an EV car, which can help to reduce their fuel bills significantly as well as their carbon impact?

The business case for sustainability often focuses on reducing operating costs, but we should also not overlook the changing expectations and pressures of consumers.

Consumers increasingly demand that the products and services they purchase are ever more sustainable, that they want to select organisations that are ethically driven and that the services they purchase must support their own increasingly sustainable daily routines.

There is absolutely no reason why this should be any different for people choosing their social care providers. Therefore, to remain competitive, social care providers must not only adopt environmentally sustainable practices but also ensure that they communicate this to their potential customers.

The recent launch of Autumna’s Go Green initiative demonstrates the increasing sustainability demands of social care consumers. As Autumna’s press release states, ‘Go Green will give care providers the ability to showcase all of their sustainability and green projects to increasingly environmentally conscious care seekers.’

Staff recruitment and retention Most talk about ESG and sustainability focuses on the environmental elements – the ‘E’ of ESG. As a highly regulated sector, most care providers are also very good at the ‘G’ – Governance – of ESG. The ‘S’ in ESG, however, is often overlooked but is critical to the social care sector. Social care delivers a huge benefit to society but just being a social care provider doesn’t mean that you automatically tick the ‘S’ box.

The key elements of the social element of ESG are how organisations look after their people and how they support the local communities. Research makes it very clear that companies that support and empower their people, and are active parts of their local communities, do better. Staff are more loyal, more productive and deliver higher quality. For example, BUPA’s Wellbeing Index 2023 report revealed that 48% of Gen Z workers surveyed agree that they would be willing to consider leaving their jobs if their employer doesn’t demonstrate action on social and environmental issues.

Organisations that are visibly connecting with and supporting

Shifting perspective Delivering on key sustainability issues can address short-term pressures as much as long-term challenges, but it does require a shift in perspective, considering the longer term, whole-life and full costs and benefits. Effective leaders understand that their role is about striking a balance between short-term needs and long-term vision, ensuring their decisions contribute to the long-term sustainable success and growth of their organisations. It’s also about recognising that all of us have a wider set of responsibilities for which we are accountable beyond our own organisations.

Hopefully, this article has encouraged you to accelerate your own sustainability journey.

If you would like to learn more and share your experiences with others in the sector, please get in touch about the Social Care Sustainability Alliance that brings providers from right across social care together to help each other on this vital agenda.

Jonathan Freeman MBE is the Group Sustainability Director at CareTech Ltd and Chair of the Social Care Sustainability Alliance. Email: jonathan.freeman@caretech-uk.com @CareTechFdn 36

Care England

Helping providers to manage and review services Richard Ayres, Social Care Advisor at Care England, tells us more about the SMART offering from Care England and how it aims to help providers navigate the new CQC inspection framework, manage Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) requirements, source money-saving opportunities and simplify service administration.

With care providers now required to provide information to the CQC to prepare in advance of the inspection, SMART is a Strategic Management Audit Repository Tool that acts as a support for the management and regular review of care services. This is at a time when money, time and resources are stretched to their limits and are designed to be a single-entry point to solve many of the care provider's problems without charge.

CQC inspections

Structured using the CQC’s new Single Assessment Framework (2023), SMART Quality allows providers to store, report and record evidence against the new CQC quality statements. SMART Quality features every key question and quality statement from the CQC’s new assessment framework embedded into the tool, with links to the regulations, ensuring information is all in one place.

Each quality statement contains suggestions for how adherence to the regulation can be evidenced, with the option for providers to add their own custom review element. Providers can also note if any further action is required, with notifications to ensure nothing is missed.

The module also connects to the most recent and historic CQC reports, displaying home ratings under each quality statement since 2016.

SMART Quality allows providers to be ready no matter when the regulator comes calling.

Sustainability

Local authorities and NHS bodies now compare and score care providers on their ESG performance. This means the ability to provide evidence and report on ESG has never been more critical.

An ESG strategy can lead to reduced costs and, whether you are just starting out or progressing your ESG journey, SMART ESG enables providers to report and manage their environmental footprint, social policies and organisational governance, thereby increasing their chances of securing local authority and NHS contracts.

SMART ESG includes over 150 areas to consider when thinking about ESG and provides a repository to collect and record information to evidence the work towards improving your organisation's ESG strategies and requirements.

Care England

Manager and Nominated Individual performance

SMART HR allows recruiters to review the past performance of regulated managers and Nominated Individuals against CQC quality data since 2016, helping to understand how they may have impacted on the quality ratings of services under their control.

Market Intelligence

SMART gives providers access to a subscription-based Market Intelligence Tool (MINT) exhibiting pertinent fee, financial and general data across both the older person, learning disability and supported living providers.

Key data is collated from a wide variety of stakeholders and sources, and is ever-expanding and constantly evolving to ensure a consolidation of all data that providers need in their arsenal to correspond with local authorities and the NHS. MINT data has helped its users to significantly enhance the financial performance of their care services.

Procurement

In a challenging economic environment, SMART Procurement signposts to money-saving deals and innovative solutions that can help reduce the cost of care by up to £60 per resident/service user per week from an average local authority fee of £750 per week, equivalent to an 8% fee uplift.

Surveys

SMART Surveys allows providers to create and disseminate surveys to service users, professionals, friends and family to feed back on service quality and performance in line with the new CQC ‘I’ statements.

Administration

SMART Administration is a simple solution to record key service user information and non-care-related documents in a quick, retrievable system with prompts and reminders, from administration and managing appointments to financial management, legal and contractual paperwork, avoiding the need to maintain paper-based records of non-care-related information.

SMART is a free-to-use tool available to all regulated and non-regulated services nationally. To discuss or access SMART, to review further information and/or to attend a webinar and/or book a demonstration, visit the Care England website.

Richard Ayres is a Social Care Advisor at Care England. Email: rayres@careengland.org.uk @CareEngland 37

LEGAL MATTERS Generating additional income from your care home estate How can care providers diversify estate usage?

Rob Walton, a Partner at RWK Goodman, outlines estate assessments and the legalities surrounding licences and lettings.

Estate Assessment and restrictions So, what should an Estate Review look at and what issues should be identified?

1. Would any alternative rights be needed? Are there existing third-party rights to be taken into account?

2. Are there any restrictions on use?

3. If the site is held under a long lease, are there restrictions in the lease?

4. Are there restrictions due to safeguarding, third-party restrictions or charity/lender consents needed?

Alternative uses

Given the rising costs due to issues over long-term energy security, inflation and the cost of living, care providers have started to be more creative in their methods of generating income. For many years, the education sector with its budget constraints has been diversifying its estate usage; are there lessons that can be learned and opportunities for the social care sector?

Just like the education sector, the social care sector must deal with restrictions both externally via the CQC and internally through its own safeguarding procedures, but there are also possible restrictions on the land itself, so the first step when looking to diversify usage is to carry out an Estate Assessment or Review.

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Energy generation If the site is suitably large, it may be attractive to third-party energy providers who would lease the land and then sell back the energy to the grid in exchange for a rent and free energy for the landowner. Typically, this would be solar or wind.

Development/sales This is where the landowner is looking to ultimately sell off part of their land for development. Often, developers will seek to secure an option over the land which is dependent on planning permission or obtain a pre-emption agreement on the basis they may wish to acquire the land in the future for an initial payment.

Lettings and licences This requires entering into a legal agreement

Care England

for the letting of the whole or, more likely, part of the land, unit or wing. These are used typically for agreements longer than one year and where exclusive possession of an area of land (or building) is given. If it is a business arrangement, then the letting will automatically be protected under the Landlord and Tenant Act 1954, meaning it can only be ended under one of a number of grounds. This can be excluded via notice. Examples include: • Parking spaces.

• Office space.

• Storage.

Licences differ from letting in that it is typically used for an arrangement of less than a year and where exclusive possession of an area isn’t given. It terminates at the end of the period of the licence. Examples include: • Forest schools.

• Clubs and associations utilising space.

• More general parking usage.

Biodiversity Net Gain (BNG)/Nutrient Neutrality (NN) and EV Charging Whilst it is becoming common for employers to offer EV Charging points for their employees, it is possible to enter into a lease arrangement with a third-party provider for EV Charging and receive rent and, possibly, profits from the usage. Whether the site is suitable is dependent on its location and surrounding infrastructure.

BNG has now been delayed to January 2024 for most developments and April 2024 for small developments with large scale infrastructure from 2025 and requires any development over a certain size to increase biodiversity by a minimum of 10%. Where this is of interest to landowners is that the gain can be acquired off-site (though typically within the same local authority area). Landowners can either carry out the BNG themselves for a payment or they can lease the land for the work to be carried out and maintained.

Care England

Note this requires at least 30 years of maintenance of the BNG. Nutrient Neutrality is already in place and comes off the back of a European legal case. It has similarities to BNG as it is about changing the nutrient level and

There are myriad opportunities depending on the site, but the first step should be to carry out a full assessment and develop an overall estate strategy based on income generation, site usage and energy needs/efficiency measures. can be utilised via off-site provision. Again, this can be done for a payment. Both BNG and NN are of interest to those with larger estates.

There are myriad opportunities depending on the site, but the first step should be to carry out a full assessment and develop an overall estate strategy based on income generation, site usage and energy needs/ efficiency measures. Once this is complete, opportunities can then be explored. It is always recommended that legal advice is sought before not only entering into any agreement but also in the Estate Review stage to identify any potential issues.

RWK is offering free estate reviews to up to 250 care providers (Care England members).

Robert Walton is a Partner at RWK Goodman specialising in healthcare, charity and education. He also has expertise in energy matters, particularly renewables and EV Charging.

Email: rob.walton@rwkgoodman.com @RWKGoodman

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Food for thought How care homes can cut food costs and make sustainable choices

Richard Woodward, General Manager of apetito’s care home division, looks at how care homes can save money in the kitchen.

The last few years have been some of the most turbulent for health and social care in recent memory. Kitchen operations in care homes are facing unprecedented challenges in today’s economy. With inflation rates reaching record highs and food prices skyrocketing, every pound and penny counts. Care homes are navigating the cost of living in an industry facing high energy costs, galloping inflation and a continuing labour crisis.

Earlier in the year we partnered with Care England to learn about the challenges care home providers are facing in the kitchen. Our research found that over 90% of homes have looked at ways to streamline efficiencies in the kitchen since the cost-of-living and energy crisis began.

Not only that but a massive 97% said they were worried about the fast-rising costs of meals and more than 90% said their costs were increasing month

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on month. Finally, more than three-quarters of care homes said that cost is a deciding factor when it comes to choosing a catering service.

The Office for National Statistics recently reported that the price of food rose by 12.2% in the year to September 2023 according to the latest Consumer Price Index.1 In fact, we’ve experienced the highest increase in food prices since 1977, with basic commodities costing significantly more. The cost of bread and cereal has risen by 16.2%, chips by 39%, pasta by 60%, and even vegetable oil by 65%.2 These rising costs have a critical impact on a care home’s budget.

At the same time, residents expect and deserve quality meals that cater to their individual needs and preferences. Delivering this level of service while managing the costs can be a daunting task.

From visiting care homes up and down the country,

Care England

Try holding these meetings regularly to accommodate changing preferences. By asking residents their likes and dislikes, kitchen staff are able to create meal plans tailored to residents’ tastes and in turn streamline the menu to eliminate unpopular choices and excess ingredients, reducing waste and saving money.

It is also worth trying to introduce flexibility in menu planning to accommodate varying appetites and preferences. Providing different choices and rotating menu items can help ensure that residents enjoy a range of different dishes, lessening the risk of menu fatigue and in turn, reducing the likelihood of uneaten food.

Portion control during meal preparation also helps to avoid serving more than necessary. Residents struggling with a poor appetite may find mealtimes and big portions daunting. Try not to serve massive portions which will overwhelm residents and just end up being thrown in the bin. A ‘little and often’ approach can provide sufficient nutrition while preventing portion intimidation.

The cost of dietary diversity

our care homes team has discovered some really helpful solutions and handy hints and tips to keep costs in the kitchen down.

Preventing food waste Food waste and portion control can have a real impact on the bottom line. Food thrown away is, in essence, money thrown away. It’s true that food waste can be unavoidable, families take loved ones out for lunch unpredictably, or residents can arrive back from hospital appointments later than expected, meaning there is unavoidable wastage. However, there are things that can be done to help reduce food waste.

Effective meal planning is key to reducing food waste and managing costs in the kitchen. It’s really important to understand the dietary needs and preferences of every single resident. Lots of care homes we visit host regular meetings with residents to find out what food they’ve recently enjoyed and if there have been any meals that haven’t gone down as well.

Care England

We know that residents have increasingly diverse dietary requirements. The increased complexity of catering for residents who have specialist needs such as dysphagia, or live with allergies, can have a real impact on kitchens. The time needed to cook safe meals puts increased strain on kitchen staff and the cost associated with producing these dishes, means food budgets are increasingly stretched.

Working with suppliers who provide specialistprepared meals that can be cooked easily to cater for individual needs is a great way to provide residents with high-quality and, importantly, safe meals.

This switch reduces the time, stress and cost created by having to cook for many different needs from scratch. The benefits are clear - fewer ingredients need to be bought and less time needs to be spent in the kitchen; giving more time for teams to devote to front-line care.

Cost-saving and sustainable choices Decisions around food types and menu designs can not only reduce food costs but they can also help care homes become more sustainable.

It doesn’t have to be all change – it can be as simple as just switching one or two elements up. We know that Sunday lunch is always much loved by residents in care homes, but lamb and beef are two ingredients that have almost doubled in price and

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buying large quantities can really increase food bills. Making the change to meats such as chicken or turkey more regularly not only costs less but also has less of an impact on the planet.

It’s not about demonising any one ingredient or red meats, instead try making small changes to menu cycles, which can have a significant, yet surprising impact on cost, whilst at the same time ensuring that resident choice is not compromised.

Introducing one or two vegetarian or vegan options to menu cycles can not only reduce your home’s carbon emission but also save on ingredients costs. Vegetables, lentils, grains and pulses, which are ingredients often found in these meals, are cheaper and will help to reduce your food costs. Try serving dishes still familiar to residents, like a vegetable lasagne or vegetarian curry – we’ve found these often go down a storm.

It's also worth thinking about what ingredients are in season. Opting for seasonal ingredients often means they are in abundance, leading to lower prices. This allows you to stretch your budget without compromising on the quality of your ingredients. Cooking with out-of-season produce comes with a hefty carbon footprint and higher costs. By choosing ingredients that are in season, you're reducing your home’s food bill and environmental impact.

Through clever menu selections, you’ll be able to ensure that residents still enjoy all their favourite meals and introduce them to new meals, all whilst keeping food costs down and doing your bit for the planet.

Is fresh always best?

Last year, a Which? survey found one in five households were buying more frozen food to help cut their grocery bills. And the same can go for care homes...

Whilst many often think that fresh is best, that isn’t always the case. Dietitian Kiri Pointon-Bell told Which? that ‘fresh vegetables are often stored for prolonged periods before consumption, and during this time at warmer temperatures, the vitamin C is oxidised and lost.' She added, 'Whereas frozen vegetables lock in nutrients, as they’re picked at their peak in terms of freshness.’3 Frozen food has a longer shelf life than fresh food, providing flexibility with meal planning and reducing food waste.

Preparing fresh ingredients can be timeconsuming, especially in large quantities. Frozen

foods, on the other hand, can significantly reduce preparation time and labour costs. This time efficiency can lead to a more streamlined kitchen operation, allowing care home staff to focus on other essential aspects of resident care.

Switching from fresh to frozen foods in care homes is a strategic move that can yield considerable financial benefits without compromising the quality of meals provided to residents.

Little changes, big savings There can be no doubt that this is a challenging time for care homes and there is not one simple magic solution which will solve the cost-of-living crisis for care homes. Delivering quality and costefficient mealtimes in care homes requires careful planning and management.

By making some small but significant changes, you’ll have the tools to overcome the challenges of the current economic climate and provide your residents with the exceptional dining experiences they deserve.

Discover more about apetito’s care homes meal service: https://apetito.link/CMM

References [1] Office of National Statistics, 2023, Cost of living insights: Food, viewed 3rd November 2023, <https://www.ons.gov.uk/economy/ inflationandpriceindices/articles/ costoflivinginsights/food#:~:text=Prices%20 of%20food%20and%20non,seen%20for%20 over%2045%20years.> [2] Office of National Statistics, 2022, Rising cost of pasta, bread and other everyday foods leaves most vulnerable the worst off, viewed 10th November 2023, <https://www.ons.gov.uk/ economy/inflationandpriceindices/articles/ risingcostofpastabreadandothereveryday foodsleavesmostvulnerabletheworstoff/ 2022-12-22> [3] Marianne Calnan, Which?, 2023, Can switching to frozen food save you money, viewed 10th November 2023, <https://www.which. co.uk/news/article/can-switching-to-frozenfood-save-you-money-aSfQs0Y7oQLd>

Richard Woodward is General Manager of apetito’s care home division, a leading expert in serving nutritious delicious meals. As general manager of care homes, Richard has spearheaded the growth of this division and encouraged innovation, having introduced the ground-breaking Finger Foods Range, which gives those living with dementia the opportunity to dine with dignity. Email: carehomes@apetito.co.uk @apetitouk 42

Care England

Education and training for the social care workforce If you work in adult social care, Macmillan’s Social care community on the Learning Hub is the go-to place for free education and training on cancer care.

There are over 20 on-demand e-learning courses, bitesize resources and virtual classrooms to develop your knowledge and skills in supporting people affected by cancer.

This community is for all staff working in adult social care who want to improve their understanding of cancer and skills in supporting people affected by cancer. This includes staff working in residential care, nursing homes, home care, sheltered accommodation, assisted living and day centres.

In the community you’ll find the following topics: Scan the QR code • Cancer awareness to log in or register • Cancer and other conditions for an account, then • Communication skills search ‘Social care • Personalised care community’ • Palliative and end of life care

Macmillan Cancer Support, registered charity in England and Wales (261017), Care England Scotland (SC039907) and the Isle of Man (604). Also operating in Northern Ireland.

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MEMBERS' VOICE

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Your questions answered

At Care England, we are always keen to hear from our members and we strive to answer any questions and queries our members may have. In our first issue of Savings, Solutions, and Sustainability, George Appleton, Head of Policy at Care England, and Charlotte Lezard, Policy and Public Affairs Officer at Care England, provide the answers to support providers to go digital, update on local authority commissioning and share how Care England is creating policies around net zero and climate change.

Care England Member: What support is available to help us digitise and move from paper-based records to digital?

George Appleton: As part of the Government’s programme to digitise the adult social care sector, the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) has said it's committed to digitising 80% of care providers through the adoption of digital social care records by March 2024. To support care providers with this programme, the Government has provided funding through the Digitising Transformation Fund.

This fund is channelled through Integrated Care Boards (ICBs) and, in some areas, supports up to 50% of the costs for the implementation of Digital Social Care Records (DSCRs).

We are now in the second phase of funding and there is a core focus on engaging with care providers who have not yet participated in the fund. You can learn more about how to engage and work with your local ICSs via the Digitising Social Care website.

Member: We are looking at the need to be more aware of our environmental impact and the mitigations we need to make, particularly updating our policies around net zero and climate change.

What is Care England doing to support this?

Charlotte Lezard: In April, we ran a roundtable to examine initiatives care providers have or are instigating to tackle their environmental impact and drive towards net zero. The notes can be requested by contacting info@careengland.org.uk. We also ran a series of webinars with CBRE, each focusing on a different element of ESG. Please see the recordings for these webinars, which are accessible via the Care England ‘Resources and Guidance’ page of our website.

Most recently, we have launched our Strategic Management Audit Repository Tool, SMART, which features an ESG repository with over 150 areas where care providers can review their services and requirements, store data and report performance.

For more information on SMART, please visit the Care England website or see page 37.

Continued

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→

Care England

CHAMPIONING CHANGE CARE ENGLAND 2024 EXHIBITION AND CONFERENCE CHURCH HOUSE, WESTMINSTER, LONDON, SW1P 3NZ What’s our focus?

The conference will focus on the action that Care England and the sector is taking to further improve the quality of care.

Who should attend?

The conference will be of interest to all residential and domiciliary care providers, especially owners, directors and senior managers who support older people and those with dementia, learning disabilities and long-term conditions.

BOOK EARLY AND SAVE MONEY!

SCAN HERE TO BOOK YOUR PLACE!

For bookings before 31 December 2023 Care England Member: £125 Non-member care homes/Charities: £150 Non-Member: £300 For bookings from 1 January 2024 Care England Member: £150 Non-member care homes/Charities: £175 Non-Member: £350

Exhibition of products and services Over 40 leading companies and organisations will be present to showcase their products and services to the estimated 350 high-level delegates For further information, please contact Jozsef on 020 7492 4840 or send an email to Conference@careengland.org.uk

You can view the programme, and the confirmed speakers, on our website! www.careengland.org.uk MAIN SPONSOR

Care England

SPONSOR

MEDIA SPONSORS

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→ Member: What is Care England doing regarding MPLC and care homes?

GA: We are aware that a number of care homes are being told they require an Motion Picture Licensing Corporation (MPLC) or Public Video Screening Licence (PVSL) licence for TVs and films in their care homes.

Whilst licensing bodies have made clear that they expect care homes to purchase suitable licences (following a change to the law in June 2016), there is a gap in the law and guidance when it comes to care homes.

Our legal advisers on this matter have said that a provider needs to clarify that it does not organise TV or film viewings in a communal room, as opposed to saying it does not charge for them. You need to explain that you do not arrange TV or film viewings as an activity. For example, any viewing is organised by the resident(s).

Care England has worked with our legal advisers on this matter to produce an advice note for Care England members, which can be requested by contacting info@careengland.org.uk.

Member: We have heard conflicting statements on commissioning preferences for our local authority. Is there a way we can find out our authority’s planned commissioning approach and what this means for our service?

CL: Yes! Care England’s Market Intelligence System, MINT, is the only database that contains every local authority’s Market Position Statement. These reports outline the local authorities' planned commissioning approaches for the next three to five years and will offer insight into their commissioning preferences for different service types. This also includes data on their current capacity, their predicted future capacity and how they will meet this need by supporting the care sector. See page 37 for more information about MINT.

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Member: After Birmingham Council issued a Section 114 Notice, and with other local authorities being in similar financial positions, should I be worried about my services in these areas?

GA: Although a Section 114 Notice means that the local authority can make no new payments, they must still meet their statutory duties, including the provision of adult social care, and meet any pre-existing contracts they would have made, including those with providers. Also, any central Government funding committed to our sector must go to providers in full, regardless of the local authority's financial position. There shouldn’t be any significant interruption to your services, as the only immediate action after issuing a Section 114 notice is for the local authority to review its budget. However, Section 114 notices will be influential to the local authority's future financial decisions.

Services such as Care England’s Market Intelligence System, MINT, which contains all the funding information you need, will support you in your fee negotiations to get the most out of your authority.

George Appleton is Policy Manager at Care England, and Charlotte Lezard is Policy and Public Affairs Officer at Care England.

Care England

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