CareCubed Updates and Developments

As CareCubed version 17 gets ready to launch, work behind the scenes continues on the development and improvement of what is rapidly becoming recognised as the industry-standard National Care Costing Tool.

iESE reinvests in CareCubed continually to improve its usefulness and impact. We count on customer feedback and all developments are carried out in partnership with our customers. Please don’t hesitate to contact us if you have any ideas for future developments or enhancements to existing modules that could make the product even better. Here are some of the exciting new developments available to our users.

Platform update

CareCubed began life as an offline spreadsheet called the Care Funding Calculator designed to bring transparency to negotiations between care providers and commissioners when agreeing a care package. The online application version of CareCubed was launched in 2019 with separate versions for the children’s and adult’s care market. It is now fast becoming the industrystandard National Care Costing Tool and is being widely used by commissioners and providers alike to navigate day-to-day commissioning and brokerage challenges and for strategic planning.

CareCubed clients will soon notice a new interface when they log into the CareCubed platform. Over the past six months iESE has been migrating customers and their data seamlessly from its old database and server to a more modern technology stack. While this work has happened in the background and has not affected clients, they may have noticed some benefits such as speed improvements.

Sherif Attia, Head of Design at iESE, said: “While customers won’t have yet noticed any major changes, the next stage is reskinning the tool and giving customers a new and improved interface. The recent changes, while seamless for clients, will allow us to keep delivering on our future roadmap at a pace, and has given us access to a wider pool of developers to help ensure the tool’s future success. We have engaged with a range of different customers as part of the design and testing process. This update demonstrates the continued investment made by iESE into CareCubed.”

Version 17 launches

An updated version of CareCubed (version 17) will be released in November as part of the twice-yearly data update carried out on the system.

iESE is investing more in development than ever before, which means the tool continues to be enhanced based on legislative changes and customer feedback, with larger developments to create new products running in parallel. The place-based approach means the same tool can be accessed and used by all stakeholders to support collaborative relationships.

Robust data is at the heart of CareCubed and the three data models for children and young people, working age adults and older people, set CareCubed apart. The data update will see key datasets underpinning CareCubed amended to support customers and continue to provide an independent, nationally recognised benchmark cost for care placements. This will reflect real world changes and allow CareCubed customers to make decisions based on the most accurate, up to date data.

“We will be providing further enhancements in version 17, including making use of some exciting new data sources,” explained Sherif Attia, Head of Design at iESE, “We supported the Fair Cost of Care exercise for 65+ last year and now have access to a sample of that data which we could consider using to improve elements of the model. In addition, we are exploring new data sources for labour market analytics and recruitment data. We are hoping this will make the model even more attuned as we constantly look for ways to give more nuance to the data and add another level of transparency and robustness,” he added.

Upcoming modules

After the success of iESE’s contribution to the 65+ Cost of Care Exercise commissioned by the Department of Health & Social Care, which resulted in data being submitted by more than 2,500 care providers to 95 per cent of all councils, we are now planning to enable local authorities and care providers to gather and exchange data more widely across any part of the market or age group. For example, cost of care exercises for the learning disability sector, as part of procurement processes and to gather and analyse important information about local markets.

“This will be a major upgrade and will open up lots of exciting opportunities for our customers,” explained Sherif Attia, Head of Design at iESE, “This will allow councils to segment the market and request information they need from providers in a fast, efficient, and intuitive tool.”

For example, a council might be going out to tender for a new supported living framework and costs can be submitted directly into CareCubed where they can be analysed and importantly benchmarked as part of the scoring process. The benefit for commissioners is it will give them a consistent way of capturing that information. The benefit for providers is that it will replace the need to complete spreadsheets and allow them to use the same tools as the council and build strategic partnerships.

“There is a lot of variability in the market and unique services, so having the ability to understand how a provider costs and delivers care and positive outcomes for individuals is important,” he added.

iESE is also considering how CareCubed can support brokerage processes to enable local authorities to benchmark quotes received and ensure they are funding at the correct level. Work is also underway with a group of ‘trailblazer’ councils to develop modules for Special Educational Needs and Disabilities and Alternative Provision placements (see page 5 for further information).

For more information about CareCubed, please visit our website: https://iese.org.uk/project/carecubed/ or contact us directly at carecubed@iese.org.uk.