Freedom of information response

Q1) Please provide a copy of your 2024 to 2025 fee uplift letter that was sent to care providers. If you have not reported a 2024-25 fee uplift, please outline your timeline and process for doing so.

We cannot share the letters as providers are sent separate letters which contain commercially sensitive information, however I can confirm the uplift offered to in borough providers was 8.87% on core fees

Note: Please do not embed the document in your response. Please share the letter as an attachment.

Q2) Please confirm the date when the local authority/Cabinet agreed or made the decision to proceed with the fee uplift for care providers for the 2024/25 financial year.

March 13th 2024

Q3) Please confirm the date this decision on the fee uplift for the 2024/25 financial year was officially communicated to the providers.

March 14th 2024

Q4) Please provide your 2024 to 2025 weekly base* fee rates for the following care types:

A.       Nursing (Excl. FNC)

B.       Nursing with Dementia (Excl. FNC)

C.       Residential (without nursing)

D.       Residential (without nursing) with Dementia

This is published annually as part of the ASCFR / NHS digital information.

In issuing our response the council have applied S22 of the Freedom of Information Act.  This means that the council does hold this information and it is intended for publication at a future date.  You are advised to refer to the council’s website where this information will be published.

*Note:  If you do not operate a base fee, please provide the fee schedule you use (i.e. a banding or range of fees, or guide prices).  If no fee schedule is used, please provide the average fee proposed during this period for each care type.

Q5) Please provide your average weekly fee rate (being the average weekly fee paid during the period 1st April 2023 to March 31st 2024 ) for the following care types:

A.       Nursing (Excl. FNC) £800 per week

B.       Nursing with Dementia (Excl. FNC) N/A

C.       Residential (without nursing) £1079 per week

D.       Residential (without nursing) with Dementia £688 per week

Note: if you are unable to split Dementia from care without Dementia, please provide a blended Residential and a blended Nursing rate. This calculation should be the same as the Market Sustainability and Improvement Fund reporting submitted in May 2023.

Q6) Please provide your provisional average weekly fee rate (calculated consistently with the rate in the question above) for the period 2024-2025 for the following care types: We cannot forecast averages

A.       Nursing (Excl. FNC)

B.       Nursing with Dementia (Excl. FNC)

C.       Residential (without nursing)

D.       Residential (without nursing) with Dementia

Note: if you are unable to split Dementia from care without Dementia, please provide a blended Residential and a blended Nursing rate. This calculation should be the same as the Market Sustainability and Improvement Fund reporting submitted in May 2023.

Q7) Please confirm if your authority requires or provisions for care providers to pay care staff a rate higher than the National Living Wage, and when this policy was implemented. We do not currently have this as a contractual requirement

Q8) For the period 1st April 2023 to 31st March 2024, please provide the number of individual residents, where their contracts for the provision of Older Person Services for both residential care and nursing care were either terminated by the care provider, handed back by the care provider, or were renegotiated due to the threat or notice of termination/handing back was made by the care provider.  You should provide the number of residents this applies to and the number of care providers. We have not had any contracts terminated, however we would have had issues that may have meant we have found alternative providers due to incumbent not being able to meet needs any longer, or due to issues such as behaviours which may challenge, we do not collate these numbers