Essex County Council have confirmed the uplift to be offered to all providers of residential care to adults with learning disabilities and/or autism, or physical and/or sensory impairments.
In line with acknowledged pressures on staffing costs and general inflation we have calculated an increase of 2% is required to keep pace with inflation on packages in Essex.
Calculation Methodology
To arrive at this proposed increase, we have taken the rates of increase of the two main factors within residential package costs, being the National Living Wage, and RPI as the indicator of general inflation.
These two figures are then weighted to represent the typical composition of a residential care package, with 65% of the cost being attributed to staffing and labour, and the remaining 35% including items affected by general inflationary pressures such as consumable items, rent/mortgages, and maintenance.
The below is a breakdown of the calculations to arrive at this figure:
|
|
2021 Rate |
% Inc. |
|
Projected Minimum Wage |
£8.91 |
2.18% |
|
RPI |
1.60% |
1.60% |
|
Residential |
% Weighting |
Weighted % |
|
Labour |
65% |
1.42% |
|
Property, Consumables etc. |
35% |
0.56% |
|
Total |
1.98% |
Uplift Approach
As with the increase last year this is not being applied as a blanket increase to all packages and we want to engage with providers that we have not yet spoken to understand the cost breakdowns of these packages so they can be benchmarked with Care Cubed, which is the tool we use to benchmark all new and existing AWD residential packages in Essex.
The uplift will be applied immediately and automatically to packages that meet either of the criteria detailed below:
- have been benchmarked through Care Cubed and accepted previously; or
- are below £1,100 per week in current cost.
Where neither of these criteria points is met you will be required to complete a cost breakdown to ECC detailing the current costs of delivering the care package in 2021-22. This will then be entered into Care Cubed to identify the benchmarked rate and whether an uplift is appropriate in each case.
In addition to this letter a further letter will be sent directly to each provider to notify them of any actions they may need to take to be awarded the uplift, or if they have met either element of the criteria already outlined above.
Out of County Placements
This uplift applies to packages placed within the Essex Administrative Area only, and any package placed outside of this, including Southend and Thurrock unitary authorities will be approached in a different manner.
Essex County Council will commit to uplifts for any out of county packages in line with the offer of the host authority for the home on application by the provider for an increase to the package.
However, Essex County Council reserves the right to require any provider to complete a full pricing breakdown before an increase is awarded where there is no existing record of the package breakdown and no existing benchmark and where appropriate to negotiate a different increase based on this evidence when provided.