Resources
Adult social care spending on direct care
This section focuses on adult social care expenditure on direct packages of care only. It does not include expenditure relating to staffing or any other area, further this excludes income. In particular, the income that eligible customers pay towards the cost of their care.
The total expenditure for adult social care services below increased from £126m in 2018/19 to £155m in 2021/22, representing a £29m increase and a 23% growth in gross expenditure. Among the various types of care, domiciliary care accounted for 16% of this spend in 2018/19 and 17% of this spend in 2021/22.
We have several statutory responsibilities, including setting a balanced budget. We recognise the need to remain within budget, but also to help maintain the quality, sustainability, and accessibility of adult social care services in Warwickshire.
Workforce
Recruitment remains a persistent challenge within the sector. The allure of higher-paying job vacancies in other sectors, makes it difficult to attract and retain skilled workers. To overcome this obstacle, it is important to focus on enhancing the offer for prospective care workers and the council would want to join with providers and the Coventry and Warwickshire ICB in system-wide initiatives that promote the rewards of working in the care industry, such as making a positive impact on people’s lives.
During, and directly following, the COVID-19 pandemic, domiciliary care services across the country faced unprecedented pressures in meeting increasing demands for services. Due to risks of direct contact care delivery, workers left the sector, and there was an increasing anxiety in the remaining workforce due to risk of contracting Covid. This saw an overall reduction in available provision and presented a deficit between capacity and demand. Working closely with providers and health colleagues, we supported the introduction of PPE delivery, facilitated information distribution about the pandemic and worked with the wider market to source care creatively and safely. Introductions of “block purchased” rotas gave providers and their staff stability in employment and saw the unmet demand levels dramatically decrease. This responsive approach was only possible due to the effective working relationships that had been established over the period of the current contracts, and we would want to establish this similar close working with all providers it does business with, now and in the future. Providers responded well and used several creative solutions to increase their workforce. This was equally supported by our effective distribution of funding to cover increases in fuel costs and financial burdens put on the market by the pandemic.
Currently a number of providers have built a successful business on the basis of effectively utilising Home Office Sponsorship licences to give opportunities to overseas workers to deliver care in the Warwickshire area. However, this is not without risk and we are currently developing resources to aid the market to apply for licences and effectively manage those licences to reduce this identified risk.
We will continue to work closely with all partners to meet the challenges presented by the delivery of domiciliary care services and develop services that are fit to cope with future changing demands and pressures.