Market sustainability and fair cost of care fund

What the market sustainability and fair cost of care fund is, why it's important, how we'll support you, information we'll collect, national tools.

The government announced plans in September 2021 to give funding for local authorities to pay providers a fair rate of care. 

This was followed by:

We've collected information from health system partners and providers for the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) to:

  • understand what a fair cost of care is
  • find out what we need to do to ensure long term mutual sustainability
  • make sure adults receiving care and support get the best possible outcomes

Following the results of the exercise, we have submitted the:

Why it's important 

From October 2023 more people who pay for their own care in care homes can ask us to arrange care on their behalf to get better value. They'll do this with section 18(3) of the Care Act 2014. People in domiciliary care can already ask us.

This will help to address the difference in fees charged to some people who self-fund.  

Providers who rely on subsidising state funded care with fees from people who self-fund will be affected by this change. Where this has an impact, we'll make sure:

  • the market can be sustained
  • fee rates are sustainable

By engaging with this process, you'll help to shape the future for care services in Bristol and the amount of funding we'll get.

How we'll support you

The 2022 to 2023 government funding is designed to make sure we can prepare the market for reform and pay providers a fair cost of care, based on local circumstances. 

To support care providers, we'll: 

  • do a cost of care exercise to find the sustainable rates and see how close we are to meeting them.
  • talk to you to improve data on operational costs and the number of people who self-fund, particularly the residential care market for people aged over 65, and domiciliary care 
  • improve capacity for market oversight as a result of increased section 18(3) commissioning 
  • improve capacity for better market management to make sure markets are well positioned 
  • increase fee rates, including the increase in social care grant and the better care fund, a 1% adult social care precept, and deferred flexibilities from last year's settlement

Information we'll collect

To get further grant funding in the next two years, we'll give the DHSC some information.

Cost of care exercise 

We'll survey local providers for: 

  • residential and nursing care for people aged over 65
  • homecare for people aged over 18

The exercise will:

  • find a sustainable fee rate for different care settings
  • reflect local costs like staff pay and travel time
  • provide for an appropriate return on capital or return on operations

We'll publish the results.

Provisional market sustainability plan 

The plan will explain our strategy for 2022 to 2025. We'll use the cost of care exercise to make the strategy. 

The provisional plan will:

  • show how long we'll take to move towards a sustainable fee rate
  • consider the impact of section 18(3)
  • consider other pressures that we identify   

Spend report

We'll write a report to explain how the money has been allocated to achieve a more sustainable local market. To do this work on time, we'll work with: 

  • ARCC for homecare providers for people aged over 18 
  • IESE for residential and nursing providers for people aged over 65

We'll have engagement events and one to one sessions to follow up. Organisations who don't have a contract with us can take part, to make sure your voice is heard. 

National tools

You can use these national tools to make sure we have a consistent approach, save time, and make sure your data is secure.

For support with these tools, email the Care Providers Alliance at FCC@careprovideralliance.org.uk.

Care Home Cost of Care Tool

A secure digital solution provided by iESE. You can access provider guidance and registration instructions and enter data directly or by an Excel upload.

Home Care Cost of Care Tool

This is an Excel workbook provided by ARCC and will allow data to be entered into Excel and submitted.

Elsewhere on the web

Tell us about a problem with a form, page or Citizen Portal account