2024 to 2025 annual fee increases for care providers

Introduction

From 1 April 2024, the agreed annual fee increases for the adult social care services we buy are:

• nursing and residential care: 4.5%
• respite care for people with disabilities: 5.3%
• supported living for learning disabilities and physical and sensory disabilities: 5.3%
• shared lives and community outreach services: 5.3%
• extra care housing services: 5.3%
• day care services: 5.3%
• housing related support services: 5.3%
• unpaid carers services: 5.3%

Click on the links for more information for different providers:

Older people nursing and residential care homes

As set out in the table below, Surrey County Council will be uplifting its guide prices for older people nursing and residential care home beds by 4.5% from 1 April 2024.

The prices set out above will apply as the guide prices at which the council intends to purchase all new permanent and respite services in older people care homes in 2024 to 2025.

The council's Residential and Nursing Care Contract for Older People nursing and residential care services went live on 1 July 2022. Existing placements at or below the current 2023/24 guide prices for all providers that have applied and successfully been accepted onto the Residential and Nursing Care Contract by 31 March 2024 will be uplifted to the new 2024 to 2025 guide prices from 1 April 2024.

Uplifts for providers who have already joined the Residential and Nursing Care Contract will only be applied to placements at or below the relevant 2023 to 2024 guide price. In the relatively small number of cases where care home placements for older people have Enhanced Care Provision costs that are additional on top of the base placement cost in recognition of an individual's specific needs, this element of the care package will not be uplifted as it is subject to ongoing review of the person's care needs.

Any existing placements above the 2023/24 guide prices or any placements at or below the 2023/24 guide prices with providers who have not applied or been accepted onto the Residential and Nursing Care Contract by 31 March 2024 will not be uplifted.

If you operate a residential or nursing care home for older people and you wish to join the council's Residential and Nursing Care Contract, then please complete the Residential and Nursing Care New Provider application.

You can also email: ASC.CCSS.marketengagement@surreycc.gov.uk

Commissioners will contact you to outline the application process and the benefits of formally working with us. If you successfully join the Residential and Nursing Care Contract prior to 31 March 2024 then any existing placements commissioned by the council at or below the 2023/24 guide prices will be uplifted to the 2024/25 guide prices from 1 April 2024. If you join the Residential and Nursing Care Contract during 2024/25 then any existing placements commissioned by the council at or below the 2023/24 guide prices will be uplifted to the 2024/25 guide prices from the date you join the contract.

Learning disability nursing and residential care homes

Fees for providers with a pricing structure agreed through the previous Cost of Care project conducted for this care sector or more recently negotiated using CareCubed will be uplifted by 4.5% from 1 April 2024. Uplifts will be applied to both the core weekly fee and any additional personalised care. Schedule payments made for these services will be uplifted automatically by 4.5%.

If fees for the care home you operate are in the process of being reviewed using CareCubed and this has not been completed by 31 March 2024, then the existing fees will not automatically be uplifted as the new fees that will be agreed through the CareCubed review process will include price changes for 2024 to 2025.

Fees for any learning disability care homes that do not have a pricing structure agreed through the previous Cost of Care project or more recently negotiated using CareCubed will not be uplifted. If providers wish to work with the council to agree a new pricing structure using the widely recognised CareCubed pricing tool, then please:

Email: ASC.CCSS.marketengagement@surreycc.gov.uk and we will get in touch to schedule this with you.

Physical / sensory disability or mental health specialist nursing and residential care homes

Fees for any care homes that are identified by the council as specialist services specifically focused on the provision of care for working age adults with physical or sensory disabilities, or mental health problems, will be uplifted by 4.5%. Uplifts will be applied to both the core weekly fee and any additional personalised care. Schedule payments made for these services will be uplifted automatically by 4.5% from 1 April 2024.

Services provided to residents whose primary need is a Physical/Sensory Disability (PSD) or Mental Health (MH) in care homes that are not specialist PSD or MH services will be subject to the fee uplift parameters for the relevant care sector set out in this letter (for example learning disability or older people care homes).

Care within the home (Home based care, live in care, sleep in and waking nights)

Fees for all existing care packages with care providers active as at 31 March 2024 who had applied and been accepted onto the current Approved Provider List (APL) Dynamic Purchasing System (DPS) by 30 September 2023 will be uplifted by 5.3% from 1 April 2024. This date is to align with the regular invoicing schedule for these services. This includes all existing packages with these providers at the agreed APL rates and packages that remain on legacy rates from previous frameworks or sourcing processes.

The APL DPS contract states that rates for care packages agreed up to 30 September each year will be automatically uplifted in April the following year by the agreed uplift for Care within the Home services unless the provider requests that the uplift is not applied. As such, all existing APL rates that have been in place since prior to 1 October 2023 will be uplifted by 5.3% from April 2024.

The APL DPS also states that where providers are accepted onto the DPS on or after 1 October each year, or where new increased rates are agreed with a provider on or after 1 October each year, the rates for these services will not be automatically uplifted in the April the following year, but will be eligible for the agreed uplifts from April in the next year after that. As such, rates agreed with providers between 1 October 2023 – to 31 March 2024 will not be uplifted from April 2024.

As previously notified, providers who have not applied to join and/or been accepted onto the APL DPS will not receive fee uplifts for any care packages currently funded by the council.

Providers delivering block home care hours under Discharge to Assess arrangements fall outside of the council uplift procedure as they remain funded by the NHS. Integrated Care Board NHS commissioners will determine any uplifts to be applied to these contracts and communicate this to providers separately.

If you have any queries or concerns about the fee uplifts, then please contact your lead Commissioner or contact the Home Based Care Commissioning Team and our commissioners will contact you to discuss.

Email homebasedcare@surreycc.gov.uk

Collaborative Reablement Services

The hourly rate applied to contracts the council has commissioned for Collaborative Reablement services will be uplifted by 5.3% from 1 April 2024.

Providers will need to invoice at their current 2023 to 2024 rates plus 5.3%.

Extra Care Housing

Fees for formal extra care contracts for both planned care and emergency support will be uplifted by 5.3% from 1 April 2024.

For planned care services, providers will need to invoice for these services at their current agreed 2023 to 2024 rates plus 5.3% as they are not paid by automatic schedule payments.

For emergency support, monthly schedule payments for these services will be made at the uplifted level.

Supported independent living care services across all client groups

The council has commissioned a new Care and Support with Community Accommodation Dynamic Purchasing System (DPS) for supported independent living services across all client groups that goes live on 1 April 2024. All providers were given the opportunity to apply to join the DPS and the council communicated that inflationary uplifts for 2024/25 would only be awarded to the settings for which providers apply and are successfully accepted onto the DPS.

Providers who applied to join the DPS in the first application window have been notified of the outcome of their application for each setting. If you do not believe you have received confirmation of whether your application was successful, please check your Proactis account as it is through this that notification was sent. If it is not visible, please:

Email ASC.CCSS.marketengagement@surreycc.gov.uk

and we will contact you to confirm the status of your application.

Existing fees for daytime support and waking nights for packages at settings that were successfully accepted onto the new DPS by 31 March 2024, will be uplifted by 5.3% from 1 April 2024. Where services are paid by schedule payments, they will be automatically uplifted by 5.3%.

For any services for which providers still send invoices, providers will need to invoice at existing rates plus 5.3% from 1 April 2024. Regarding sleep in rates, these will be paid to all providers at a level that reflects the approach agreed with the sector and implemented from April 2023. As set out below, this will be communicated in a letter sent about supported living sleep in rates.

All providers who have either not applied or not yet been successful in joining the DPS by 31 March 2024 will not receive inflationary uplifts for their existing care packages until such time as they are accepted onto the DPS. Providers will be able to join the DPS at intervals during 2024/25 and existing care packages at settings included in their DPS application will be uplifted by 5.3% in accordance with the date they successfully join the DPS.

Supported living sleep in rates - we will write to affected providers to confirm the council's revised sleep in rates to be applied from April 2024 for supported living services.

Shared lives placements

Fees for all shared lives placements will be uplifted by 5.3% from 1 April 2024.

Providers will need to invoice for these services at their current agreed 2023/24 rates plus 5.3% from 1 April 2024 as they are not paid by automatic schedule payments.

Community outreach services

Fees for all community outreach placements will be uplifted by 5.3% from 1 April 2024.

Providers will need to invoice for these services at their current agreed 2023/24 rates plus 5.3% from 1 April 2024 as they are not paid by automatic schedule payments.

Day care

Fees for all day care packages will be uplifted by 5.3% from 1 April 2024.

Providers will need to invoice for these services at their current agreed 2023/24 rates plus 5.3% from 1 April 2024 as they are not paid by automatic schedule payments.

Respite services for people with learning, physical or sensory disabilities or mental health problems

Where the council has an agreed pricing structure with providers for regular respite services, these rates will be uplifted by 5.3% from 1 April 2024.

Rates for all other respite placements for people with disabilities are agreed at the time of commissioning services based on the needs of the individual and recognising that these are short term care arrangements. This will continue to be the case, and as such rates for any existing temporary respite placements for people with disabilities of this type will not be uplifted.

Transport services

There will be no automatic uplifts applied to transport services provided to Adult Social Care (ASC) clients who are funded by the council.

In many cases these transport arrangements are commissioned on a temporary basis, and it would not be appropriate to automatically uplift these arrangements.

Where there are regular ongoing transport arrangements in place for the council funded ASC clients, these are often commissioned through the council's Transport Co-ordination Centre (TCC). Prices will be based on the terms of contracts tendered through TCC. Any uplifts agreed would be applied based on these contract terms and as such are outside of the remit for the council's ASC service.

For any regular ongoing transport arrangements in place for the council's funded ASC clients that have not been commissioned through TCC, providers can:

Email ASC.CCSS.marketengagement@surreycc.gov.uk

Housing related support contracts

The total value of all housing related support contracts commissioned by the council's ASC service will be uplifted by 5.3% from 1 April 2024.

Payment of the uplift will automatically be included in your scheduled monthly payments. Alternatively, if you raise service related invoices please do so at the uplifted rate. If you need further information or assistance, please:

Email ASC.CCSS.marketengagement@surreycc.gov.uk.

Unpaid carers services

The total value of all contracts for services for unpaid carers commissioned by the council's ASC service will be uplifted by 5.3% from 1 April 2024.

Payment of the uplift will automatically be included in your scheduled monthly payments. Alternatively, if you raise service related invoices please do so at the uplifted rate. If you need further information or assistance, please:

Email ASC.CCSS.marketengagement@surreycc.gov.uk

Direct Payments

It is expected that ASC providers will not apply uplifts that are higher than those set out in this letter to the rates they charge to residents who the council provides with a direct payment and who make their own arrangements for meeting their support needs.

Providers are expected to notify the resident with a direct payment of any proposed increase. If the resident finds that the increase would exceed the direct payment they currently receive from the council, then the direct payments recipient should contact their social worker or local ASC team so their direct payment can be reviewed and if appropriate amended accordingly.

Services not covered here

Organisations who are contracted by the council to provide wider care and support services under specific contracts will be contacted separately if inflationary uplifts are to be applied to these services. If you have any questions about specific contracts you deliver that fall into this category, then please contact your commissioner:

Email ASC.CCSS.marketengagement@surreycc.gov.uk.

Services provided outside of Surrey

In some cases the council will fund care packages for people living outside of Surrey. Where this is the case, then uplifts to these out of county packages may be applied, but in line with the council's inflationary uplift parameters set out above for each care sector, which may be different to the uplifts awarded by the host local authority.

The council will not automatically match uplifts paid by a local authority in an area outside of Surrey in which the council is funding a care package. In some instances the council may require the costs for out of county packages to be benchmarked in order to ensure cost effectiveness ahead of an uplift being applied.

Need help?

If you need further information or assistance please

Email ASC.CCSS.marketengagement@surreycc.gov.uk