Modern.gov Breadcrumb
- Issue
Modern.gov Content
Issue details
Contract for Additional social workers for Care Act and Carers assessments
In December 2023, following a request from the
Executive Director: Adults and Communities, the Local Government
Association (LGA) undertook an Adult Social Care (ASC)
‘preparation for CQC assurance’ Peer Review for Bristol
City Council (BCC), which involved BCC, system partners and
stakeholders. The review provided an external view from a team of
peers about the experience of people receiving support from BCC
ASC. The peer team’s work was specifically focused on the
Care Quality Commission (CQC) inspection framework.
The report and feedback presented by the review team was focused in
on 18 key messages and highlighted a number of areas for
improvement. They also praised the work being done on ASC
transformation, commissioning and the work started on
co-production. They reported a number of areas of good practice,
however, they also raised the issue of the length of time people
wait for a Care Act assessment, which aligned with early review
work led by our new operations director, which had highlighted
considerable pressure in locality teams.
A primary focus during the review therefore was on waiting times
for new (previously unassessed) individuals in need of care and
support. To prepare for the upcoming CQC inspection, short- and
medium-term remedial actions have been put into place. However, in
addition to this work going on within the locality teams, it is
recognised that some additional Social Work capacity is urgently
needed to reduce waiting lists.
In order to put in place the required additional capacity, a
contract will be commissioned through the Council’s
procurement partner Constellia. The Council will enter a contract
for a ‘batch’ of assessments to be completed as opposed
to recruiting agency social workers through Guidant which is
proving very different. Social workers are currently very difficult
to recruit and bring onto our locality teams even as agency
workers. Initial recruitment through this route is just to try and
get back to full establishment across the teams while this request
is to provide additional capacity quickly to target the waiting
lists. (There is currently a review of our pay scales for social
workers across Children’s and Adults.) The quality of the
work will be signed off and overseen by a Principal Social Worker
(PSW). The contract will be set up on the basis of payment by
results, i.e. completion of each assessment and initial review.
This methodology has already been used to good effect to reduce
reviews pending.
This commission will build upon the existing arrangement that ASC
has (through Constellia) with Liquid Personnel (a specialist
recruitment consultancy covering social work, healthcare, criminal
justice and special educational needs). Procurement advice has been
sought. Agency workers are ideally required to commence from 1
April or as soon after as is practically possible. ASC must
demonstrate a timely response to securing extra capacity to start
to address the waiting lists from the start of the new financial
year. Having highlighted this as a priority issue, ASC want to be
able to take prompt action to address it.
Decision type: Key
Reason Key: Result in expenditure of £500,000 or over;
Decision status: Recommendations Approved
Notice of proposed decision first published: 25/03/2024
Decision due: 15 Mar 2024 by Executive Director: Adult & Communities
Lead member: Councillor Helen Holland, Cabinet Member with responsibility for Adult Social Care and Integrated Care System cllr.helen.holland@bristol.gov.uk
Contact: Hugh Evans, Executive Director: Adults and Communities Email: hugh.evans@bristol.gov.uk.
Decisions