In December 2021 the government published a white paper People at the Heart of Care, that outlined a 10-year vision for adult social care. To support with this, the government implemented the Market Sustainability and Fair Cost of Care Fund. The fund was announced on 16 December 2021.
The primary purpose of the fund is to support local authorities to prepare their markets for reform, and to support local authorities to move towards paying providers a fair cost of care.
More information about the Market Sustainability and Fair Cost of Care Fund can be found here: Market sustainability and fair cost of care fund 2022 to 2023: guidance.
As a condition of receiving funding from the Market Sustainability and Fair Cost of Care Fund, local authorities were required to carry out a Fair Cost of Care Exercise with their 65+ care home and 18+ home care market and publish a ‘cost of care’ report.
The following reports can be downloaded at the bottom of this page:
Annex B: Cost of Care Report Homecare 18+ (Stoke on Trent City Council)
Annex B: Cost of Care Report 65+ Care Homes (Stoke on Trent City Council)
Allied to the Fair Cost Of Care (FCoC) , the City council is also required to produce a Market Sustainability Plan (MSP) for the older people’s residential and nursing care homes and the 18+ home care markets.
The FCoC surveys yielded valuable insights, which fed into the MSP and will inform future fee setting in these markets. The Council will submit its final MSP to the DHSC at the end of March 2023, which takes into account changes made by the Autumn Statement 2022. The Market Sustainability Plan can be downloaded using the link below: