Information and guidance from ARCO's latest Social Care and Covid-19 Member Updates.
Reminder to complete CQC survey
The Care Quality Commission (CQC) this week emailed all adult social care providers with a link to a new anonymous survey.
In the CQC's recent State of Care report, they talked about the need for more support for the adult social care sector to address workforce and other challenges and grow capacity.
Across February, they are aiming to collect and collate insight to present to government and other system partners to help address these challenges.
The findings from this survey will be used alongside insights providers have already shared to support this work.
It would be great if you could complete the survey so we can ensure the experiences of the Integrated Retirement Community sector are reflected in the CQC's work going forward.
Applications open for Government's £32 million cash injection to upgrade existing heat networks
Not strictly social care, but we wanted to draw your attention to the opening of applications for the Government's funding for upgrading heat networks, in case you'd like to apply.
HNES, for which first round applications opened on 7 February, is a £32 million Government grant support programme helping finance upgrades to existing heat networks.
The scheme, which is led by BEIS' delivery partner Gemserv, will provide funding to existing projects by making available:
- £30 million of capital grants to part-fund delivery of network efficiency upgrades
- £2 million of revenue grants to fund heat networks procuring third-party support to identify and assess packages of efficiency improvement measures.
You can find out more here.
Sent 03/02/2023:
DHSC update: Enforcement of information requirements
The Adult Social Care Information (Enforcement) Regulations 2022 were commenced on 1 December 2022.
DHSC has published enforcement guidance setting out what will happen if a provider does not update their data monthly via Capacity Tracker, as outlined in the guidance on data collection. New guidance has also been added to the page detailing the non-mandated data items collected for operational support.
The Formal Notice of a mandate has also been updated to reflect the current list of mandated data items.
The enforcement process will focus on supporting providers to comply with the information requirements, with financial penalties normally a last resort.
You can read more here.
Winter pressures for health and care services: How the CQC are responding
CQC previously published a response to measures announced by the Secretary of State to address winter pressures in health and care services. This involves adjusting their regulatory activity until the end of March 2023.
On this new page, the CQC set out what their plan for supporting providers means in practise during this time. There is a specific section on adult social care if you scroll down the page, including information on monitoring and inspecting, registration, and work with the Director of Adult Social Services.
Find out more from ARCO:
Since the beginning of the Covid-19 outbreak in the UK, ARCO has shared and provided advice on Covid-19 guidance through a variety of mediums, including update emails, regular online discussion and bulletins.
- If you would like to receive the regular Covid-19 and social care update email that ARCO sends out, including all the latest information and guidance relevant for Integrated Retirement Communities, then please email Sam Dalton, Policy and External Affairs Manager, via samdalton@arcouk.org.
- If you work for an ARCO member and would like to join the ARCO Operational Forum to discuss the latest guidance and key operational issues for the IRC sector, and to have your questions answered, then please email Sally Ireland, Barrister and Head of Regulation and Compliance, via sallyireland@arcouk.org.