LCA Achievements 2008

This year the LCA has worked with both the Adult Services Directorate of Lancs County Council and the wider executive to take a more evidenced-based approach to setting fees using the Fair Price model and by linking an additional premium for care homes and for dom care providers to the signing of the Dignity in Care Charter.

The work, riding on 6 years' worth of partnership working between LCA and LCC, resulted in one of the best national settlements for care providers (6% for dom care and just under 7% for band 1 homes). We need to build on this, with a review of the Fair Price model in practice (which we are doing with the 3 Lancashire authorities who helped commission the original work, and continue to be bold about our commitment to ensuring that only quality care wins out. The best providers in Lancashire share the passion for delivering quality care and we can, through an organised and effective association like LCA, lead the way on how to work with local authorities who remain the major purchasers. At the same time, we need to adapt to the 'new world' (of personalisation and individual budgets) which may look very different, with individual purchasers driving the system; and we're working on that, too. Look out for the notes of our meetings with the Social Care Partnership to appear on these web pages. We are also engaging Ministers and Mandarins in the lessons from the Lancashire model. Our work with Blackpool resulted in, again, the wider executive council recognising the needs of older people's care and raising their fees' offer above the national average (3%). We also had a very positive Blackpool BC/LCA annual workshop at the Solaris Centre. There is also an agreement to see a new partnership forum developing with Blackburn with Darwen BC. This year saw the establishment of the 'Learning Together' workshops. The aim being that local authority operational staff and staff and managers from the independent sector get the chance to learn together about key issues and learn more about each other on the process. LCA has helped establish the Lancashire Workforce Development Partnership (LWDP) and remains active on the Board of the partnership. We also have a clutch of genuine supplier deals available only to members. We've had over a hundred new members 2007-08. We have also helped establish Complete Care Network (CCN), an independent company working to helping local associations be more effective in terms of communication and get supplier deals that can make a significant difference to their margins. The aim is to bring the benefits of networking and of economies of scale to the SME sector.