Review of 'social services' response to people's first contact with them' 2009/10
UPDATE 19 August: Please note the online data collection closes at 5pm on Friday 20th August. Nominated review leads and form compilers have been issued with log-in details. The questions for the collection and accompanying guidance and FAQs are available on our webpage (below).
What is the review about?
The review will look at the quality of councils’ response to people seeking help, support or advice in relation to a social care need.
Which organisations and services will we be looking at?
The review covers all councils with adult social services responsibilities. Specifically, we will be looking at the quality of service provided to people seeking help or information from or about social services.
Why is the review taking place?
The Commission for Social Care Inspection (CSCI) identified the need for additional focus on the experience of people making initial contact with social services departments. CSCI highlighted this issue in both The State of Social Care in England 2006-07, and in its 2008 review of eligibility criteria for social care Cutting the Cake Fairly (a review informed by an online survey of people using services and their carers). CSCI also commissioned a ‘mystery-shopping’ exercise in 2007, (published as Hello, How Can I Help?), which found that the information provided by councils to older people seeking help was highly variable.
Based on these findings, CQC included ‘social services response to people’s first contact with them’ as a potential topic in its consultation on the 2009/10 programme of special reviews and studies. The topic received good support in the consultation, and so was included in the final 2009/10 programme.
What is the scope of the review?
This review will focus on what happens when people first approach their local social services with a request for help or information. We will be looking at:
- initial contacts from or on behalf of people aged 18 and older
- the information, advice and support provided at or following first contact
- processes for follow-up and monitoring of people not given a full assessment, or not found to meet the council’s eligibility criteria and therefore ‘sign-posted’ to other services and providers
- a primary focus on telephone contacts made by or on behalf or a person who may benefit from services or carer. Referrals from other sources, and other contact routes, will be a secondary focus
The review will not look at:
- contacts with people already in receipt of council-funded community social care services, i.e. contacts relating to reviews of existing care packages
- decisions made by councils on the application of eligibility criteria in individual cases (i.e. retrospective review of individual cases)
- contacts relating to safeguarding issues.
- complaints
- the information available to people prior to their first contact
How is 'first contact' defined in the review?
The definition of ‘first contact’ in this review is:
The first point of contact at which, following an initial exploration of their needs, a decision is made on whether to refer a person on for further assessment, commission services in response to these needs or ‘sign-post’ the person making contact to information or other services.
‘First contact’ in this sense may not always be the first conversation with someone working for the council, but it will be the first point at which a person seeking help has the opportunity to discuss their needs, and the first point at which decisions are made about how or whether these needs should be further assessed or met.
What are the key dates for the review?
We will be collecting data for the review between December 2009 and August 2010. There are three stages to the data collection:
1) Mapping
An initial online data collection, completed by councils, which will help to map the routes by which people can make contact with their council, the frequency with which they are used and the nature of the interaction involved. The data provided by councils at this stage will be used to inform subsequent work on the review, but will not directly inform the scored assessment. This collection began on 21 December 2009, and closed at 5pm on Thursday 4 February 2010.
2) Mystery shopping
A ‘mystery shopping’ exercise, which, following pilot calls in February 2010, began in March 2010, and will continue until the end of August 2010, in which councils’ ‘live’ responses to people’s first contact will be tested. Each council will be contacted a number of times during this period, with their responses to the mystery shoppers recorded, collated and scored for inclusion in the review assessment. Councils should be aware that audio recordings of telephone contacts may be made as part of this process, for training and quality assurance purposes.
The scenarios and mystery shopping scripts to be used in this exercise have been developed with the input of people who use services and carers, people working in local social services and other experts.
UPDATE: Following feedback from two councils, we have introduced an additional step to ensure that the mystery shopping exercise does not generate additional work at a local level, and does not compromise the handling of genuine calls. All calls made as part of this exercise will now conclude with an explanation that the call was made as part of the mystery shopping exercise. As advised in previous communications and on our webpage, the exercise is scheduled to conclude in August 2010. No mystery shopping calls will be made after the end of August 2010 without prior notification to local authorities.
3) Survey of social services
A second online data collection, which will be completed by councils, will examine in more detail the arrangements they have in place to ensure that their contact routes are accessible and supportive, and to look at the arrangements in place for follow-up and monitoring of people ‘sign-posted’ to other services. The online form for this collection went live on 22 July 2010 and closes 5pm 20 August.
The set of questions, guidance and FAQs may be viewed by clicking the link below. (Please note that there have been no amendments made to the questions from the draft version)
First Contact data collection 2 - Questions, Guidance, FAQs V1 (XLS, 1.13MB, opens in new window)
The deadline for submissions is 5pm Friday 20 August 2010.
If you have any questions about the data collection please email reviews.studies@cqc.org.uk with 'First Contact' in the subject line.
How will councils be assessed?
The outline framework for our assessment, setting out the key questions to be considered by the review, and performance expectations for the best performing councils, may be accessed by clicking the link to the questions workbook above. The scored assessment will be based on the information collected through the mystery shopping exercise and the second online data collection.
Councils will be provided with their scores ahead of publication. A number of councils, identified by the review as being weaker performers in this area, will be engaged in follow-up work by CQC, to help create a plan for improvement.
All councils with adult social services responsibilities are required to take part in the review, and will receive a scored assessment for the services they provide. This scored assessment stands alone, and is not linked to councils’ annual performance assessment.
How will the results of the review be published?
We expect to make detailed local results available to the public via the CQC website. At the same time, we will publish a national report setting out our main findings.
When will the results and national report be published?
We expect to publish the results and national report in November 2010.
Where can I get more information?
Key project documents and guidance will be published on this page.
How can I get involved?
If you would like to contribute to this review, or receive updates by email, please contact us at: reviews.studies@cqc.org.uk
