The Cost Calculator pilot phase
Department for Education and Skills
The Cost Calculator is an output of the research study on the Costs and Consequences of Different Types of Child Care Provision.
Unit costs for eight social care processes that support the case management of children looked after away from home were calculated. A computer application was developed by the research team which made it possible to calculate the costs incurred by social services of looking after each child in the sample, taking account all the variations related to needs, types of services and difference in processes.
The computer application was the first version of the Cost Calculator for Children’s Services.
This study explored how far the Cost Calculator application could be developed into a fully working model appropriate to a pilot local authority and identified issues that would need to be addressed if it were to be fully utilised as a practical tool.
Three activities were undertaken:
- formal pilot of the model in a local authority setting;
- consultation with authorities outside the pilot;
- theoretical and technical development of the Cost Calculator.
- Costs of finding placements and of care planning were higher in the pilot authority because both social workers devoted more time to these activities than in other authorities.
- Unit costs for transitions to leaving care services were lower in the pilot authority.
- The pilot authority was one of the first to begin implementation of the Integrated Children’s System and the move over to electronic social care records was therefore relatively advanced. Therefore, data available from the management information system in the pilot authority was very comprehensive compared to the local authorities that had participated in the Costs and Consequences study.
- There were problems in identifying whether children had emotional or behavioural difficulties; had received mental health support; or whether they had received a reprimand, final warning or conviction for a criminal offence.
- The original study found that very little had been recorded to show whether children were receiving additional support services that might promote better outcomes. Additional support services cannot be accurately costed without clear information concerning the frequency and duration of provision.
- Very little quantifiable data was routinely recorded.
- It was fairly simple to select data items and export them directly from the social services management information system into the Excel spreadsheets of the Cost Calculator.
Development and use of the Cost Calculator will introduce greater transparency into the relationship between costs and outcomes of services for vulnerable children, thus assisting local authorities in improving their commissioning strategies.
Ward, H., Holmes, L., Soper, J. (2005) Cost Calculator for Children’s Services: Report on the Pilot Phase. Loughborough: Centre for Child and Family Research
Professor Harriet Ward, Lisa Holmes, Jean Soper and Mike Gatehouse
|