Each Supporting People service has to be reviewed to establish the quality, performance, value for money and local strategic relevance before issuing a contract. A Review Report is issued to summarise the findings of the review and to enable the Commissioning Body to make an informed decision on the future of the service based on the recommendations of the Supporting People Team.
Services are reviewed against a Quality Assessment Framework (QAF), which is set by the Department for Communities and Local Government (DCLG). Providers must reach at least a level C of the QAF in order for the Supporting People Team to contract with them for that service. Where a service does not reach a level C, an Action Plan is issued by the Supporting People Team in order to help them to achieve it.
The review process is illustrated in this flowchart.
There are seven sections explaining service reviews as below:
- Strategic Relevance
- Value for Money
- Tools
- Quality Assessment Framework (QAF)
- Service Review Reports
- Good Practice
- Appeals Process
Please click on each heading to be taken to that section.
The purpose of strategic relevance is to decide whether a service is needed in Bournemouth and whether it is delivering a service in the most appropriate way to meet the needs of service users.
Several areas make up the assessment.
Services are asked to state which strategies, both national and local, that their service contributes to. This helps us to ensure that the service is meeting Supporting People aims and objectives and that the provider is aware of these aims and objectives.
The average length of stay of service users, the number of move ons and referrals and stakeholder feedback enable the team to assess the level of promotion of independence within a service and whether the service is used regularly by referring agencies. Promotion of independence is further assessed through the support package provided and the structure of the support.
Bournemouth Borough Council and the Supporting People programme strive to ensure that equality and diversity are at the forefront of services provided to the community. With this in mind the strategic relevance assessment looks at the provision made for Black and Minority Ethnic groups within a service as well as provision for those with disabilities. This part of the assessment also includes how the service provides cultural and religious information to service users.
Value for Money (VfM) is a judgement about the price of a service in light of the preceived value of the service. In accordance with 'best value', VfM is an assessment of the economy (cost), efficiency, and effectiveness of service provision to ensure the reasonableness of the cost of a service with the aim of improvement.
VfM takes account of price, the quality of the service and outcomes for service users. These features are all considered in the assessment using multiple approaches to accurately measure and compare a service in terms of basic outcomes versus price.
During the review process the Review Officer will request information from the provider on which to base a value for money assessment.
The Finance Officer looks at the accounts and financial information produced by the provider.
The Review Officer and the Finance Officer have a meeting to look at the financial appraisal completed by the Finance Officer and the support, service delivery and quality of the service evidenced by the Review Officer at the visit.
Other information used at this stage may include:
At all times the Bournemouth SP Team will adhere to our own local Value for Money Methodology which is available here.
Once the Review Officer and Finance Officer have arrived at a conclusion and a recommendation for future contract price this will be included in the service review report, which is then submitted to the Commissioning Body for approval.
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As well as the QAF, the review team uses a variety of tools in order to assess the service:
Service User consultation is undertaken during the review visit in order to gain feedback on the support provided.
Staff are interviewed to provide details on the training and the support they receive in undertaking their role.
Prior to the visit we will contact any stakeholders you have identified and offer them the opportunity to feedback, either positively or negatively, on the service and attend the visit if they wish.
Observation of the service and a tour of the property(ies) allow an insight into the general running of the service.
The final tool used during the review is the performance indicator returns completed by providers on a quarterly basis.
Providers are issued with a pack which contains all the documents required to be completed for the desktop assessment, including
The Quality Assessment Framework (QAF) sets the standards expected in the delivery of Supporting People services. As well as setting these standards, the QAF also identifies methods of evidencing the services achievements and is a practical tool for ensuring continuous improvement. It is an essential part of the Administering Authorities’ means of ensuring that providers deliver services to high standards and in accordance with contractual expectations. It has two principal purposes:
The Service Objectives are divided into six core objectives. Services are expected to meet at least level C for all service objectives. The purpose of dividing the QAF into core objectives is to allow providers time to adjust to new expectations and to evolve their practices accordingly.
In all cases the provider must accept the need to improve the standard of the service to achieve level C in order for Supporting People to award a Steady State Contract.
It should be emphasised that the QAF is a quality tool and the emphasis should be on continuous improvement, not simply the A to D scores.
Some services, for example small providers, sole traders and community alarms, will be assessed with a QAF lite which is a lighter version of the QAF. Differences include that you will either be validated or not validated, the majority of the evidence will be collated at desktop level and only includes a brief visit to the service for staff and service user consultation. The QAF used will be at the discretion of the Supporting People Team.
The QAF and QAF lite will continue to be used as a review tool following the reward of a steady state contract.
Please click on the links to download copies of the QAF and the QAF Lite.
The Reviewing Officer compiles a report of the service review. Each aspect of the review of a service is reported on including a strategic relevance assessment, QAF validation, service user and staff consultation, value for money assessment and an overall recommendation for the future contracting of a service, which may include changes to the service.
Two copies of the report are then sent out to the provider, one to be signed and returned and one copy to be kept for their records.
If for any reason the provider feels that the recommendations made in the report are unfair or that the report itself is inaccurate they must make written representations to the Commissioning Body to this effect.
Representations can only be based on the following reasons:
If the report is signed off by the provider the Lead Officer with delegated authority will have responsibility for the overall signing off of the review. If representations have been made or significant changes have been recommended the report along with any representations will be looked at by the Commissioning Body at their next meeting. Please see Terms of Reference for Commissioning Body members.
The SP Team has drawn up a list of examples of good practice found on service reviews.
The good practice identified is over and above the requirements of the Quality Assessment Framework and in the opinion of the Contract and Reviewing Officer demonstrates an effective method of delivering the service and provides a particularly good example of how a core service objective was met.
View the good practice list.
The purpose of this procedure is to ensure that providers have the opportunity to challenge outcomes of service reviews or accreditation decisions. This document details how the Appeals Procedure works, and how providers can make appeals.
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