Homecare market statement
Homecare helps older, vulnerable, ill or disabled adults with the care they need to live independently and safely at home for as long as they wish with access to their local communities. We have a strong Homecare Framework in place that is regularly monitored for quality and to make sure it is working for local people.
We also have a ‘Home Recovery Service’ to help people who are leaving hospital with their care needs for a short period of time whilst they get used to being at home again. This helps people leave hospital on time when they are ready with support once they get home and helps to prevent people going back into hospital.
Central Bedfordshire
Like many other areas we have an ageing population and that means we need more health and social care services to help people who need care and support. The number of people who are over 65 has been increasing over the last 15 years, and is expected to keep increasing.
Central Bedfordshire is a largely rural local authority area in central eastern England. The Central Bedfordshire local authority area includes multiple towns with populations of 10,000 to 40,000 such as Dunstable and Leighton Buzzard but 58% of people in Central Bedfordshire live in more rural areas locally.
Central Bedfordshire is less diverse than England as a whole – with a greater proportion of people who are White British. Of those aged 0-17, 90.7% are white, followed by 4.8% of a mixed / multiple ethnic group, and 2.4% Asian / Asian British.
Market context
Our homecare provision includes a range of services that are put in place to support older or vulnerable adults to remain in their home. The carer who works for an agency provides support, guidance and encouragement to complete living and personal tasks that form independent living. This helps adults to live safely in the community for as long as they wish to in their homes.
The type of support given varies from personal care such as washing and dressing, helping people take medicine, and supporting someone to make choices or to access the community and activities. Mainly, it’s to help maintain the persons quality of life and support them to meet their desired outcomes with dignity and care.
The length of time someone has homecare depends on their own needs. Our short-term home recovery service supports people for up to four weeks, and is organised for someone after a stay in hospital. Longer term homecare is arranged by our Brokerage team who use providers on our framework to find the right care for some. In a small number of situations, we may need to have a separate arrangement, or ‘spot purchase’ but our framework has 45 providers so we use this first and for most of our homecare.
Not everyone who has care and support needs at home will need homecare. There are other services locally that can help people to stay independent without needing a formal carer. For example, the Good Neighbour Scheme, Befriending, or services that help people manage a particular condition like dementia. The combination of formal and informal services helps meet care and support needs in a way that is right for each person as they age and live with long-term conditions.
Market status
Our Homecare Framework started in April 2023 and is in place for 5 years. After that point we can extend this framework for up to 2 more years, or commission something new. The framework has 45 providers working across 6 geographical areas for the provision of homecare. The current Homecare Framework of providers are meeting demand for homecare. Providers who want to offer homecare to people in Central Bedfordshire whose support is funded by us need to be on our framework.
Our placement process is outlined in the below document as well as information about how we monitor services:
Placement and monitoring process (PDF)
Market data and insight
During the month of January 2025, we commissioned 62,923 hours of homecare from 43 providers, predominantly from our framework. The cost of this care totalled £1.65 million. The average hourly rate for the homecare framework is £26.51 (based on financial year 2024/25).
Market risks
Risks are:
- inflation and cost of living pressures have an impact on being able to recruit and retain staff
- making sure we maintain enough capacity to support all those who need homecare
- working closer with providers to keep improving quality of care
- creating a market that can respond to individual needs in a personal way
Commissioning intentions
We work with providers on the framework to maintain and improve their service offer and support them to achieve the highest quality and sustain their services for local people.
We will continue to work with providers to make sure we can offer as much homecare as we need in rural areas. Innovation in service delivery is essential and we want to work with the homecare market to help and encourage creativity and explore ways that care and support for people can achieve their outcomes. We will work with the market and partners to make sure we know if there are any gaps emerging and will work together to fill them.
We will drive up quality in the market and work more closely and collaboratively with providers across many services with our service improvement officers, commissioners, contract and Compliance team members and regular provider forum events.
We will work with homecare providers and micro-providers to support people who access services through Direct Payments.
For more detail or a discussion about any of the above information please contact: strategic.commissioning@centralbedfordshire.gov.uk.