Dorset Council is creating a new company to provide adult social care for residents now and in the future.
The council will end its current contract with Tricuro and ensure the safe transfer of adult social care services provided to its residents to the new company, Care Dorset.
Dorset Council is responsible for arranging the social care for around 4,000 residents at any one time. Not all care for those residents is provided by Tricuro.
Dorset Council is working closely with the regulator and all stakeholders, to ensure Care Dorset is set up correctly and meets the required standards.
The transfer of care service to the new company will happen later this year but will not be before October. Tricuro will continue to provide care services to residents in Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole residents.
Dorset Council residents will continue to receive the same level of care by Care Dorset and residents who currently receive care are being contacted directly about the changes
Members of Tricuro staff who support Dorset Council residents will transfer to the new company without changes to their existing employment contracts.
The council is working closely with Tricuro and with Trade Unions regarding all employees, including care workers, to manage the transition to Care Dorset.
Dorset Council Cabinet members believe social care services will be better provided by a new company which serves just the Dorset Council area, which is large, rural and whose residents have different needs.
Councillor Peter Wharf, Portfolio Holder for Adult Social Care and Health, said: “We are in the process of ensuring we can continue to provide high quality social care to our residents, while also achieving the best possible value for money.
“The needs of residents in the Dorset Council area are at the heart of the decisions being made. We want to be able to tailor our social care services to best meet those needs.
“Employees of Tricuro have our profound respect and thanks for working with some of the most vulnerable members of the community who need assistance to live a fulfilling life. We value these colleagues hugely and will continue to do so as they transfer.”
Tricuro was set up in 2015 as a provider for social care services under the former council structures, to cover the whole of Dorset. Since then, there have been significant changes including the creation of the two new unitary authorities – Dorset Council and Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole Council. These two councils are very different, geographically and demographically.
The council will keep residents and colleagues updated on the plans.
Dorset Council has decided to act, as spending on adult social care represents around half of all Dorset Council expenditure which will be £141m in the 2022/23 budget. In addition, demand for adult social care is growing year on year, and Dorset Council has the highest percentage of residents aged 85 and over of any county or unitary authority in the country.
How much is this going to cost? When will you make public the costs of setting up a new company, a new Cheif Exec etc.
Where has there been a consultation on this decision? I am unable to find a public consultation, this decision seems very secret and not involving the vulnerable people who use your services.
I would like to understand urgently the costs of this to the Tax Payer
Thank you for your comment Barbara. The formation of a council company has gone through a proper legal and council governance procedure. There is the opportunity for people being supported, their families and people who work at Tricuro, to ask questions face to face, or through webinars which you can find out more information about here http://www.dorsetcouncil.gov.uk/w/about-care-dorset.
The decision to create Care Dorset is based in the desire to provide best value and best services for people in Dorset Council area now and in the future.
There are costs involved in setting up a new company and these are not currently in the public domain due to commercial sensitivities. However, as a business the accounts will be publicly available in due course.
Kind regards, Sarah
Please can you urgently publish the costs of this, how much money are we spending setting up a new company. Seems all meetings have been held in secret. Where was the consultation with service users? Families? Carers?
Another MD more Directors, answers needed, please publish the costs of this.
Thank you for the comment John.
The formation of a council company has gone through a proper legal and council governance procedure. There is the opportunity for people being supported, their families and people who work at Tricuro, to ask questions face to face, or through webinars which you can find out more information about here http://www.dorsetcouncil.gov.uk/w/about-care-dorset
The decision to create Care Dorset is based in the desire to provide best value and best services for people in Dorset Council area now and in the future.
There are costs involved in setting up a new company and these are not currently in the public domain due to commercial sensitivities. However, as a business the accounts will be publicly available in due course.
Kind regards, Sarah
The changes do appear sensible, and it will give Dorset Council more control over the delivery of these Council-funded services. As a service user (my wife is a resident in one of the care homes to be transferred), I certainly wouldn’t want Dorset Council to waste its funds on a consultation exercise, when the services will all still be delivered by the same staff and local managers.
Thank you for your comment, Alan.
There is some more information here and details of how to get more information about Care Dorset http://www.dorsetcouncil.gov.uk/w/about-care-dorset.
Kind regards, Sarah
Why does Dorset Council need to set up a company? Why not simply organise the administration as a council activity? It’s difficult to see how the creation of two companies is not going to be more expensive than one with more resources spent on admin rather than care?
Thank you for your comment Alan.
Just to clarify, there will only be one company which Dorset Council will fund care service just for the residents in the council area. It will be called Care Dorset.
The formation of a council company has gone through a proper legal and council governance procedure. There is more information here http://www.dorsetcouncil.gov.uk/w/about-care-dorset
The decision to create Care Dorset is based in the desire to provide best value and best services for people in Dorset Council area now and in the future.
Kind regards, Sarah
I have never understood why care not under the direct control of our council who are supposedly aware of local needs and aware of the resources, both physical and manpower, required, and should be in touch with what the electorate is prepared to pay for. The government is asking people to pay an increase in National Insurance, so in theory local government should have more in the budget for care. It seems that we are now not to have the benefits of competition by having only one provider, but all the negatives of having that provider being run as independent of the purchaser (the Council on our behalf )presumably at a profit. If consumers are not to have a choice there should at least have some control.
Thank you for your comment Jennifer.
Tricuro is just one provider in the whole county as Care Dorset will be. The care costs in the county is predicted to increase year on year mainly due to having a higher then national average population of people over 75 and particularly over 85 years of age.
Kind regards, Sarah
Is this effectively reverse privatisation? That is the service is being brought back within the public realm perhaps with an arms length company like Poole Housing? If so, and if well managed, constituted and properly handled then this could be a positive step forward for the County and those persons who need these services. It could also mean far better value for money and transparency of expenditure.
Furthermore it could be much better for those engaged on providing these vital services.
If these are the aims of this major change then the council should be supported and constructively challenged to seek to ensure it becomes a successful endeavour.
Gerald Davies
Winterborne Houghton
Thank you for your comment Gerald.
Kind regards,
Sarah
Clearly a Business Plan must have been compiled in order to justify the change. This should be published immediately so that taxpayers can understand exactly how much this is going to cost and where the money is to be spent. I clearly remember the Tricuro Business Plan was published (it was a weak plan and a significant amount of it was abandoned almost as soon as Tricuro began trading). There has been NO consultation as far as I am aware, either with the Service Users who are to be cared for, nor the taxpayers who will be expected to fund it. Given that “adult social care represents around half of all Dorset Council expenditure” (to quote the Council) the Council’s decision to proceed without any consultation appears to be unecessarily autocratic and a strange way for local government to operate!!
Thank you for the comment Andrew.
The formation of a council company has gone through a proper legal and council governance procedure. There is the opportunity for people being supported, their families and people who work at Tricuro, to ask questions face to face, or through webinars which you can find out more information about here http://www.dorsetcouncil.gov.uk/w/about-care-dorset
The decision to create Care Dorset is based in the desire to provide best value and best services for people in Dorset Council area now and in the future.
There are costs involved in setting up a new company and these are not currently in the public domain due to commercial sensitivities. However, as a business the accounts will be publicly available in due course.
Kind regards, Sarah
This is a complete surprise!! Why no consultation?
Please can the business case for this be made available to residents and carers
Thanks
Thank you for your comment Pete.
The formation of a council company has gone through a proper legal and council governance procedure. There is the opportunity for people being supported, their families and people who work at Tricuro, to ask questions face to face, or through webinars which you can find out more information about here http://www.dorsetcouncil.gov.uk/w/about-care-dorset
The decision to create Care Dorset is based in the desire to provide best value and best services for people in Dorset Council area now and in the future.
There are costs involved in setting up a new company and these are not currently in the public domain due to commercial sensitivities. However, as a business the accounts will be publicly available in due course.
Kind regards, Sarah
Please can I ask – how does the contract with Care Dorset differ from the contract with Tricuro? Is there a different ask of the new company or is this simply a change of name and leadership with all staff the TUPE’d across on the same terms and conditions, fulfilling the same contract?
Thank you for your comment Alan. The contract between Dorset Council and Care Dorset Limited will be the same as with any other provider supplying those types of care services.
The transfer of services will initially be on an “as is” basis to ensure a smooth transfer with no disruption for staff or people who have care and support. However, going forward, we want to develop services in conjunction with existing staff to build on what has been done already and improve quality of care and achieve the best outcomes possible for Dorset Council residents.
Kind regards, Sarah