All this month we are celebrating five years of Dorset Council signing the Local Digital Declaration.
The Declaration is a shared ambition for the future of local public services.
It was written in 2018 by a collective of 45 local authorities, sector bodies and government departments – including Dorset Council – and outlines our goals and commitments. Since then, a further 300 local authorities have signed up.
In a series of blogs, we’ll be sharing how we are meeting the aims of the Declaration. In this article, Digital Business Partner Jaime Guercio shares the potential benefits an online solution could offer to people receiving social care.
Social care is rarely free. Often, you’ll have to contribute to the cost of care.
And the amount you pay depends on the level of your need, your income and the assets you own.
Dorset Council is testing an online service for people who have had their care needs assessed and need to complete an assessment to determine their financial contribution.
BetterCare Finance is an online service that supports people going through the process of financial assessments for care. It allows users to remotely complete their own assessments, while ensuring transparency, clarity and simplicity throughout.
It features more than 20 easy-to-understand animations that guide users through their financial assessment.
The animations also help with understanding the process and answer any questions that arise. Users are guided through the self-assessment forms and can upload evidence to support their claims.
Moving services online can free up more time for social care staff to help the most vulnerable users and deal with the complex cases, ensuring they get the attention and assistance they need.
An online platform would also help to reduce the reliance on face-to-face visits and enable people to complete this information at a time that is convenient to them.
Completing an assessment online means the user can save it part way through and go back to complete in their own time. Currently, face to face appointments means the application must be completed in one go.
On completion of the online assessment, users are given an instant response advising them of the contribution they can expect to pay, based on the information that had been provided. This instant indicative response is not provided during a face-to-face assessment.
But there is also a human element to the online application as each one is checked by a finance team to ensure all the information needed has been provided. The finance team can also advise applicants of benefits they might be entitled to.
The move to digital assessments certainly looks to have huge potential benefits.
But before adopting this, we need to understand the success of the online platform in more detail.
As part of our commitment to the Local Digital Declaration Framework we are continually looking at and testing digital solutions to improve our services. We do this by making sure they meet the needs of our customers first.
I have worked in communications for 25 years, first as a journalist and then in public and private sector public relations. From Southampton originally, I have lived in beautiful Dorset for the last two decades. My passion for Dorset has also turned into a passion for landscape photography. My other great loves are my family and Southampton Football Club.