Council and democracy

Care Services (residential and domiciliary)

The Contracts Unit facilitates the work of the department's care management teams in purchasing care services for individual service users who may be physically or mentally frail due to age, illness or disability.

We develop and monitor a range of contracts used to purchase care services from private and voluntary service providers delivering personal and non-personal social care to service users in a variety of residential care settings, in their own homes and in the community.

Contract development

Our main contract development is for adult services users.

The Contracts Unit is involved in preparing contract documentation, specifying the quality of service required, processing tenders and applications for accreditation.

We maintain lists of accredited domiciliary and residential providers with those we have agreed standard contractual arrangements. Some contracts are let by a tender process, while others, such as the renewal of the Residential Care Partnership for accredited care homes, are agreed following negotiations.

We try to ensure that our contracts reflect the diverse needs of the community and deliver high quality care services to vulnerable individuals in accordance with relevant statutory ('registration') and contractual ('accreditation') standards.

Monitoring providers

We monitor accredited residential care homes to ensure that quality standards are maintained by: conducting visits, interviewing residents and care staff.

We collate information from the department's Care Managers and Reviewing Officers about the quality of service provision to residents funded by the council.

We maintain close links with the Brokerage Service, which monitors the quality of domiciliary care services.

We monitor the quality of services provided by care providers. Where complaints or concerns are raised, we work with our colleagues and the providers to resolve these problems. Where appropriate, the National Care Standards Commission may be involved in investigating poor practice.

The Contract Unit also participates in investigations of alleged abuse of vulnerable adults under the Croydon Adult Protection Procedures.

Approval of providers

The Contracts Unit is responsible for approving new care providers within Croydon.
We manage the process of accreditation by which providers are assessed and approved.
We publish accredited lists of residential homes and domiciliary providers each year.

Advice and guidance

We provide advice to the Department's Commissioning Managers and the Care Managers on specific contractual issues.

We provide advice to the health service and other statutory sector colleagues over the complexities of our contractual and monitoring arrangements.

We provide market intelligence and support the development of the Department's commissioning strategies.