Long term support (FR001)

The long term support measure is important to gain an understanding of the overall expenditure associated with clients eligible to be supported through long term support following assessment and review, and often involves the most complex and costly episodes of adult social care. The measure can be used to assess the balance between the costs of short term interventions and long term services locally and nationally.

Primary support reasons

Physical support, sensory support, support with memory and cognition, learning disability support, and mental health support are all analysed:

• between long term and short term support
• by service setting, for example residential care or home care
• by age categories - 18 to 64 and 65 and over 

This worksheet should contain details of expenditure on long term support.

There are three main sets of columns all of which require data to be entered. As data is entered totals are auto completed for you.

The three sets of columns are:

• gross total costs
• income
• capital charges and social services management and support services (SSMSS)

Clusters of row groups are split by age groups:

• 18 to 64 (FR001A)
• 65 and Over (FR001B)

Each row group is split by primary support reason, with a further breakdown of the service setting provided for each primary support reason.

On the bottom of the worksheet there are a series of boxes enabling the provision of feedback – please let us know any concerns or problems you had in completing this worksheet. You can also provide additional context to the data provided which may be useful in the validation and processing of the data.

At the top right of the worksheet is information about validations relevant to the worksheet. You are provided with the number of mandatory items completed and outstanding. Please consult the validations worksheet to investigate if any validations have been breached.

Within long term support, costs are broken down further according to support setting - for example, nursing care, residential care (including residential care direct payments), supported accommodation, direct payments, home care, supported living, and other community long term care (such as day care, supported employment and meals).

As per Service Reporting Code of Practice (SeRCOP), long term support encompasses any service or support which is provided with the intention of maintaining quality of life for an individual on an ongoing basis, which has been allocated on the basis of eligibility criteria/policies (meaning an assessment of need has taken place), and which is subject to regular review. Exclude any short term episodes intended for a time-limited period.

Full descriptions regarding the support settings collected in ASC-FR can be found in the Adult Social Care Data Dictionary.

There are additional notes to support these definitions in the sections below.

Supported accommodation

Include long term placements in:

• adult placement schemes (Shared Lives)
• hostels
• unstaffed homes
• partially staffed homes
• group homes

Supported living

This covers a range of services that support people to live as independently as possible in the community. Service users are responsible for their own tenancies, own their home or are living with family or friends.

They receive an agreed level of care and support tailored to their individual needs. Service users’ support needs may vary, from those who are very able and receive support for a few hours a week to those who require support 24 hours a day.

It is possible that some clients may have an additional short term provision during the same financial year which is coded to a different primary support reason to their long term support measure.

Where to allocate meals

While there is no longer a separate row exclusively for meals, they are usually charged for separately and are included within 'Community: other long term care' in FR001 LTS, along with day care.

Where to allocate personal budgets

Personal budgets are included in 'Long term community: direct payments' in FR001 LTS.

Where to allocate day care

Day care costs are included in 'Long term community: other long term care' in FR001 LTS.

Where to allocate extra care

Extra care is recorded against home care. 

Long term support will include any service or support which is provided with the intention of maintaining quality of life for an individual on an ongoing basis. This will be allocated on the basis of eligibility, and which is subject to regular review.

Exclude any short term episodes intended for a time-limited period. Costs should be analysed according to age: Adults (18–64) Older people (65+). Homecare or domiciliary care provided in an individual’s own home, normally of a personal nature, to enable an individual to continue with their daily life (for example, help with eating or drinking, toileting, washing or bathing, dressing, oral care or the care of skin, hair and nails). It may also include prompting and supervision of an individual’s self-care.

Fairer charging income

Fairer charging income should be included in the ASC-FR 'Fairer charging Income' row. Any income other than that relating to Fairer Charging (care packages provided to social care clients not in residential care) is to be put in column H against 'Direct payments', 'Home care', 'Supported living' and 'Other long term care'.

For example, while there is no longer a separate row exclusively for meals, they are usually charged for separately and are included within ‘Community: other long term care’ (along with day care), so client contributions will appear in that column. Where you have no such other income, please simply enter 0 in these cells.

Direct payments are not included in fairer charging so there may be income to allocate to this line. There is unlikely to be income included in column H against the other services mentioned.

How to record in-house provision by a local authority

Please contact [email protected] if this scenario applies to you, and we will advise how this should be recorded. We expect this to be by exception only.