Guidance on completion and submission of the return

When completing the form please keep the following in mind:

The file must be submitted in .xlsx format. Any other format (including .xls) will not be accepted by the submission tool.

The submission file is locked so that only cells requiring data can be edited. Ensure that you are using the most up to date version of the collection form, and that you do not make any changes to the structure of the sheet. Any changes could lead to your data not being processed correctly by NHS England.

Ensure all financial data is entered in £1,000s. So, if the true figure is £12,513 then please enter 12,513 in the required cell.

Ensure all activity data is recorded in the correct units (weeks or hours). Data which is entered in the wrong units will cause inaccurate unit costs to be calculated.

Ensure you select your council from the drop down menu. This will allow for other sections of the form to autocomplete.

Ensure you provide details of the authorising senior officer who has signed off your submission as complete and accurate.

A summary of the completeness of your return has been provided. Please ensure that you have completed all mandatory fields, and as many voluntary fields as you are able to prior to submission.

Ensure that you read the instructions for completion in full. If you require further clarification, please consult this guidance document, or contact the social care team for further information.

The validation worksheet contains all validations relevant to the data provided.

Where a validation is passed the cell will be green, whereas a breach will be in red so that it can be easily identified.

Ensure you thoroughly review this worksheet and address any validation errors. Validation rules may be breached due to data being entered incorrectly, but we also appreciate that in some cases a validation may fail where data are correct.

Each validation row contains a breach reason cell, which allows an explanation to be provided if data have failed validation, but data are correct (for example, data vary significantly from the previous year due to known factors).

Ensure that a breach reason is provided for every failed validation – this will aid us in processing the data and reduce the amount of follow up discussions we may need to have with you after submission. After providing a reason the validation will change colour from red to amber.