Table 5.3
UNIT COSTS (£s) OF SELECTED PERSONAL
SOCIAL SERVICES ENGLAND, 1992-93 TO 1996-97 (1)
£
| Unit Cost |
| 1992-93 | 1993-94
| 1994-95 | 1995-96
| 1996-97 |
Gross expenditure per week on supporting residents aged 65 and over in nursing care (2)
| Cash Terms
Real Terms (5) | ..
| .. | 228 234 |
243 243 | 274 266 |
Gross expenditure per week on supporting residents aged 65 and over in local authority residential care homes (2)
| Cash Terms
Real Terms (5) | 254 273
| 271 283 | 283 291
| 304 304 | 311 302
|
Gross expenditure per week on supporting residents aged 65 and over in independent residential care homes (2)
| Cash Terms
Real Terms (5) | ..
| 244 255 | 241 248
| 231 231 | 245 238
|
Gross expenditure per hour of home help/care for all clients aged 18 or over (3)
| Cash Terms
Real Terms (5) | ..
| 7.9 8.2 | 7.9 8.1
| 8.2 8.2 | 8.6 8.4
|
Gross expenditure per week per child looked after in local authority maintained children's homes (4)
| Cash Terms
Real Terms (5) | 919 987
| 1,023 1,067 | 1,061 1,090 |
1,100 1,100 | .. |
Gross expenditure per week per child looked after by foster parents (4)
| Cash Terms
Real Terms (5) | 136 146
| 151 158 | 150 154
| 159 159 | .. |
| | |
| | |
|
Key:
.. = not available
Footnotes:
1. Expenditure data for 1996-97 are provisional.
2. These unit costs have been calculated by taking gross
current expenditure throughout the year on residential and nursing
care as appropriate and dividing it by the average of supported
residents in such homes reported at 31 March in consecutive years.
A supported resident is one who is supported wholly or in part
by the local authority. Residents in local authority homes who
are assessed to pay the full costs and residents in other homes
whose fees are paid in part or through income support are not
included.
3. This unit cost is calculated by taking gross current
expenditure throughout the year on home care services and dividing
it by activity data collected during a sample week in the autumn.
4. These indicators have been calculated by taking gross
current expenditure throughout the year on LA maintained children's
homes and foster placements and dividing by the average number
of children looked after placed in LA maintained children's homes
and foster placements respectively at 31 March in consecutive
years.
5. Deflated using the GDP deflator at 1995-96 prices.
Variation between authorities
7. There is substantial variation between local authorities
in these unit costs, as figures 5.3.1-5.3.6 below demonstrate.
Such wide variability of individual authority figures points to
issues of data quality and there is a risk that misreporting of
data by local authorities has had an effect. In examining unit
costs it is likely that extreme high or low values are the result
of misreporting of expenditure data by local authorities. It is
however notable that even if the more extreme figures are discounted
significant variation remains and the Department is of the view
that the information provided by local authorities should be used
in monitoring social services, which should act as an incentive
for authorities to improve their management information generally.
8. Figures 5.3.1-5.3.6 show the unit cost values calculated
using expenditure data for 1995-96 as these are finalised figures
(expenditure data for 1996-97 are provisional). Where a local
authority has reported activity but no expenditure (an implied
zero unit cost) they have been excluded from the charts.
9. Figure 5.3.1 shows that the weekly unit cost of supporting
older people in nursing care in 1995-96. A number of local authorities
(17) reported no expenditure on nursing care for older people,
although they did report supporting residents in nursing care
homes (an example of misreporting of data), and these authorities
have been excluded from figure 5.3.1. The average weekly unit
cost for England was £243 in 1995-96 ranging from £100
or less a week in a few authorities to more than £400 a week
in others. 43 per cent of the authorities in figure 5.3.1 had
a unit cost between £251 and £350.
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