Annual approach to inflationary uplifts

The Council operates an annual process of contacting care homes within the borough to request evidence of increased costs. Existing placements in care homes will be uplifted by an agreed percentage, agreed between the Council and the provider. The dialogue is informed by inflation guidance from the Council’s strategic finance team, by cost analysis undertaken by the West London Alliance of local authorities and by the evidence submitted from the provider. This outcome is a product of this evidence and dialogue and leads to small differences between providers based on their costs and larger differences based on the needs of the resident. There is no ‘rate’ set by the Council.

Hounslow is considering future options on approaches to inflation for 2023/24 and 2024/25 as part of their ASC budgets and market sustainability strategies. These have yet to be finalised and may vary for differing ASC markets but are likely to include tracking and consideration of CPI, LLW, RLW, regional/local benchmarking or other indicators to provide assurance to the care home market.