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User Guide - Cost Calculator for Children's Services

1. CHILDID DOB SEX ETHNIC UASC GCSE_AC GCSE_AG CHILDID PL DECOM SampleXmidata xml SST S CO S CE C gt __ C gt __ anoint __ ania ue Fake Pre ae Free Free Po rue Fase SampleXmidata xml Samplexmidata xmi Po True fe Po True False Sangeeta SanpleXnidatasnd anciens rr fre abe arsen Validate Cancel You proceed to validate and import your data as described in Section 7 4 Once the import is complete look again at your Import Setup form and you will find it has changed to that shown below CCfCS Import Setup i File Edit Insert Records Window Help Type a question For help f x Setup Validate Child amp Placement Import Data Group Description So Pirie Seca we crag 7 ad Feta nae as Bender C c C a ma pas OOOO ad fs Fret chavnwal Dees Chad pea Tet an aera OOOO lt ad fpe ees ad ecse No o GSE oedda OOOO C e PS ad e Date child joins the leaving care team C a ad soe OO Paene S10 ne Form View Required Field Name B Formats Supplied File Location 1 2 1 CHILDID DOB SEX ETHNIC UASC GCSE_AC GCSE_AG CHILDID PL DECOM SupportPlace DEC 74 ImportChildxml xls SS ee Po e __ E E E E moonrise ae Ooo e ree es e El Pte ase ImporChiidkmlts ImporChiidkmlts Pte ase PO
2. 15 63 B 2 D 2 ImportRev xls 15 63 B 2 D 2 ImportYOT xIs 0 15 63 B 2 D 2 in house residential care 0 80 Individual Child ID amp Placement Number 28 31 32 34 42 52 85 individual weekly allowance 85 inflation FALC eeeeeesseceeeeseeeeeeeeeeees 21 information from alternative variables Bee a Seite ta eds aetna rei 53 installing new releases B 8 legal only chang eee 56 88 reason for new episode 56 Legal Status List cc sceeeeeees 44 linking the program to the data B 6 logging ON B 1 B 6 C 1 C 2 main activity on 19 birthday 58 main placements 0 57 73 75 manage database link B 6 mapped placement codes 48 82 83 mental health support 59 60 MENU SYSTEM 0 eee eeeeeneeteeeeeee teen eee 10 Main Menu seese 18 Data Administration Social Care LAC See Data Administration Menu Personal Administration Change My Password 18 Social Care Looked After Children Placement Changes What if ey ee 37 Set Calculation Parameters 19 View Individual Child Details 41 System Administration Change My Password C 1 Import from Previous Version Manage Database Link B 6 Manage Users and Permissions 000 C 1 Organisational Settings B 7 Microsoft Access
3. 56 6 3 Coding of Other Variables Two Either Or categories The third column of Table 2 indicates those variables which must be coded into one of two Either Or categories For all these variables the user may choose the pair of codings that is used The values may be Boolean True or False Numeric any pair of numbers such as 1 or 2 or text for example Yes or No However it is necessary to have a pair of codes If you have a lot of different text codes relating to EBD you might wish to define column 1 corresponding to True to be EBD and hope that if you leave column 2 blank it will cover all other text codes Unfortunately this does not work Support Placements To allow the Cost Calculator to handle support placements provided in addition to main placements this variable is now required to distinguish the one from the other Even if your placements are all main placements you now must import this variable If you use the coding True or False all values of the variable will be False if your placements are all main placements Providing that either the support placement dates are different from those of the main placement or the placement type is different the support placement information is imported into the Cost Calculator in addition to that for the main placement and the support placement is costed at the fee or allowance paid for it However if the dates of the two types of placement coinc
4. Defaut v efaut yx Defaut A lt pas lt lt 47 Mapped Placement Codes The Mapped Placement Codes list shows the SSDA 903 placement codes the description of each and the corresponding placement code in the database to which each SSDA 903 code maps A part of the form is shown in the screen shot The reason why these placement codes are customisable is that the Cost Calculator distinguishes between placements with local authority and with agency providers and also between those located in rather than out of the local authority area while some of the pre 2009 SSDA 903 codes do not The new codes being introduced in the 2009 SSDA 903 return will reduce the need to customise these mapping codes Mapped Placement Codes WA 811 21 Bl Code Description H3 Mapped To ILA Residential in LA Homes and hostels inside LA boundary Custom LA Homes and hostels inside LA boundary Custom Agency Homes and hostels inside LA boundary LA Residential in LA Homes and hostels outside LA boundary Custom LA Homes and hostels outside LA boundary v v v v lt Custom Agency Homes and hostels outside LA boundary PR3IN ILA Residential in LA Residential accommodation not subject to Children s Homes Regulations PR30UT Custom LA Semi independence inside LA boundary PR4IN Agency Residential in LA Custom LA Semi independence outside LA bo
5. HM OR 653 87 815 61 Total cost 653 87 815 61 115 91 119 078 00 Processes 1 and 5 are mutually exclusive and occur only if the start date for the placement is within the calculation period In this case the placement start date of 17 04 2006 is within the dates chosen by the user 01 04 2006 to 31 03 2007 and Process 5 occurs rather than Process 1 since this placement immediately follows a previous placement Although the placement finishes during the calculation period Process 4 does not occur because the child goes to another placement rather than returning home There is one care plan Process 2 during the time interval The Cost Calculator checks the date of this with the dates when the child receives YOT support and finds the child was receiving YOT support at the time hence there is also one occurrence of the additional activity of the YOT team in connection with this process There is one review Process 6 during the time interval too but its date does not coincide with the dates when the child receives YOT support and so there is no occurrence of additional YOT activity in connection with the review The girl does not transfer to the leaving care team Process 8 during the calculation period Process 3 is costed on a daily basis The whole placement lasts for 161 days and occurs entirely within the chosen calculation period Social work activity and foster care allowances fees and the conditio
6. Opening the Application After setting up these paths you can test the shortcut by double clicking on it to open up the program B 5 If Access fails to open then you need to check the path to your copy of Access If Access opens but you are told that you do not have permission to view the file then you need to check the path pointing to the security file If Access opens and you are asked for a login name and password then you have successfully created your database shortcut Name Data Admin Log in with the Name of Data Admin Linking the Program to the Data Once you have accessed the program the first task you must perform is to link the Program to the Data component of the application Only Data Administrators can perform this task and you should now be logged on as the Data Admin user From the Main Menu Select System Administration Select Manage Database Link Now complete the Database Path by entering the location of the CCfCS_Data mdb file R CCfCS for the purpose of these notes The check box is unchecked as shown when you are linking to an Access database Contact the development team if you wish to use SQL Sele l Linking to SQL Server database Enter the path for your back end database file CCfCS_Data mdb then press Link Now This connects your front end to the data tables Database Path R CCfcS Link Now Close B 6 e Note that you can use a unc
7. example data 8 10 15 20 23 33 58 63 67 68 69 82 85 88 exclusion of respite only children from calculations s 56 export data essssssssrrrnerrnrnesrnrnesees 72 ExportMain eenen 72 ExporPlan s crine 72 EXDOMPGV A iieiaeie aeea 72 Exponty O T sieaa eaa 72 fees or allowances 9 12 16 28 32 46 59 61 89 field names 0 62 63 65 69 70 file location 0 0 0 65 67 69 75 fixed lists icc d ccitmantigdashuasdeatemvarcecetgcnans 44 FUNCIONS eteinkeetaiatadivts 9 ANALYSIS sirrini 9 CAICUIALE morire e a a 9 collate ta a ees 9 GCSES e eni a ee 35 58 gender 9 24 35 43 55 58 66 group column tiecrisrtackineieesnatecdeleenie 67 Implementation version 10 11 13 16 17 23 51 78 import from earlier version 7 68 B 8 specifying data 13 import Gales cecsstessgtedeerdecerteaeeiaets 69 71 problems wakes eee eel 72 required fields c ceee 70 STAG SU oore aa uripe e ieii 69 import path tas wkend 63 69 75 Import Setup form 11 13 62 64 65 66 67 68 69 72 73 74 75 83 B 8 import social care setup settings B 8 Import Export Data 62 64 66 68 ImportChild xls 15 63 65 83 B 2 ImportEducation xls 15 63 83 B 2 ImportEpisodes xls 15 63 83 85 B 2 ImportMain XlS neee D 2 ImportMainNoProvLoc xls 82 83 ImportOutcomes xls 15 63 83 B 2 ImportPlan xls
8. Default Defao Total Costs per Process 903 Code F5 Provider Local Authority Y Process 1 Admitt 0 00 Placement Name Yvonne Gibbs Exit care at end Process 2 CPlan 0 00 Arrow to of placement I Process3MtnP 7 285 30 Start 23 04 2006 1259 End 27 07 2007 Mental Health process 4 Exit 0 00 select C 3 Placements Process 5 MoveP 0 00 Fessialowi previous year O Process 6 Rview 0 00 p lacem ent Area Office North Support Place C process 7 Legal 0 00 num ber Needs Team Disabilities Remand C Process 816 0 00 Legal Status v2 w Section 20 single period Grand Total 7 285 30 Care Order Date k lt Form view i gt Dates of reviews Youth Offending Team support and care plan updates can be viewed using the Dates tab These are then listed as shown below The buttons at the top right of the form B are for use by Data Administrators The first button allows them to delete the selected child from the Cost Calculator The Edit button unlocks the form so that the data can be edited This provides a means of entering data on particular variables by hand Items entered replace previously held entries for the same items and so are immediately available to all users 42 SCID 01225 Surname uasce O Offender O schoolYear 4 Health Assess YW EDID First Name Hawthorn EBD SEN Statement O NCY Offset
9. InL amp Area Female No of Times Days Incurred Placement to Age at start of selected placement calculation period Subtotal Cost 1 31 03 2008 Process Cost 1 Decide to Look After amp Place of which Basic Conditional extra 2 Care Planning of which Basic Conditional extra plus if YOT 3 Maintain Placement daily plus if YOT 0 4 Cost 5 10 Cost 11 12 Cost 13 14 Cost 15 15 Cost plus during first 91 days less if over 1 year out LA Exit Care Return Home of which Basic Conditional extra 5 Find Later Placement of which Basic Conditional extra 6 Review r of which Basic Conditional extra plus if age group 16 or over plus if first for leaving care plus if YOT 7 Legal of which Basic Conditional extra 8 Transition to Leaving Care of which Basic Conditional extra Report printed on 16 09 2008 Data imported on 31 03 2008 670 73 670 73 125 76 125 76 25 09 57 23 4 52 3 11 276 29 276 29 214 55 214 55 427 79 427 79 10 68 131 68 131 71 2 901 43 2 901 43 1 221 32 1 221 32 0 366 ooooo oo 251 53 20 946 74 855 59 21 36 Total cost 251 53 15 786 65 876 94 16 915 12 9 2 Legal Only Changes The example data set shipped from version 7 5 contains two children with legal only changes code L in the column titled RNE For one of these Child 1470
10. WYIitG ACCESS ccceceeeceeeeeeeeeeeeeeneenees B 1 XML file eee eee ee eee 8 62 73 75 DAOI iE ees A 67 YOT support 27 60 67 68
11. Cost Table Details The cost table you wish to look at is then selected from the drop down list of those available You are then able to inspect the unit cost values for each process and for every type of placement From version 7 10 the row labelled LA Treatment Foster Care in LA contains research estimates of the unit costs of providing treatment foster care The columns in the Basic Unit Costs sheet relate to the eight social care processes see sections 2 4 and 5 4 and the rows to the different placement types that cause the unit costs to differ The tabs Conditional Costs Duration Related Costs and Age Related Costs give access to sections of the table with values that apply only in certain circumstances for example for children with different needs Conditional unit costs only apply to children Select a cost table from this list with particular needs or receiving specific services These costs affect only some of the social care processes These columns relate to the unit costs of the eight social care processes Social Care LAC Cogt Tables Lookup Cost Table Authority POR COST E Copy Cost Table ID 102 Description Authority POR COST TABLE Basic Unit Costs Condition Costs Duration Related Costs Age Related Costs Process S Avg Weekly Description Provider Placement Names 1Admit 2CPlan 3MtnP 4Ext 5MoveP 6Rview 7Lega
12. The Licensee shall not assign transfer mortgage charge or part with any of its rights duties or obligations granted hereby and herein 2006 Loughborough University Enterprises Ltd Contents CM Sse ei a ey weer rt ee ae ela sae AE E acca dade dion S 4 Part 1 Using the Cost Calculator for Looked After Children s Services 7 Chapter 1 Introduction ic tates eee Me a ts ath lated ater nee eemimeteteyan ede eyade Aeteheenred 7 1 1 New Features in Version 7 10 sscseeceeeeeeeeeeceeeeeeeeeeeeeseeeeeeeeeeeeeees 7 1 2 The Cost Calculator an Overview cccccccceccsseseseesseeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeaaeees 8 1 3 The Computer Application cccceeceeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeneeeaneeeeees 10 1 4 Kinds of Users and this Guide isicisccstssessnistavinaeeiceisnteistetiviiaeecuescinnss 11 Chapter 2 Social Care Data and Methodology eeeeeeeeeeeeeeteteeeeees 12 2 1 Concepts of the Cost Calculator Model ccccseceeceeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeees 12 2 2 Data for the Cost Calculator Implementation Version cceeee 13 2 3 Example Da ta neioii nia epia i a a p S 15 2 4 Social Care Processes and Unit Costs cc sceceseeeeceeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeees 15 Chapter 3 Starting to Use the Cost Calculator ccccceeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeees 17 3 1 Opening the Cost Calculator cc cioe ce sveend one tiara an awe 17 3 2 G tting Started pen eee een mr nn eer nnn enn orp ee 18 3 3
13. these files 69 E Import Data Import Update Child amp Placement Data STAGE STATUS o After pressing the first button a report will appear detailing how successful this import stage has been If there have been no problems then the Stage Status will be ticked and the second button to Validate Data will be enabled The report will also show you a list of all optional fields not provided in import This is for information only although you should read it carefully to ensure that you are importing all the information you expect If the validation was unsuccessful the error report will help you to identify where the problems lie Stage 2 validates the actual data It checks the data values in the designated Field Name columns to ensure that e All codings are in accordance with those listed in Table 2 Section 6 1 e All fields marked as Required have data in them e The DOB Date of Birth of a child is on or before Placement Start Date and the dates are in valid format e Each placement record contains a valid placement code that is in the placement code mapping table described in Section 5 5 E Import Data Import Update Child amp Placement Data STAGE 1 Import Approved DATA IMPORT APPROVED FILES NOT LOCATED None reported DATA NOT PROVIDED REQUIRED FIELDS None reported DATA NOT PROVIDED OTHER FIELDS Child FirstName 2 Validate Data 70 Stage 2 fails if for example one of the
14. your data set When the data passes Stage 2 but the import fails at Stage 3 this indicates there is a problem in matching the different sets of data This occurs for example if you try to import details of a child for whom there is no placement information Export Data The Export Data option allows you to output the data you imported This enables you to archive any data which is not used for current analysis this can be re imported later at a later date There will be four output files which will be saved in your report folder ExportMain ExportPlan ExportYOT and ExportRev It is recommended that you also include the date of export in your filename so it can be retrieved easily later see example in figure below 72 Export Child amp Placement Data to outputFiles a Q xX iy E Tools My Recent Documents My Computer Filename CCfCS_MainData_03 05 2007 xIs My Network Places Save as type all Files 7 5 Importing a XML File If a XML file is used it should comply with the layout specified in the SSDA 903 Guidance Notes 2007 8 http www dcsf gov uk datastats1 quidelines children pdf GuidanceNotes_2007 2008 final version 201 201 pdf If this facility proves popular it will be extended to handle 2009 data in a future release The approach provides a way of importing your SSDA 903 data exactly as you submit it in your return Although you cannot simultaneously import other
15. 0 Dental Check uP Date of Birth 23 03 2001 Disabilities Excluded O senstatus Eligible cse O Gender Complex O SDQ Score ac acC Ethnic Group A1 Social Care Team Disabilities Aroa office activty Post CO Social Care Education From 01 04 2007 Inflation Additional Overhead To 31 03 2008 0 0 Placements Dates Review Dates YOT Dates Plan Dates From To 5 3 Social Care LAC Data Administration Menu Various lists of codings can be accessed from the Social Care LAC Data Administration Menu Social Care Looked After Children Menu Set Calculation Parameters Reports Placement Changes What If View Individual Child Details Social Care LAC Data Administration Menu E Main Menu Opening the menu provides choices of two kinds of lists of categories and codings which are described in this chapter together with other Data Administrator tasks that are explained in Part 2 Notice that the last menu option always takes you back up to the previous menu 43 Social Care LAC Data Administration Menu Fixed Lists Editable Lists Import Export Looked After Children Data Unit Cast Calculator Social Care Looked After Children Menu 5 4 Fixed Lists The option Fixed Lists opens a sub menu of four lists Legal Status Ethnicity Built In Placement Type Details and Social Care Processes for Looked After Children The categories that in these lists cannot be changed their Edit buttons
16. 10 B 1 G 1 run time version ceeeeeeeeeeeeeees 10 Microsoft Excel 10 19 21 23 64 B 1 G 1 pivot table 28 29 30 31 33 38 sheet tabs c eceeeeeeeeeeees 30 spreadsheets cceeseeeeeeenes 62 Microsoft Office 00008 21 B 1 navigation eeens E 1 needs group 12 24 28 30 A 3 needs groups and outcomes 12 needs of looked after children 12 new SSDA 903 codesS c eee 56 placement location code 56 provider COG cceeseeeeeeeeeees 56 SDQ SCOTS o aaa a 56 no of times days incurred 25 27 numeric variables 58 offenders ceecee 35 60 opening the application B 5 organisational settings 63 69 B 7 overheads rate ceeeseeeeeeeeees 21 PASSWOMTC ccceceeeeeeeeee 18 68 C 2 DEMMISSIONS siccavetscsiceccrsienshagennGedevee C 2 personal administration 18 C 2 placement and provider names 13 placement types 47 77 80 81 placements 12 planned errors E 2 practice implications A 3 preparing data files ccceeee 63 process details ccceeeeeeeees 46 Program ssassn B 1 B 2 B 3 B 6 release fil S rritan B 2 remand ccccccceceeeeeeseneeeeeeeeeeeseeees 58 replace existing data 71 RODOMEN iinitan ini geia C 1 reports 9 19 22 23 28 32 33 34 36 Children W
17. 11 12 13 14 15 15 and 16 Upwards see Section 5 5 The age related allowance is added only if the payment used in the cost calculation is the average weekly allowance from the right hand column of the unit cost sheet because if the individual weekly allowance is imported with the placement data the Cost Calculator interprets this as being the full payment cost To see the differences in the calculations depending on whether or not the average allowance is used compare two children in the example data set and run Individual Child ID amp Placement Number reports for them Both Child 1325 and Child 10314 have in house foster placements for the first of these the average allowance is used while for the second the individual placement allowance is imported Information about the first placement for Child 1325 is in row 15 of ImportEpisodes xls The girl s second placement in row 16 is a fortnight s support placement that runs simultaneously with the main placement Since the value in row 15 column M FeesAllow is blank the average allowance for an in house foster placement which has the new SSDA 903 code Q2 with provider PR1 and location In in columns H and K is picked up from the unit cost table Using Out of London 2007 8 costs the weekly allowance is 143 57 Dividing this by 7 gives the value of 20 51 per day highlighted in aqua in the report shown below The other rows highlighted in aqua
18. 529 188 Residential Education 1461 407 424 408 835 227 200 227 200 636 085 ResidentialeHealth 167 460 21 857 189 317 25 941 41 349 67 290 256 606 Secure 439 629 172 910 612 539 232 945 266 079 499 024 1 111 563 Semi Independence 74 399 21 695 96 095 82 795 82 795 178 890 Treatment Foster Care 72 530 83 849 156 379 44408 69 416 113 824 270 203 Unknown 2 385 2 385 2 385 Young Offenders Inst 26 485 21 579 48 063 48 063 Grand Total 28 180 28 180 2 351 625 2 043 730 4 395 355 151 860 171 333 323 192 2 407 872 669 1 224 651 2 099 727 6 846 455 Report printed on 15 10 2008 Data imported on 31 03 2008 CCFR Version 7 4 1 Costs by Provider available selection using pivot controls Pivot Control Name Description Choices Placement Type Type of placement Select from list Provided By Type of provider Local authority or agency Location Placement location In or out of local authority area Costs by Placements If you select Costs by Placements from the Reports menu the Cost Calculator displays a table of costs of children s placements for the selected time period These are grouped according to the type of placement for example foster care kinship care adoption and so on Part of the placement summary table is shown below Analysis of Costs by Placement Type From 01 04 2006 to 31 03 2007 London Description Provided By Location Costs Week
19. 60 children who have had over 120 placements during the data period and gives examples of the different types of placement characteristics that are possible These data are used in conjunction with the unit cost sheets in order to calculate summary information relating to placements and their costs Viewing the Example Data Files You can look at the example data by opening the spreadsheets containing the data that are supplied with the Cost Calculator There are seven files e ImportChild xls contains data about each child e ImportEpisodes xls contains data about each placement e ImportEducation xls contains information on GCSE results e ImportOutcomes xls contains eight outcomes variables such as whether the child has had a health check and whether he or she is an offender e ImportYOT xls contains the YOT dates of children e ImportRev xls contains the review dates of children and e ImportPlan xls contains the plan dates of children The first four files listed above contain data about the children and their placements that could be combined One row would then be used for each placement and other data would be replicated in each of the rows for the child Separate files are provided to make the data structure similar to that used for the SSDA 903 return However your data does NOT need to be laid out exactly as in the example files nor do the columns have to have the same names see Chapter 7 for more details 2 4 Social Car
20. Application defined or object defined error Often the wording of the error is difficult for non developers to interpret and the option to full Access users to analyse or debug the code is presented When such an error occurs the user should select the End button to stop the program from running The Debug option should only be used under instruction from VTL If this option is inadvertently selected then a code window will open showing which line of code has caused the fault Close this window and select Yes on the warning dialog box that appears when it asks you if you want to stop running the code Microsoft Access i This action will reset the current code in break mode Do you want to stop the running code To halt the execution of the program so the Module window can be closed select Yes To leave the code in the current state select No Users encountering such messages should write down the message carefully before contacting their local administrator for the database Where a recurring fault has been detected the Administrator may be already aware of what specific action to take if not they can liaise with VTL to assess and resolve the issue Over a period of time the intention will be to eliminate all untrapped errors from the database E 3 APPENDIX F Frequently Used Abbreviations Abbreviation Full definition Emotional or behavioural difficulties Children with disabilit
21. Calculator cccccceccceccecceccececeeececaeececeeeceeneeneens 53 6 2 SSDA 903 Codes epoch feecostectacl ives aivbeeieee islet doo hicteacbepeettasbenebetda es 55 6 3 Coding of Other Variables ccceccessexses atecptteteeagsdonhe Sgoctetc eased etexeeccaneds et 57 6 4 Alternative Information Sources 2 eceeeeeeeeeeeceeaeeeeeceeeeeeeeeeeeeeees 58 6 5 Classification Guidelines eeeeeeeeeseeeeeeeeeeeccaeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeees 59 BO Finance Dalal cies E a het aaa ae ceeeats 60 Chapter 7 Importing and Exporting Data Database Maintenance 62 7 1 Data Import OV GIViCW to foe ee Ne che ee a se a ee le ea laa fret le ee 62 7 2 Preparing Data Files for Import 0 rcert dare cee ie eee 62 7 3 Specifying Data with the Import Setup Form cceeeeecceeeeceeeeeeeeeeeeees 64 7 4 Importing and Exporting Datei c ciscisscipeeesestecct ee secneee agebecee eiessederts 68 7 5 Importing a XML File ss csccce le evereeas steer eieued ste aleves ot udescdeares te Greccecetale ccteeteras 73 7 6 GOmMpact and AG pal eaaa uh cos erests Ste dies Gul els SEAE Eaa dea ESEA inten 75 Chapter 8 Customising Costs and Placement Types eeeeeeeeeeees 77 8 1 What can be Customised cceeeeeeeeeeeeeee eee aeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeteeeees 77 8 2 Customising Unit Costs 5 sececserecncyes teres adeteoec ee decedeceeeHewede ce eee Reehintars 78 8 3 Customising Placement Types 2 ce
22. Can View and Edit Data All Cost Calculator users can view the child and placement data that has been imported into the application together with the unit cost sheets that are available The categories of child characteristics and placements that are used in the analysis can also be inspected Users who have Data Administrator rights have the further privilege of being able to edit and delete data in the Cost Calculator and modify the lists of categories To make such changes you must first click the Edit button a This checks whether the user has Data Administrator rights If not a message is generated informing the user that they do not have the required status Action Prohibited This action is restricted to Data Administrators Information in this chapter about editing data is relevant only to Data Administrators and is shown in a box All changes that are made by the Data Administrator are stored in the application and can immediately be viewed by other users 5 2 Individual Child Details The Cost Calculator allows you to view the information held for each child From the Social Care Looked After Children Menu select View Individual Child Details Social Care Looked After Children Menu Set Calculation Parameters Reports Placement Changes What If ri View Individual Child Details You can search for a child using the name or the number with the yellow Lookup boxes at the top of the screen For a child
23. From 01 04 2006 to 31 03 2007 Out of London TimeLookedAfter gt 5 Years x AgeUserSt Data 13 Total Num Children Total Cost E Num Children Cost Num Children Cost 1 15 925 1 123 194 139 120 Grand Tota 1 15 925 1 123 194 2 139 120 GroupDesc The selection choices provided by the pivot controls for the summary report Costs by Age and Need are shown in the table below A similar table is given at the end of each report that generates a pivot table Pivot Control Name Description Choices GroupDesc Children s need group Select needs group from list Number of years the child has been looked after Age of child at the start of the selected calculation period TimeLookedAfter Select number of years AgeUserSt Select age Drilling down in Pivot Tables Viewing the Components of the Calculation To see which placements are contributing to a value in the report that you are interested in double click on that value This drill down feature opens a new worksheet within the report workbook The first drill down sheet you open is called Sheet2 the second is Sheet3 and so on You can use the sheet tabs at the bottom of the screen to move between these sheets and also to move back to the report An if you double click on the cell holding the cost of the 13 year old in the table The Cost Calculator will produce a worksheet showing the data which example of dr
24. LA lower Garden e Lily Pad M t lt T lt b lt pa lt oO oO wv rc md a b lt oO oO n f a lt lt b lt lt lt Slang eeeeas g a wo A yi oO a b lt I T lt lt lt Record 14 4 1 PJPH of 13 Since initially you do not have any custom placement types the form is blank when it first loads Click the Edit button to verify that you are logged on as a Data Administrator and generate a blank row ready for customisation Select the appropriate placement description then enter the appropriate provider and or placement name The screen shot shows an example of the form after various custom placement types have been defined Note that placement names must be unique If you use placements with two foster carers each called Mrs A Smith you 81 need to decide on a way of distinguishing between them for example by calling them Mrs A Smith1 and Mrs A Smith2 Once you have defined custom placement types in this way you must check that the code corresponding to each in your data set is appropriately mapped using the Mapped Placement Codes option The mappings are required so that the Cost Calculator can assign costs to your customised placement types If your data includes suffixes that separate the SSDA 903 codes into subgroups these may be helpful However it is also possible to define more than one mapp
25. Menu under the Set Calculation Parameters option 71 Data Date Please enter the date which reflects the last date of OK your overall data including this import This is used to OK define acceptable reporting periods Cancel 31 05 2007 You will then be informed that the import process has been completed Eliminating Problems Problems occurring at Stage 1 are usually due to mis specification of the import file path or mis spelling of either a file name or field name on the Import Setup form Failure at Stage 2 indicates a problem with one or more data values You should check the coding requirements set out in Chapter 6 and the tips on preparing data files in Section 7 2 If none of this helps you have to eliminate the problem in stages Try to import a more limited range of variables obviously still including the required variables by blanking out more variables in your Import Setup form You don t have to change the data files at all fields are just ignored if they are not specified in the Import Setup form If the import succeeds you then know that the problem lies in the variables you did not import Another option is to create mini data files with say 3 children in them You can check visually that all the variables have valid codings and that each child has both a date of birth and a placement If you succeed in importing these data files it is likely that the problem is due to an invalid coding elsewhere in
26. Setting the Calculation Parameters scecceeeeeeeeeeeeeeeesseseeeeees 19 Chapter 4 Reports and What if analysis cceeeeeeeeceeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeaaeees 22 4 1 Key Features of the Analyses ccccceeccesseeeeeeecceeeeeeceeeeeeeeeeeeeeees 22 4 2 Saving and Printing RepOns isn ssi cinerea ete eon 23 4 3 Detailed Calculations cccccccccccccssssesseseeeeeeeeeceeeeeeseeeeeeaaaaseseeeeeeees 23 4 4 Reports Analysing Costs by Children s Needs seeeeeeeeeeeeeeees 28 AE mihol TAS case cae ss ae Aaa he As ete Sea ait Si eis ie al Aa ats 29 4 6 Analyses by Placement Related Features ccccccccssssssssseeeeeeeeeees 31 4 7 Placement Changes What if eeeeceeeeeeeeceseeceeceneeeaeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeees 37 Chapter 5 Viewing and Editing Data 0 0 0 2 ccccccceceeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeneeeeaeeees 41 5 1 Who Can View and Edit Data csiitaccesssintcagcvasssseicuertarem goastteaetan 41 5 2 Individual Child Details cess seed sais Sec h cae Sein cv tatvaltces ev eaten See 41 5 3 Social Care LAC Data Administration Menu cccccceceeeeeeeeeeeeeeeees 43 DA PIRGG LISTS sictich peaa aa e E tubes slates aut 44 5 5 Editable Lists aesan ee aaa aa aaa a ek 46 Part 2 Details of Data Administrator Procedures and Methodology 53 Chapter 6 Data Definitions and Codes cccccccecceeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeaaes 53 6 1 Data for the Cost
27. customised unit costs is included in the resource pack Looking After Children At What Cost produced by the Looked After Children Task Force Unit Cost Database A Unit Cost Database to assist with calculating customised unit costs is being prepared The Unit Cost Database will allow you to research unit costs and transfer data directly into the Cost Calculator creating customised unit cost tables A separate User Guide for the Unit Cost Database is also being written 8 3 Customising Placement Types Before you create customised placement types you must first create a customised cost table Customised cost tables must be used with customised placement types since each of the placement types that you define requires a corresponding additional unit cost row Notice in the screen shot of Basic Unit Costs that the same placement type description may therefore occur more than once in the left hand column To ensure that the extra rows are generated automatically in your customised cost table when you define your customised placement types you must close your customised unit cost table before you start to customise your placement types Holmes L Lawson D and Stone J 2005 Resource Pack Looking After Children At What Cost London Produced by Department for Education and Skills 80 Creating Customised Placement Types The first field in the Placement Types list has a drop down box that offers descriptions of all
28. directly accept the same variables whenever they are relevant to the model Variables that are collected in the SSDA 903 return are identified by the field name used in that data collection in the second column of Table 2 Except for the new codes discussed below for these variables the SSDA 903 codes used in 2006 2008 are required as defined in the Guidance Notes for the completion of SSDA 903 records at http www dfes gov uk datastats 1 quidelines children returns shtml If you are importing a long time series of data that includes SSDA 903 codes prior to those used in 2006 2008 you have to change these to their current equivalents The field names used in the Cost Calculator do not have to be the same as in the SSDA 903 return There are two exceptions to the need to supply 903 codes For gender and ethnicity the 903 codes are acceptable but other codes may also be used The available gender codes are shown in the screen shot below The form that contains them is accessed as part of the import process discussed in Chapter 7 because in previous versions of the Cost Calculator it was possible to customise the gender codes during the import process Gender Input Mappings Sel A Gender Input Mappings E Input Code Description ot known lt a oO lt emale ot specified emale emale ale ale lt j lt lt lt lt a ooo oo JE eooo 55 The large number of available ethnicity co
29. fields containing 903 data contains a code that is not recognised as a current code for example the old adoption placement code A1 An error message is produced to help you to pick up the problem The screen shot below shows an example of the output you receive when Stage 2 is completed successfully E Import Data Import Update Child amp Placement Data STAGE 2 Data Validated DATA VALIDATION APPROVED RULE 1 All required data must be present All records valid RULE 2 DOB must be before Placement Start Date All records valid RULE 3 Each placement record should contain a placement code that exists in the mapping table All records valid 3 Import ae Close When both the structure and data of the import files are valid then you can proceed to Stage 3 and import the data When you click on Import Data you must first choose whether you want to replace your existing data with the import or append to it This option works as described above in the sub section Delete All Existing Data Append Remove Do you wish to remove the existing Child Placement data Next there will be a message box asking you for a date that will reflect the latest date in your overall data including your existing data in database and the data you re importing This date will be used to set an automatic one year time slice for your calculation which you can change in the Social Care Looked After Children
30. for the SSDA 903 return see Section 6 2 GCSEs at specified grades and the Main activity on 19 birthday are variables used for analysis only You can input the data submitted for the SSDA 903 returns or you can use another data source so long as you are aware when interpreting the results of what definitions are used in your data Date of care order is the date when the child first had a care order If you do not input this variable the Cost Calculator can work it out using the Date when episode commenced and Legal status The accuracy of its calculations depend on the length of the data series you import Similarly you can import a variable showing if a child is on Remand or the Cost Calculator can work this out using the youth justice Legal status codes that begin with J In the example data set children for whom the variable Remand is TRUE all have youth justice legal status codes With such data if the variable Remand is not imported the same information is inferred from the legal status codes and the costs calculated are exactly the same You can import a variable showing whether or not each child has Disabilities If you provide this data that is what the Cost Calculator uses If you do not include such a 58 variable the Cost Calculator infers the information as best it can from the variables you do provide It classifies children with Category of need code N2 as having disabilities You can also define one or more of your Soc
31. in row 23 this is the only entry in the data set Prior to version 7 5 the Cost Calculator would not have picked up this child Now it assumes a placement start date of the date of the legal only change Obviously this is likely to underestimate the placement length but since the date of the legal only change may be several years in the past a more realistic assumption based on the dates to which the data relate was judged too complex to implement Child 1610 also has a legal only change in row 34 but in this case there is preceding placement information in row 33 The Cost Calculator therefore combines the information in these two rows so that the child s first placement has a start date of 17 03 2007 from row 33 and an end date of 30 04 2008 from row 34 as can be seen on the individual child details form shown below CCfCS Individual Child Details 3 File Edit Insert Records Window Help Type a question for help gl X Child Details By Child No By Child Name By Student ID _ sc EM Surname uasc O Offender O School Year fi OOO First Name EBD O SENStatement O NCY Offset o Date of Birth Disabilities O Excluded O SENStatus Gender Compex O satacse O ac _ as Ethnic Group Social Care Team Area Office aetivty Post iss oi i Social Care Education From 01 04 2007 Inflation To 31 03 2008 0 Placements Dates Currently showing Placement Number 1 out of 2 p
32. on these variables However if you do supply these files the variables for which there is a tick in the Required column of the Import Setup form are then mandatory If you do not have these dates you should delete both the field names and file locations for the relevant variables in the Import Setup form Data Types in the Cost Calculator The Group column of the Import Setup form relates to the way the information is held in the Cost Calculator and the fields that are needed in each file to allow the data to be matched All variables in the Child group are held as a single value namely the latest value that has been imported for that child while for variables in the other groups multiple values can be held for each child The child placement and fee data may be imported from several different Excel files For example if information about the child s ethnic origin is stored in a separate file entirely you can specify the path to this file in the File Location column Each file that contains data from the Child group should have a column of child identifiers with the same field name Similarly each file that contains data from the Placement group should have the three variables that uniquely define a placement a column of child identifiers a column for Organisational Placement Code and a column for the Start date of placement Data on the weekly fee or allowance for each placement can be imported so as l
33. out LA Default 119 89 27 04 263 38 653 87 815 61 2765 90 1164 27 2923 86 LA Res Ed H out LA Default Default Local Authority Y mas 2704 2338 65387 815 61 2765 90 1164 27 3400 00 Default 4 S 2292 26338 46255 407 81 2765 90 1164 27 2368 30 Ag Residential Ed out LA Default 27 04 26338 653 87 815 61 276590 1164 27 2368 30 Ag Residential Ed out LA Flower Garden N 2 26338 65387 815 61 2765 90 1164 27 2368 30 Ag Residential Ed out LA Flower Garden The Liy Pad 704 2338 65387 815 61 2765 30 1164 27 2700 00 T Taba Taba NE aaao aeaee anro aver an tien aol o7 aml Y lt gt The circumstances in which the unit cost is This table includes some customised applicable are listed in the columns on the left placement types In the Basic Unit Costs table shown in the screen shot the column headed 3 Mtn P shows the social care activity costs per day that form part of the costs for Process 3 maintaining the placement The Cost Calculator combines these costs with the weekly fee or allowance for the placement dividing each of these by seven to obtain the daily rate The default figure for the weekly fee or allowance is the average for the placement type shown in the right hand column headed Avg Weekly Fees Allow These averages are used in What if analyses For calculating the cost of actual pl
34. particular placement or with a particular provider 33 All x Al 7 Time Looked fAll v All Al Al Ofender Jam 7 juasc All fr All Support Plac Al x i z z Ly z Al fr All J Child 1 01200 12 B86 01210 18 957 01225 5767 44 940 yta 23 094 01280 36 262 01230 47 164 01315 2275 01320 5 465 66 621 Summary of Total Costs From 01 04 2006 to 31 03 2007 NEW COST TABLE Inflation 5 Click on one or more arrows to the left and select the categories to be shown in the table The pivot table controls can be used to select a specific group of children for details see text The grand total for each child in the calculation period is shown at the right of the table 56 Children in the table Child 1225 has had three placements the costs of which are shown in the columns Total Costs PING Rw lt e a a a aaaamm 3 4 5 6 Grand Total 130 686 18 957 1 627 36 262 47 164 2275 5 465 You can drill down by double clicking on any of the cost values in the table This displays the details of the cost calculations together with the child and placement characteristics However again there are alternative ways of accessing this information that may be preferable namely the Individual Child ID amp Placement Number option from the Reports Menu or View Individual Ch
35. placement types therefore allows you to investigate the cost of changing various placement types to a particular named provider or named placement 77 The facility may be useful if you have different skill bands for foster carers You can define several customised types of in house foster care corresponding to the different carer skills levels recognised in your authority In the placement data that you import the provider name field for in house foster care placements should contain the carer s skill level Note that the Cost Calculator already has separate categories for Multidimensional Treatment Foster Care 8 2 Customising Unit Costs The values in the London and Out of London cost tables supplied cannot be altered but Data Administrator users of the Implementation version can create new costs tables and edit the values they contain so that customised cost tables can be created for your local authority A customised cost table can be created by copying an existing table and then editing the new table This allows you to create a new table that is based either on one of the tables that are supplied or on a table that your authority has previously created To create a new cost table select the cost table that you wish to copy then click on the Copy Cost Table button at the top of the form This verifies that you are a Data Administrator and prompts you to confirm your request You should enter a name for your new c
36. sample import information on GCSE results ImportOutcomes xls sample import outcomes variables for each child ImportRev xls sample import review dates spreadsheet ImportYOT xls sample import YOT dates spreadsheet ImportPlan xls sample import Plan dates spreadsheet SampleXmlidata xml sample import XML file e Create a folder on your network accessible to all intended CCfCS users and unzip the contents of the CCfCS_Data_Vn n zip to this location e For the Program file create a local folder direct from the root of the C drive to which the user has write access e g C CCfCS Unzip the contents of the CCfCS_Program_Vn n zip file to this location e Within these notes the network folder containing the data is referred to as R CCfCS and the local folder containing the program is referred to as C CCICS B 2 e Note that you can use a unc path instead of a mapped drive if you prefer for all the paths specified within the Cost Calculator Create a Shortcut to the Program For security access to the application must be via a shortcut When you install the application on a new computer you need to set up a shortcut to connect the Program to the security file This should resemble the picture below Ccrcs 08 02 2007 13 33 Shortcut You may set up this shortcut manually but unless you are familiar with the procedure we recommend that you use the supplied VTL utility ShortcutCreator_03 mdb Before doing this check that th
37. structure of the data submitted for the SSDA 903 return The new SSDA 903 codes are now included In addition an alternative file is provided using only the 2008 codes so you can make comparisons see Section 8 4 A small example XML file is also supplied enabling users to trial the XML import facility see Section 7 5 The User Guide has also been updated and now comprises separate volumes for social care and education Volume 1 introduces the Cost Calculator and provides detailed information for the Social Care Looked After Children menus of the Cost Calculator This material is presented in two parts e Part 1 of this volume Chapters 1 to 5 comprises information about using the Cost Calculator for looked after children s services that is relevant to all users e Part 2 of Volume 1 Chapters 6 to 9 contains detailed information on preparing and importing data to the Cost Calculator and on customisations Further methodological details about the calculations are also provided Part 2 is intended for Data Administrator users Volume 2 contains detailed information relating to the Education menus of the software 1 2 The Cost Calculator an Overview The current version of the Cost Calculator allows you to calculate costs of social care processes for looked after children and separately to estimate the cost of education provision for these children and for those with statements of special educational needs Being able to accurately c
38. the other hand children who displayed a combination of additional support needs had the most costly care episodes and were most likely to experience changes of placements and unscheduled school changes Practice Implications The findings demonstrate the importance of adopting a systems approach to analysing the costs of looking after children The costs incurred by placing children away from home need to be considered within the context of the costs of providing services to all children in need A systems approach should also demonstrate how A 3 costs are spread across agencies so that reducing costs to one may increase the costs to others A 4 APPENDIX B Installing the Implementation Version Software Components Program Data and Security Files The CCfCS software application has been developed using Microsoft Access version 2003 From version 7 5 the application may be run using Office 2007 System but see requirements in Appendix G It is a requirement that prior to installing the Implementation Version Microsoft Access 2003 7 and Microsoft Excel 2003 7 are already installed If you do not have Microsoft Access 2003 a run time licence is provided with the Cost Calculator Demonstration database You can install this first to provide you with a usable version of Access see Appendix D The database is split into two components the front end Program CCfCS_Program mdb containing forms reports and code and the back end Data
39. trust this code You can avoid messages like this by lowering Access security settings but this is not recommended Microsoft Office Access Security Warning Unsafe expressions are not blocked Do you want to block unsafe expressions Depending on your computer security settings you may be prompted with a security warning as shown below Click on Open to access the program Security Warning Opening C 01vtl Ext CCFRShortcutCreator_2k_XP_O3 mdb This file may not be safe if it contains code that was intended to harm your computer Do you want to open this file or cancel the operation 3 2 Getting Started Main Menu When the cost calculator is opened it displays the Main Menu screen shown below This gives access to the different parts of the Cost Calculator the separate modules on Social Care Looked After Children and Education the installation facilities for the System Administrator and Personal Administration facilities for all users The bottom button on each sub menu is a back button that moves you up to the previous menu level or from the top level Shown here allows you to exit Main Menu i Social Care Looked After Children Education E Loughborough University System Administration Ww Personal Administration vantage training Itd 0870 740 6606 Lj EXT Changing your Password All users should begin by using the Personal Administration option to change their password Wh
40. tue alse E reor __ imeona O O S CC ImportPlacementaml xls TRUE ImportPlacementsml xls ee a Validate Cancel a 2 FALSE The entries in the File Location column of the Import Setup form have been changed to the names of Excel files If you look in the folder you specified as your data import path you will find in it the four Excel files named on the form The import mechanism has converted the XML data to Excel files changed the Import Setup form and then imported the Excel files Notice that a SupportPlace variable has been created You can use the Excel files that have been created in combination with another Excel file perhaps containing names and disability information and re do the import process This provides a method of bringing in additional data that are not in the SSDA 903 return It also gives you an opportunity to edit your SupportPlace variable if any of your placements are not main placements The file SampleXmldata xml is included in the data shipped with the Cost Calculator so you can try out the XML import facility if you wish The file contains data relating to 12 children one of whom is an unaccompanied asylum seeker To avoid overwriting your authority s own data that you may have imported remember that you can install a second copy of the Cost Calculator in a different folder 7 6 Compact and Repair During use your database may become significantly larger
41. who has more than one placement you can select the one you wish to view by clicking on the arrow to the right of the 41 placement number and choosing one of the numbers that drop down The form lets you select all the child s placements so you can see basic information about them including their dates For placements that fell outside the calculation time period you have selected the Total Costs per Process section is blank Process costs are shown if the placement or part of it falls within the calculation period and so this form provides a summary of the Individual Child ID amp Placement Number report ccrfcs Individual Child Details DER HE File Edit Yiew Insert Format Records Tools Window Help ype a question for help X Tahoma z Child Details sited B By Child No By Child Name 01200 By Student ID B School Year Health Assess NCY Offset 0 Dental Check SEN Status __ Eligible cse O SDQ Score 4 C L A G L SC_ID 01225 Surname EDD Fst Name UPN Date of Birth Gender Ethnic Group Area Office Activity Post 16 Sienna 23 03 2001 01 Calculation period Social Care Education From 01 04 2007 ation Additional Overhead To 31 03 2008 0 0 Placements Dates Currently showing Placement Number 1 out of 3 placements Placement Type LA Foster Care out LA
42. 2 Disab EBD Offender 1 60 972 1 63 457 1 16 108 1 123 532 13 Disab UASC Offender 14 EBD UASC Offender 15 Disab EBD UASC Offender Grand Total a 60 972 2 79 566 2 26 300 1 123 532 Report printed on 19 06 2007 Data imported on 01 06 2007 4 5 Pivot Tables The pivot tables in the Cost Calculator allow the user to view the data for specific groups of children by selecting variables from a group of lists For example in the Costs by Age and Need Report click on the arrow next to the heading AgeUserSt pseeserse i to see a list of the different children s M Show All ages at the start of your chosen on calculation period which is shown Si wiz below the title of the report a viis Please note The list of ages is generated to Si contain the ages of all children in the data set The example data shown contained no children under _cancel_ h two years of age Now select only the ages you wish to view You can use the pivot table controls as a set of filters to give you just the information that you are interested in For example you may wish to see only the 29 information for the cost of children with disabilities who have been looked after for more than five years By ticking only these choices from the GroupDesc and TimeLookedaAfter lists the Cost Calculator displays a very specific set of data Analysis of Costs by Age Needs and Time Looked After
43. 58 59 62 63 64 73 75 staff salaries ccccceessseeeeeseeees 61 stage Status eeren 70 Stant dateras nN 20 70 statement of special educational needs 200 ceeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeteeeeeeeeeenes 60 Subtotal COSt scceceeeeeeeeeeseees 25 support placements 25 46 57 SYSCCICS MGW i sticseemercctiastetepeente B 2 system administration 63 68 75 B 6 B 8 C 2 time period 9 12 22 24 28 31 32 33 36 52 trapped ClTOMS becevs casey eeesinngecendiieness E 2 Unit Cost Database ceeeeees 80 unit cost table 25 47 78 79 80 81 85 unit costs 9 10 11 12 13 15 16 20 21 22 25 37 46 47 50 51 60 77 79 80 customised ccceeeeeeeeeeterteees 16 UNtrapped errors seee E 2 updates isi iin a u 7 68 data ices Haas a 67 upgrading ss epe s 7 USer ACCOUN Sait cinseievitesecies C 1 User Guide ccce cesses 8 11 80 COUCALION c ccccceceeeeeseeseeteeeeeeeees 8 social care ccccccceceeeeeeseseeteeeeeeees 8 VOIUME Taaa arauei 8 Part Torere n i 8 P 2e e as 8 VOIUME 2 cee ceeeececeeceeeeeeteteeeeaees 8 validate nennen 67 69 70 74 variables 12 55 57 64 definitions and codingsS 63 mandatory sses 12 64 67 Odal eners an 65 Visual Basic for Applications G 1 weekly fee or allowance 50 51 58 61 67 78 79 What if analysis 10 19 22 37 38 39 40 50 61 77 79
44. 64 79 plus if YOT 7 01 0 4 Cost 0 35 5 10 Cost 1 85 11 12 Cost 6 75 13 14 Cost 6 75 plus during first 91 days 4 52 less if over 1 year out LA 3 11 Exit Care Return Home 276 29 of which Basic 276 29 Conditional extra 5 Find Later Placement 214 55 of which Basic 214 55 Conditional extra 6 Review 427 79 of which Basic 427 79 Conditional extra plus if age group 16 or over 10 68 plus if first for leaving care 131 68 plus if YOT 131 71 7 Legal 2 901 43 of which Basic 2 901 43 Conditional extra 8 Transition to Leaving Care 1 221 32 of which Basic 1 221 32 Conditional extra Report printed on 16 09 2008 Data imported on 31 03 2008 Days Incurred 0 366 ooo oo 0 189 Subtotal Cost 251 53 23 712 31 855 59 10 68 131 68 549 08 1 221 32 Total cost Process Cost 251 53 22 405 35 997 95 549 08 1 221 32 25 425 22 Compare the aqua coloured rows in the two reports to see how age allowances are added in one case but not the other Placement is Child is has Process No Cost Calculation for Child calculation period ID from Weeks in placement before calculation period Placement continues after calculation period Foster care Aquamarine A White 00 None Y2 Section 20 single period Process Local Authority Sunflower Unit Cost 10314 01 04 2007 171 6
45. Analysis of Costs by Type of Expenditure Fees and Allowances 3 779 594 82 Social Care 810 921 18 Total 4 590 514 100 Costs by Age and Need The Costs by Age and Need report shows costs and numbers of children grouped by needs group age and the number of years looked after From version 7 5 the Num Children column records each child only once by their age at the start of the calculation The child s placement costs however are listed according to the child s age at the start of each and so may be in more than one column This report is produced as an Excel pivot table This enables you to select and view the costs for specific groups of children by using a series of pull down menus The 28 Cost Calculator uses pivot tables for some of the other summary reports and the method of using them is the same in all cases The next section describes the features of pivot tables Analysis of Costs by Age Needs and Time Looked After From 01 04 2007 to 3103 2008 Out of London TimeLookedAfter Alp lz AgeUserSt Data 3 4 uf GroupDesc Num Children Cost Num Children Cost Num Children Cost Num Children Cost Num Children 00 None it 22 412 2 26 300 01 Disabilities only 02 EBD only 03 UASC only 04 Offender only 05 Disabilities EBD 06 Disabilities UASC 07 Disabilities Offender 08 EBD UASC 09 EBD Offender 10 UASC Offender 11 Disab EBD UASC 1
46. CCfCS_Data mdb containing the raw data tables The Program component is common to all CCfCS users whereas the Data component will contain your local authority Child and Placement data The application is designed to be used by having one and only one copy of the Data which is then accessed by each user with their own copy of the Program located in a folder to which they have write access This allows multiple users to set different calculation parameters and run their own reports independently whilst sharing the core Child and Placement data for your authority The application has been designed to protect the sensitivity of the data and as part of this security each user will have to log on to the application with a user name and password Initially three default users are supplied as part of your installation and for these the password is blank B 1 Release Files As part of your first release you should have two zipped files CCFCS_Program_ n n zip CCFCS_Data_ n n zip 19 03 2007 23 15 19 03 2007 23 15 4 834 KB 4 834 KB The CCfCS_Program_Vn n zip file will contain one file CCfCS_Program mdb The CCfCS_Data_Vn n zip file will contain the additional files CCfCS_Data mdb the Data file SysCCfCS mdw the Security file ShortcutCreator_03 mdb the vtl short cut creator utility ImportChild xls Sample import data about each child ImportEpisodes xls sample import data about each placement ImportEducation xls
47. Computer Application The Cost Calculator has been developed using Visual Basic for Applications code within a Microsoft Access database environment A free run time version of Access is supplied for users who do not have Access on their computers Cost calculations and the preparation of summary tables and reports have been automated so that the Cost Calculator can be used outside the academic setting by managers and practitioners with minimal training The menu system offers user choices of timeframes cost sheets and inflators and gives access to specific summary reports The Cost Calculator produces reports in a Microsoft Excel format and saves them in a user specified folder Demonstration and Implementation Versions The Demonstration version 6 0 of the Cost Calculator has the same functionality as the Implementation version except for features introduced in versions from 6 5 to 7 10 Users are able to alter the settings and perform What if analyses by changing placement types The Cost Calculator can calculate costs of placements and produce summary tables and reports However it can only use the example data with which it is supplied It is not possible to enter your own placement data with the Demonstration version or to customise the unit costs or placement types The Implementation version of the Cost Calculator allows users to enter their own authority s placement data A customisable Import Setup form facilitates the transf
48. Cost Calculator for Children s Services User Guide Volume 1 Social Care Looked After Children Version 7 10 For use with Version 7 10 of the Cost Calculator implementation version also demonstration version 6 0 February 2010 CC CS cost calculator for children s services Acknowledgements The Cost Calculator was developed by Jean Soper Lisa Holmes and Harriet Ward as part of a Department of Health Department for Education and Skills Department for Children Schools and Families funded research project at the Centre for Child and Family Research CCFR This user guide was written by Joe Sempik Jean Soper Lisa Holmes Samantha McDermid and Harriet Ward design and graphics by Emma Batchelor Paul Atkins Lynne Atkin and Peter Riley Jordan The authors acknowledge the co operation and collaboration of our colleagues at the CCFR Programming of the Cost Calculator is undertaken by Vantage Training Ltd VTL computer training amp development www vtli co uk Information and help For more information about the work of the Centre for Child and Family Research visit www ccfr org uk For updates and information on the Cost Calculator and to download an electronic version of this user guide and the latest demonstration version of the Cost Calculator visit www ccfcs org uk To obtain help in using the Cost Calculator please contact costcalculator Ilboro ac uk The Cost Calculator Development Officer C
49. Data Filter AutoFilter facility and then click on each of the drop down arrows in turn This lets you view the set of values that you have for each variable so you can spot if your data set contains extraneous values that would cause the data import to fail For example for the Placement Type variable the entries must be the codes used for the SSDA 903 return possibly with a sub category suffix see Section 5 5 Current codes for adoption placements 63 are A3 A4 A5 A6 If your data includes the old adoption codes A1 and A2 or the word UNKNOWN in this column the data import will fail and therefore you need to correct the data before you try to import it Once you have checked your data values remove the AutoFilter before you try to import the data e The example data set illustrates that information about the children can be in several separate Excel files Section 7 3 explains which variables must be included in each of them to enable the Cost Calculator to match the data e As with the SSDA 903 data for each child for whom you enter details there must be at least 1 placement and for each child for whom there is a placement you must also import the basic child information of a Date of Birth This implies that data about a child cannot be imported for the first time after they have left care Such children may be in your data set so you can include their position on their 19th birthday in your SSDA 903 return You must eithe
50. Default Agency Foster Care in LA Fred Defaul Agency Foster Care out LA Default Default Agency Foster Care out LA Default Defaul Agency Foster Care out LA Rainbow Children Default Agency Foster Care out LA Rainbow Children Defau LA Foster Care in LA Default Default LA Foster Care in LA Default Defau LA Foster Care in LA gill Default LA Foster Care in LA gill Defaul LA Foster Care in LA q Default LA Foster Care in LA q Defau LA Foster Care out LA Default Default LA Foster Care out LA Defau Defau LA Foster Care out LA russell Default LA Foster Care out LA russell Defaul Agency Independence in LA Default Default Agency Independence in LA DeFaul Defaul Agency Independence out LA Default Default Agency Independence out LA Defaul Defaul Restore All Changes Close Current Changes Multiple selections in the left hand panel can be made by holding down the Ctrl key and clicking on the placement types Select ONE placement type from the right panel This is the placement type to which all of the previously selected types will be changed Your selections appear below You can make successive changes at once and these are all listed at the bottom of the screen All the placement types in the data base are changed and when you run your reports the calculations are updated You can then explore the effects of the changes by creating new summary tables and using the pivot table controls to s
51. EBD Offender placement 14 Yot support calculation Sare Order Full Care Order Date 0814999 period 14 Weeks from care order to age 18 548 7 Ho of Times Process Ho Process Unit Cost Days Incurred Subtotal Cost Process Cost 24 The second part of the table contains detailed information about the costs of the processes which together account for the total cost of looking after the child in this placement The eight processes are costed in successive rows of the table see the table below Unit costs appropriate to the placement type and the needs of the child are picked up from the selected unit cost sheet Out of London 2006 7 in this case and shown in the column headed Unit Cost In the example the placement is a secure unit provided by a local authority but outside the area of the local authority The Basic unit costs for the eight processes can be found in the row labelled LA Secure out LA of the Out of London 2006 7 unit cost table which can be accessed from the Data Administration Menu as described in Section 5 5 They are 964 13 for Process 1 119 89 for Process 2 27 04 for Process 3 etc A detailed explanation follows The numbers in the grey boxes refer to the descriptions in the explanatory text Conditional extra costs are only incurred when a child has particular needs In this case there are Conditional extra unit costs only for Process 3 6 29 per day 1 These are attributable to additional social
52. Gender Code Mappings 66 Import Data 2 ecccetet tect etiod 69 Import Setup eee 64 Legal Status List 008 44 Process Details 00 46 Unit Cost Calculator 80 LAC Fixed Lists ccceceeeeesceeeeeeees 44 Data Administrator 8 11 23 40 41 43 47 49 51 53 62 68 78 81 B 6 B 7 C 1 C 2 C 3 data and customisations B 8 B 9 datafile oirinn B 2 Data file reniei B 1 database path sssesseeeeeereeeseeerene B 6 date in your overall data 0 71 date of care Ordel c scceceeeereeees 58 datos TN 42 57 68 start ANd EN eeeeeeeeeees 20 70 default assumptions c eeeee 48 default value 12 16 47 61 64 delete data cssccececeeeeeseeseeseees 68 Demonstration version 10 13 16 17 20 D 1 detailed cost calculations 22 23 disabilities 12 13 21 24 30 35 52 58 59 64 65 66 68 A 3 disability rules cceeseeeees 59 66 duration related costs 50 52 edit button 11 41 42 49 64 78 81 83 B 7 editable lists 46 49 77 79 education Module cccce 9 18 either or categories 04 57 66 emotional or behavioural difficulties 56 59 60 64 end date cx seared ieee cu 20 error MESSAGES ieee E 1 GLANIGHY seein eane e 55 56 58 ethnicity types sseeeeeeeeeeeen 45 56
53. LA Res Ed H out LA Ag Res Ed H in LA 4g Res Ed H out LA Once you have finished customising your placement types you can return to your customised unit cost sheet view the additional rows that have been inserted and edit the cost figures they contain 8 4 Changing Default Mappings for Pre 2009 Placement Codes It is still possible from version 7 5 to import data that does not contain provider and location variables However as explained in Section 6 2 if you want to change the default mappings for the placement codes the mapping must now be changed before the data are imported or you can re import the data after you have changed the mapping To allow you to try this out the file ImportMainNoProvLoc xls is now included with the example data as a composite alternative to the four files 82 ImportChild xls ImportEpisodes xls ImportEducation xls and ImportOutcomes xls These files contain essentially the same data but in ImportMainNoProvLoc xls the provider and location columns have been removed and suffixes have been added to some of the placement codes to ensure that they map to the same placement types The placements in rows 48 and 69 have the code H3 If you import the data file ImportMainNoProvLoc xls which does not include the provider and location columns by default these placements map to LA Residential in LA If your authority does not have any residential homes but uses agency ones within the a
54. Top 10 Result Process 3 Mtn P Social Work Costs Process 3 Mtn P Total Costs Process 4 Exit Costs Process 5 MoveP Costs Process 6 Rview Costs Process 7 Legal Costs Process 8 16 Costs Total Costs Placement Days Number of Care Plans Number of Reviews OK Cancel The table shown on the next page initially displays all of the results for the selection for example total costs of placements for all of the children in the dataset The data are arranged in columns showing the cost of each placement that occurred within the selected time period and the total cost of all the placements The total number of children in the table is shown just above the table There is no limit on the number of placements that can be displayed but in the example data set no child has more then six placements Specific groups of children can be selected from the dataset by using the drop down lists of variables provided by the pivot table controls arrowed As with the other pivot table reports a group of children can be selected on the basis of a multiple set of criteria However this report offers the extensive list of variables set out below as well as the child s identification number and placement number controls at the top of the summary table If the data that has been imported includes the names and providers of individual placements the Placement Name Actual and Provider Name Actual controls give you reports for all children placed in a
55. a Admin 10 10 2007 11 24 44 Version 6 5 The Cost Calculator links the characteristics of children and their placements to unit costs in order to produce the analyses shown in the reports Each analysis relates to all the placements that fall wholly or partly within the time period you have selected All the cost calculations are actually performed when you request your first report using a particular set of parameters and the values are then stored Hence the first report you request will take longer to produce than subsequent reports 22 4 2 Saving and Printing Reports All the reports open in Excel With the Implementation version these reports are automatically saved in the folder that has been set up by the Data Administrator as part of the installation procedure You can therefore use the data in the reports for further calculations if you wish Sometimes you may want more than one version of a report perhaps for different groups of children When a report is open you cannot open a second copy of the report with the same name However if you use File Save As to save the first copy of the file under a different name you can then open a second copy of the report It is always useful to use File Save As to give your own name to files that you wish to keep because if you re open a report that has been accessed previously and saved automatically the new copy of the report replaces i e overwrites the old The print field i
56. aced in a third placement for 100 days Within the time period he spent 338 days in and 27 days out of local authority care 31 You can drill down further to see the details for individual children by double clicking on the values in the table The Cost Calculator will produce a new worksheet for each placement that you select For child 21294 s second placement this gives Ammen a ee Sn ie CT N f o 1 ID CID Child Surname FirstName PINo DatePLSt DatePL te tatus DateEraSt Placement Ptrcemeatlype PlacementNames ProvidedBy Location 2 92 52721294 Stone Alder 2 10 05 2006 wmv 20 03 2006 Eseme Y Agency In LA Area This child s second placement was in a secure unit Similarly investigating his third placement shows that he was then on remand and placed in a residential unit You can scroll across the columns to find out more about the child He is a boy with emotional and behavioural difficulties who is also a young offender and who was 14 years old at the start of the calculation period You can also see details for individual children either by choosing the Individual Child ID amp Placement Number option from the Reports Menu as described above or by selecting View Individual Child Details from the Social Care Looked After Children Menu This produces the child details in a form which is described in Section 5 2 Filters provided by the pivot controls for Children Who Have Exite
57. acement ypelnpar 0 gancaional Placement Code PA________limport psodesxts Precemerts DatePiSt Sta dee of placement EPISTART Import nodes _ Facemos Dasta frase oF C E E _ Pracements _ SupporPece Placement isin suppor of another Pracemenis DatePEnd End dte of placement DEPEND ____ mporEcodesws Frecenen ProviderCade S03 code fo Provider FaPior______ npart psedesxs _ Pacemenis _ LALccaton In or Out of Local Autry Boundan Ofecation pont rsodesis Validate Cancel E3 In completing the Import Setup form if you do not have data on a variable you should blank ALL white boxes in the row relating to it as shown in the screen shot for Disabilities and EBD Do not try to import a variable which is a column of zeros it is better to say you do not have that data and blank the row 65 Either Or Categories For certain variables you can specify the coding or format of your data in the Supplied columns of the Import Setup form For example your information about whether the child is an offender could be coded Yes No or 1 2 etc and you should enter whichever is appropriate in the corresponding column Disability Rules The cost calculations take account of children s additional needs such as disabilities If your imported data contains a column for disability this is used for these calculations If you have do not have data on disabilities and therefore blank the row for this variabl
58. acements data on the weekly fee or allowance paid for each can be The figure in the column headed Avg Weekly Fees Allow is set at zero for placements with parents and adopters because fees allowances are not paid for these placements 50 imported together with the other placement data If you import weekly fees or allowances but some are not available where there is a blank in the column the Cost Calculator substitutes the average amount for that placement type The Avg Weekly Fees Allow values are not at present calculated from the data you import and the Data Administrator is therefore advised to create a customised cost table and manually customise the values in the last column see Chapter 8 If a placement is designated a support placement implying that there is another placement ongoing at the same time the only cost attributed to the support placement is the fee or allowance paid All the social care costs are included in the cost of the main placement The last type of placement post adoption support is an allowance that may continue to be paid to adopters after the adoption has taken place This similarly incurs only the cost of the allowance The values in the London and Out of London cost tables supplied cannot be altered but Data Administrator users of the Implementation version can create new costs tables and edit the values they contain so that customised cost tables can be created for your lo
59. and press OK Select your Front End Database mdb Look in E ccrcs amp xX gt Tools 7 DataFiles Import output 2 ccFCS_Data mdb 2 CCFCS_Program mdb BA sysCCFCS mdw E vantage_Analysis of Costs by Age Needs and Time Looked After xls E vantage_Analysis of Costs by Needs Group xls E vantage_Summary of Process 1 Costs xls E Vantage_Summary of Process 8 Costs xls or File name v My Network Places Files of type Jal Files B 4 e You will then be prompted for the path and name of your workgroup mdw file Navigate to this and press OK Select the workgroup mdw file B cctes 7 e m X EA Toos D DataFiles ES Colmport History Output 2 ccFcS_Data mdb 2 ccFcS_Program mdb AB sysCCFCS mdw My EAE B vantage_Analysis of Costs by Age Needs and Time Looked After xls E vantage_Analysis of Costs by Needs Group xls A E vantage_Summary of Process 1 Costs xls E vantage_Summary of Process 8 Costs xls Desktop Favorites My Network Places e If you have selected valid files then a short cut will be created in the same folder as your front end database Microsoft Access 4 shortcut has been created CiCCFCS CCFCS_Program nk Which links to the security workgroup File CANCCFCS SysCCFCS mdw e This shortcut can be used now to open up your front end and will include a link to the security file containing all the logon information
60. are locked but you Can inspect them to see the codings used Social Care LAC Fixed Lists Legal Status List Ethnicity Types Build In Placement Type Details Process Details Legal Status List In the Legal Status list the codes used in the SSDA 903 returns are shown and a description of each is given Legal Status Legal Status ayaa P1 p5 Code Description can occur can occur are Order Interim are Order Full eed for Adoption acement Order Granted n remand or committed for trial etained under PACE upervision order with residence olice protection LA accommodation mergency protection order hild assessment order LA accommodation ection 20 single period hort breaks individually recorded hort breaks agreements recorded Js A HHH HHHOOORRAA oO i m oDpDou000g0oanasnioin0n0 wo Cyc ye ele The tick boxes show whether when a child of this legal status starts to be looked after the decision to do this is made by social services incurring the cost for Process 1 P1 decide if child needs to be looked after and find first placement For the youth justice codings the court makes the decision and so Process 5 cost is incurred instead P5 find a subsequent placement Ethnicity Types The Ethnicity Types list contains the codes used for ethnicity types in SSDA 903 returns the description of each code and the appropriate ethnic group Also included are three and four l
61. arious choices about the way the cost calculations are carried out You can also specify whether your computer is running Excel 2007 so your reports open in it To make your choices click on Set Calculation Parameters which opens the window shown below Set Calculation Parameters Start Date End Date Cost Sheet Out of London 2007 8 v Inflation 0 0 Overheads 0 v additional to 22 included in unit costs tables Do not calculate Process 8 Transition to Leaving Care costs for T vase F Children with disabilities Version of Microsoft Office default is Office 2003 F Using Office 2007 R Selecting the Time Period for Calculations To change the default Start Date or End Date select the date or the part of it you wish to change type your choice of date in dd mm yyyy format and press Enter All the reports you generate relate to the calculation time period specified by these dates Since you can select different calculation time periods the Cost Calculator can meet different reporting needs For example you can separately calculate costs for each month of the financial year and then for the year as a whole You can also predict future costs on the assumption that all children looked after at present remain in their current placements If you are using the Demonstration version most of the placements in the example data set occurred in 2006 7 while in version 7 10 the example data have bee
62. asons The start and end dates of YOT support are for young people who are receiving Ongoing support from the youth offending team We have used the statutory requirements set out by the YJB for example xx number of hours per week for a supervision order or yy number of hours per week for a reparation order This information may have to be extracted from the YOT MIS A care plan is updated when a record is made on the MIS of a care plan being changed or updated In the absence of this information we have previously used the statutory timeframes i e care plan updated following a looked after review In the absence of adequate plan update dates a copy of the review dates could be used for these 6 6 Finance Data As with all data systems the more accurate the data in the CCfCS the more accurate the calculations that will be produced Although the CCfCS comes with in built cost sheets customised unit costs of placements using your own staff 60 salaries will allow for more accurate and informative cost calculations see Chapter 8 Since fees or allowances paid for placements form a high proportion of total costs you can improve the accuracy of the cost estimates produced by the CCfCS if you enter data on the actual weekly fee or allowance paid for individual placements and or on the average weekly fee or allowance paid for specific placement types This will allow you to calculate the cost of placements and part placements based on loca
63. cal authority The screen shot of Basic Unit Costs above shows a customised cost table with user defined provider and placement names see Chapter 8 A customised cost table can be created by copying an existing table and then editing the new table This allows you to create a new table that is based either on one of the tables that are supplied or on a table that your authority has previously created Choosing the Conditional Costs tab displays unit costs that are added to the basic costs if the condition specified in the left hand column is met ID ze Description Out of London 2006 7 Basic Unit Costs Conditional Costs Duration Related Costs Age Related Costs Process 1Admit 2CPlan 3MtnP 4Exit 5SMoveP 6Ryview 7 Legal 8 16 are order 0 00 0 00 6 29 0 00 emand child on 0 00 0 00 0 00 0 00 ASC unaccompanied as 0 00 107 61 6 68 0 00 CWD child with disabilities 161 11 59 78 0 00 0 00 BD emotional and behyio 0 00 0 00 0 00 0 00 ental health support 0 00 0 00 0 00 0 00 CD difficult to place in fos 430 46 0 00 0 00 0 00 om o om 573 0 00 0 00 0 00 0 00 0 00 0 00 0 00 0 00 Stetedlesvngese oo om om om 51 The values are generally added independently see Individual Child ID amp Placement Number Report in Section 4 3 The only exception to this occurs for Processes one and five if a child both has disabilities and is dif
64. cational Needs Children aged 16 who did not sit GCSE Children aged 16 with specific number of GCSEs grade AtoG Children aged 16 with specific number of GCSEs grade AtoC Children aged 16 who are not in education or employment 35 Costs by Provider When you select Costs by Provider the Cost Calculator prepares a table which summarises the costs of placements grouped by placement type the provider local authority agency or family and the area whether within the local authority or out of the area Analysis of Costs by Placement Provider and Area From 047012007 to 31 03 2008 Out of London 2007 8 Grand Total Provided Bi Locatior Total Agency Agency Tota Family Family Total Local Authority Local Authority Totz Grand Total T in LA Area Outside LA lin LA Area Outside LA Pin LA Areal Outside LA Adoption 24 921 65 966 90 887 90 887 Foster care 146 871 406 520 553 391 160 526 175 046 335 572 888 963 Independence 14 657 200 724 215 381 19 480 19 480 234 861 Kinship care 124 995 97 884 222 880 222 880 Mother And Baby 244 798 28 979 273 777 26 444 26 444 300 221 Other 25 794 25 794 25 794 Placed with parents 26 864 73 449 100 313 100 313 Post adoption 2 407 2 407 2 407 Res Education Health 247 474 460 166 707 640 124 396 115 108 239 505 947 144 Residential 942 345 239 607 1 181 952 5 848 341 388 347 236 1
65. d Care and Returned are Pivot Control Name Description Choices TotalDaysOutOfCare Number of days between care No choices available episodes Child Individual child identification Select all readmitted children number or individuals by CID number PINo Placement number Select from the placements in the time period Data Select data display No choices available Separate Placements The Separate Placements Report displays the placement costs and details for all children or for a selected group The analysis can show not only the total costs of placements but also the costs of the individual social care processes listed in section 2 4 that contribute to the total placement costs From version 7 10 the costs of fees or allowances can also be obtained Information on the number of days reviews and care plans in each placement is also available 32 To access this information first select Separate Placements from the Reports Menu and then select the appropriate summary table from the dialogue box The Cost Calculator can display all of the results in the table or the ten with the highest values for example the most expensive process costs or total costs the greatest number of placement days Select either All Results or Top 10 Results and then click the OK button to see the table Data to summarise Process 1 Admit Costs Process 2 CPlan Costs All Results Process 3 Mtn P Fees or Allowances Costs
66. d User Permissions User Accounts Access to the application can be gained only by logging on with a user account After you have clicked the shortcut to your database you will be presented with a logon box Here you are prompted for your name and password You will not be able to see the letters digits in your password while you are typing them Name K username Password __ cancel teetectottet Note that passwords are case sensitive There are different levels of security which give you different permissions within the database As part of a first time installation when you first receive the database there will be three login accounts created for you as follows Name Password Purpose Accounts no This account lets you modify and create new Admin password accounts to introduce users to the database Data Admin no This account lets you perform maintenance activities password on the database such as linking the front and back end and changing where the reports are output to Reporter no This account is for data entry and report viewing password only This will not let you perform any database administration tasks Changing Passwords After you have logged in with any of the accounts you can change the password for that user you should make a point of setting passwords for the Data Admin Accounts Admin and Reporter users in order to protect your system C 1 From the Main Menu e Se
67. data from Excel files when you do the XML import there is an opportunity to do this afterwards since the import process creates Excel files like those described in section 7 2 To import a XML file you use the Import Setup form in a somewhat similar way to that described in Section 7 3 The field names however do now need to be those specified for the SSDA 903 return All the data must be in a single file which in the screen shot is named SampleXmidata xml Notice that although SupportPlace is a required variable you cannot import data for it The Cost Calculator assumes at this stage that all your placements are main placements The first screen shot below shows the Import Setup form settings that are needed to import a XML file 73 CCfCs Import Setup File Edit Insert Records Window Help Type a question For help f x Setup Validate Child amp Placement Import Data Group Description A C e C e C e C T e CCS ma pe O C FB FmotonaVBchavouslDWeukes __ i a ig fSaccse PCC Grid ___Jacsesatct Ne aGCetegadedAtoc SCSC EE ma e oS S a ee OO OO ma fos OOS Pecenens e0 eooo CCC PPacenenss Darst Sten dre of poemen OOOO o PPacenents Daet fendre O OOO OOO oooO PPaceneris SupperPlace Placement isin suppotcfancher O PPaceneris _ DatePIEnd End date oi paceme O O o Form View Required Field Name Formats Supplied File Location 1 2 1
68. des can be viewed in the Cost Calculator as the Fixed List of Ethnicity Types described in section 5 4 Legal Only Changes The codes for the variable Reason for new episode placement include L which represents not a new placement but a change in legal status Data that include this code can be imported into the Cost Calculator the model recognises that this is not a change of placement and combines the information for such an episode with that of the previous episode Exclusion of Respite Only Children from Calculations Children with legal status codes V3 and V4 have respite only placements These children can be included in data that are imported but the costs of their respite only placements are not calculated New SSDA 903 Codes Table 2 includes three placement related variables that form part of the SSDA 903 data collection from 2008 9 These are Provider code Placement location code and SDQ score together with some new Placement codes The codes specified in the 2008 9 Guidance Notes are required for all these variables The Cost Calculator calculations distinguish provision of placements by public bodies and those with parents provider codes PRO PR1 PR2 and PR3 from agency provision codes PR4 and PRS The location code shows whether the placement is within or outside the local authority area and the Cost Calculator can use the SDQ score to generate an indicator of emotional or behavioural difficulties see below
69. e Processes and Unit Costs The unit costs in the calculation model used by the Cost Calculator relate to all the activity undertaken by social services personnel to support looked after children as well as the placement costs These activities have been assigned to the eight distinct social work processes detailed below e Process 1 Decide if child needs to be looked after and find first placement e Process 2 Care planning including the care plan personal education plan and health assessment e Process 3 Maintaining the placement including social care support and the fee or allowance paid e Process 4 Leaving care accommodation e Process 5 Finding a subsequent placement e Process 6 Review e Process 7 Legal interventions e Process 8 Transition to leaving care services Process 3 Maintaining the placement comprises the social work costs of maintaining the placement together with the fees or allowances paid The unit costs of the social work component of this process are held in the unit costs tables similarly to those for other processes For fees or allowances however there are two options These can be imported separately for each placement together with the other child and placement data and averages for each type of placement are also available in the unit cost tables The Cost Calculator uses the individual fee or allowance for a placement if it is available and if it is not it substitutes the average for the placement t
70. e Shortcut creator and files are in folders direct from the root of the drive Putting them in the C Program Files folder on Vista machines results in permission conflicts which cause the Shortcut creator to fail Using the short cut creator e Double click on the short cut creator mdb file If your computer does not know what software to use to open this file then you need to install Access first You may also receive an error message if you only have Access 97 installed Microsoft Access A Unrecognized database Format C O1vtl Ext CCFR ShortcutCreator_2k_XP_03 mdb Ho e If you receive a warning asking if you want to block unsafe expressions say No This is simply a security warning asking if you trust this code You can avoid messages like this by lowering Access security settings but this is not recommended Microsoft Office Access A Security Warning Unsafe expressions are not blocked Do you want to block unsafe expressions B 3 e Depending on your computer security settings you may be prompted with a security warning as shown below Security Warning Opening C 401 vtl Ext CCFR ShortcutCreator_2k_XP_O3 mdb This File may not be safe if it contains code that was intended to harm your computer Do you want to open this File or cancel the operation e Click on Open to access the program e You will now be prompted to select the path and name of your front end mdb database file Navigate to this
71. e as in the above screen shot the Cost Calculator then uses the CIN code N2 together with any social work teams that you specify under the Disability Rules to determine whether a child has disabilities The Disability Rules form is the second option on the Social Care LAC Import Export Data menu The names that you enter here for your disability teams must exactly match social care team names in the data you import E LAC Disability Rules Disability Rules When importing data if you have not specified your own Disability column to import then disability will be established if a child has CIN code of N2 or is served by any of the Social Care Teams you list here Social Care Team a Gender Code Mapping In versions of the Cost Calculator prior to 7 5 gender was an either or variable A wider set of gender codes are now in use corresponding to those for the SSDA 903 returns from 2009 together with other commonly used codes as shown in the screen shot in Section 6 2 The Gender Input Mappings form is the third option on the Social Care LAC Import Export Data menu Different codings for the same gender are combined in the analyses presented in reports 66 Review Plan and YOT Dates If you have dates of reviews care plans and YOT support each of these sets of dates should be in a separate file as with the example data You do NOT have to supply these files if you don t have data
72. e first dialogue box shown click the Edit button to verify that you are a Data Administrator and select Import Social Care Setup Settings E frmSetting Form Eel Importing Previous Settings EF Setting Description Import Social Care Setup Settings v Import Settings B 8 You will then be able to browse to select the Front End Database mdb from which you want to import settings and a message will be generated when the import is complete Before importing your data and customisations you must delete the example data supplied see Section 7 4 You can then click Data and Customisations which opens the form shown below Pressing the Edit button allows you to select the items you wish to import and clicking Import Data again allows you to browse this time to select the Back End Database mdb from which you wish to import these items You will be informed when the import is complete E frmData Form Importing Previous Data and Customisations Please make sure you delete the demo data first before importing From the previous version Data Description Import hild Details ender Code Mappings isability Rules ocial Care Placements and Dates ducation Provisions and Dates ocial Care Custom Placement Types and Mappings ducation Custom Provision Types and Mappings ocial Care Custom Cost Tables ducation Custom Cost Tables Vv Vv Vv Vv Vv Vv Vv Vv Vv Import Data B 9 APPENDIX C System Security an
73. e fo be used fos the import of Chid amp Placement data Ucdb Path c ccfcs Specie the path where the Unt fost database flicdh mdb the has been located Logo Liek picture fo browse for replacement mage wti vantage training Itd 0870 740 6606 Image Resize Options Crop v B 7 e Enter the values you require for the text fields as shown above e Note that you can use a unc path instead of a mapped drive if you prefer for all the paths specified within the Cost Calculator e To add your organisation s logo click on the image shown and navigate to a new image on your network e Close the form when complete Installing New Releases The above instructions show you how to install the database ready for the very first use From version 7 5 when a new release is provided it is possible to import into it from a previous version your Import Setup form your data and all your customisations To take advantage of this facility it is essential that when the new version is installed the old one is retained at least until all the settings and data are imported from it A convenient way of separating the different versions is to install them in different folders To carry out the import from the previous version From the Main Menu e Select System Administration e Select Import from Previous Version e Choose both options in turn to Import Settings from Import Setup form and also your Data and Customisations In th
74. eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeneeeaeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeees 80 8 4 Changing Default Mappings for Pre 2009 Placement Codes 82 Chapter 9 Calculation Details 20 0 ccccceceeeee eee eee eter eee eeee teeta eeeeeeeeeeeeeaes 85 9 1 Age Related Allowances jcseccrcteissteseanattectectcessccarceasigeeinaabieateedansaters 85 9 2 Legal Only CHANGSS iene nse a aretere tes taretereetisce es escae ea aes eee 88 9 3 Total Fees and Allowances Paid c cceseceeccceeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeees 89 9 4 Activity Times for Process 3 eeseseeeseeeeeeeseeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeteeeenneess 89 APPENDIX A Costs and Consequences of Different Types of Child Care Provision a research OVEIVICW cceeeeeceeeeeeeeeeeeceneeneneeaaeeeeaeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeees A 1 APPENDIX B Installing the Implementation Version cccceeeeeeeeees B 1 APPENDIX C System Security and User Permissions 22 eeeee C 1 APPENDIX D Installing the Demonstration Version cscceteeeeeeeees D 1 APPENDIX E General Access Tips and Error Messages 2 eeeee E 1 APPENDIX F Frequently Used Abbreviations 2 cccceeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeees F 1 APPENDIX G System Requirements 0 cccccceccceeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeteeeeeeee G 1 Part 1 Using the Cost Calculator for Looked After Children s Services Chapter 1 Introduction 1 1 New Features in Version 7 10 Version 7 10 utilises additional data about children th
75. eir placements and children s outcomes by importing variables that are included in the SSDA 903 data collection from 2009 see Chapter 6 These include the child s SDQ score placement providers and locations together with whether or not the child has had a health assessment and a dental check and is eligible to sit GCSE Updates in this release include the provision of London and Out of London cost sheets for 2008 9 Treatment foster care costs that have been estimated in the research programme are now included in each of the supplied unit cost tables The changes to the cost calculations relate to the provision of a facility to include additional overheads in the cost calculations All these changes are implemented in the reports described in Chapter 4 More details about data definitions are in Chapter 6 while details of the calculations are in Chapter 9 The introduction from version 7 5 of a facility to directly import all data settings and customisations from an earlier version of the Cost Calculator for Children s Services makes upgrading much easier than before see Appendix B A major extension of the Cost Calculator to cost education provision now at the trial stage is also included Various changes have been made to the example data supplied A set of four example data files ImportChild xls ImportEpisodes xls ImportEducation xls and ImportOutcomes xls is now provided in place of the composite ImportMain to replicate the
76. elect specific groups of children Note that in the Separate Placements report the filters Placement Name Actual and Provider Name Actual select those children who were actually in these placements not those who hypothetically would be in them after the placement types are changed in the What if analysis 38 When you View Individual Child Details see Section 5 2 following What if analysis the actual placement details are still shown on the left of the form while the hypothetical placement type and its costs are on the right CFCS Individual Child Details DAR H a File Edit Insert Records Window Help Type a question for help X Child Details Mnp WK g By Child No By Child Name By Student ID o Surname Offender School Year 0 i First Name 7 SEN Statement O NCY Offset lo UPN Date of Birth Disabilities Excluded O SENStatus Gender Compex O Sat GCSE A C A G Ethnic Group Social Care Team Area Office Eas Activity Post 16 Social Care Education From 01 04 2007 Inflation To 31 03 2008 0 Placements Dates Currently showing Placement Number 1 out of 1 placements Placement Type Ag Res Ed H out LA Default Default w Total Costs per Process 903 Code Based on 49 Hospital in LA Provider Flower Garden Process 1 Admit 0 00 Placement Name Default Exit care at end Process 2 CPlan 0 00 Start 12 01 2007 of placemen
77. en are aggregated to form the summary tables described below 4 4 Reports Analysing Costs by Children s Needs Costs by Needs Group The Costs by Needs Group analysis summarises the costs of placements of children in all of the different needs groups during the time period you have selected see Appendix F for a list of abbreviations In addition an analysis of total costs into fees or allowances and social care costs is provided at the foot of this report from version 7 10 Analysis of Costs by Needs Group From 01 04 2007 to 31 03 2008 Out of London 2007 8 Number of ofTotal TotalCost of Total Average Average Costas Weeks Children Children Total Weeks Costper of Overall per Cost Week Average Cost Child 266 431 6 i 251 672 5 i 1 398 530 591 12 i 1 169 62 246 1 519 412 678 9 1 579 328 404 7 1927 124 276 3 2 377 101 180 2 968 51 004 1 975 970 128 21 3 117 124 944 3 g 1 605 67 942 1 1 299 759 918 17 k 3 754 184 432 4 3 527 EBD UASC Offender 124 229 3 i 2 376 Disab EBD UASC Offender 230 438 5 4 407 All Needs Groups 60 100 4 590 514 100 26536 1 730 None Disabilities only 02 EBD only UASC only Offender only Disabilities EBD Disabilities UASC Disabilities Offender EBD UASC EBD Offender UASC Offender Disab EBD UASC Disab EBD Offender Disab UASC Offender sla p InNosenaainwons
78. en user accounts are created the passwords are initially blank see Appendix C Choosing the Social Care Looked After Children Module To access the Social Care Looked After Children module of the Cost Calculator you click the top button in the Main Menu This opens the Social Care Looked After Children Menu which has similar functionality to the top level menu in versions of the Cost Calculator prior to 7 5 Social Care Looked After Children Menu Set Calculation Parameters Reports Placement Changes What If View Individual Child Details i Social Care LAC Data Administration Menu pa Main Menu After that since the Cost Calculator will already contain either data that has been imported into it or the example child and placement data with which it is supplied users are likely to want to specify aspects of how the calculations are performed using Set Calculation Parameters and to view the results available from Reports They may also use Placement Changes What if to investigate the impact of substituting one placement type for another All users can inspect the child and placement data held in the Cost Calculator using View Individual Child Details see Chapter 4 and they can explore how various data items are categorised and coded in the lists available from the Social Care LAC Data Administration menu see Chapter 5 3 3 Setting the Calculation Parameters Each user can make v
79. entre for Child and Family Research Department of Social Sciences Loughborough University Leicestershire LE11 3TU Copyright Notice Copyright for the Cost Calculator has been assigned to Loughborough University Enterprises Limited and as such is protected by copyright laws Intellectual Property rights remain with the Centre for Child and Family Research CCFR at Loughborough University The Cost Calculator and all accompanying documentation are supplied subject to the following conditions a The Implementation Version of the Cost Calculator shall be used by the Licensee only and the Demonstration Version of the Cost Calculator shall be used for review only The Cost Calculator must not be sold loaned hired given or otherwise made available to any third party The Licensee may not i permit other individuals to use the Cost Calculator ii modify translate reverse engineer de compile disassemble or create derivative works based upon the Cost Calculator or documentation iii copy the Cost Calculator or the User Guide The Cost Calculator was developed as part of a research study and therefore CCFR cannot provide a warranty of any kind that it will be free of faults omissions errors or bugs CCFR accept no responsibility for any claims demands proceedings damages costs charges and expenses whatsoever however arising out of or in connection with or as a consequence of the Licensee s use of the Cost Calculator
80. er of data after it is exported from the user s management information system Placement types can be specified so they reflect those of the authority and unit costs can be customised using a Unit Costs database 1 4 Kinds of Users and this Guide This volume of the User Guide describes the Social Care Looked After Children module of the Cost Calculator The material is presented in two parts Part 1 Chapters 1 to 5 comprises information that is relevant to all users about using the Cost Calculator for looked after children s services Chapter 2 outlines the data and methodology used by the model Chapter 3 explains how to get started using the Cost Calculator and set the parameters for its calculations The various reports you can obtain are described in Chapter 4 The data and codings used in the Cost Calculator can be viewed by all users as explained in Chapter 5 Data Admin role The Data Administrator is the person who is designated as being responsible for importing data and updating it Such users are therefore able to edit and customise geeveeeonegy E many of the data tables Clicking on the Edit button oo verifies whether the user is a Data Administrator and if so it unlocks the table allowing it to be edited Material in Part 1 that particularly relates to Data Administrators is enclosed in a box while the detailed information in Part 2 of this volume Chapters 6 to 9 is particularly intended for Data Administrator u
81. etter ethnicity codes used with education data All these ethnicity codes are accepted from version 7 5 of the Cost Calculator Ethnicity Types Ethnicity Types WK 2 A B Code Description Group Traveller of Irish Heritage AIN J indian k Built In Placement Type Details The Built In Placement Type Details list indicates by the check boxes the aspects of the different placement categories that are taken into account in calculating costs E Looked After Placements Details Built In Built In Placement Type Details WA 41 At g Description Education Health Support Residential Adoption Foster 4 Foster Care in LA A Foster Care out LA gency Foster Care out LA Kinship Care in LA Kinship Care out LA doption in LA Adoption out LA Parents in LA arents out LA A Residential in LA LA Residential out LA LA Residential Ed in LA LA Residential Ed out LA LA Residential H in LA Record Id 4 1 JPI of 54 o o o o o g ooa ooa ooa KK Oo oO OWOVO O O O OWO O O O O O O 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 58 o O OVO OO O FO O 0 0 o o K KI OOO KI o KI m o o I m o m o o I o o o o micaia Lm K ooon KRE K 45 Support placements are either in addition to another placement or comprise continuing support after the child has been adopted costs for respite only children are not available at p
82. f the database Each of the types of error which could be encountered are described here together with the actions that should be taken E 1 Planned Errors Planned errors often occur when the user is being deliberately prevented from taking some action They provide information regarding the problem and allow the user to read and acknowledge the issue by clicking on an OK button Planned errors appear as a dialogue box There was an error reading from the switchboard table Trapped Errors Trapped errors usually represent circumstances which are not planned as part of the operation and may include for example a lack of memory or system resources or a fault caused by a missing object within the database By their nature they are not predicted and therefore there is no general course of action to resolve them Microsoft Visual Basic i Run time error 11 Division by zero Users encountering such messages should write down the message carefully before contacting their local administrator Where a recurring fault has been detected the Administrator may be already aware of what specific action to take if not they should in turn report the fault Untrapped Errors Untrapped errors represent circumstances which have not been considered by the developers of the system at all They are not titled CCfCS Cost Calculator but instead are directly reported by Microsoft Access E 2 Microsoft Access Run time error 2501
83. ficult to place when the larger of these two conditional costs is added Duration Related Costs are added over the time period for which the placement duration is such that the cost is incurred For example additional costs are incurred during the first 91 days of a placement Age related allowances are added to the carer payments for in house foster care but not for treatment foster care provided by the local authority and also for adoption placements and for kinship care They are not added in any other types of placement including all agency placements The age bands defined in the Cost Calculator from version 7 5 are 0 4 5 10 11 12 13 14 15 15 and 16 upwards 52 Part 2 Details of Data Administrator Procedures and Methodology Chapter 6 Data Definitions and Codes 6 1 Data for the Cost Calculator The child and placement data needed for the Cost Calculator is set out in Table 1 in section 2 2 The same variables with slightly abbreviated descriptions are listed below in Table 2 which shows the different coding categories into which the variables fall These are variables for which the coding must be the same as that submitted for the SSDA 903 national returns variables with two Either Or categories where the user may choose the coding used dates numeric and text variables All these different types of coding are further discussed below Some information can be picked up by the Cost Calculator in alterna
84. h assessment Hewi2009 8 Is child an offender Hew2009 UASC SDQ score Emotional or behavioural difficulties SOSIeodeMeWwe009 OTHER DATA Is the placement in support of an existing placement THAT SHOULD Disabilities BE INCLUDED Mental health support Does child have SEN Statement J Is child excluded from school Date when child first became LAC looked after child J Surname First name Social work team J Placement name B Provider name J Fees or allowances weekly Dates care plan updated Date Youth Offending Team support started Date Youth Offending Team support finished Date of transfer to leaving care team Shading Green mandatory variable Pink finance data Symbols separately for each placement S0sleede SSDA 903 coding is required variable does not impact on costs it is used for analysis only 14 2 3 Example Data The Cost Calculator is supplied pre loaded with example child and placement data and also with information about the unit costs of the social care processes associated with the placements The example data represents an illustrative dataset relating to placements rather than being representative of the overall pattern of placement data that is likely to be found in a local authority The dataset contains information for
85. higher for those children who displayed combinations of two or more characteristics It was also evident that a very small number of children with exceptionally high needs could skew the costs of the looked after population in an authority The cost calculator includes sixteen possible needs A 2 groups listed below to allow for a greater number of different combinations of factors than was found in the original study Needs Groups used in the Cost Calculator 00 None 01 Disabilities only 02 EBD only 03 UASC only 04 Offender only 05 Disabilities EBD 06 Disabilities UASC 07 Disabilities Offender 08 EBD UASC 09 EBD Offender 10 UASC Offender 11 Disab EBD UASC 12 Disab EBD Offender 13 Disab UASC Offender 14 EBD UASC Offender 15 Disab EBD UASC Offender The study also identified substantial variation between the costs of different placement types The standard unit cost for maintaining a child for a week in residential care was eight times that of the cost of foster care 9 5 times that of a kinship placement and 12 5 times that of a placement with own parents Furthermore the findings indicated an inverse relationship between the costs of provision and the children s opportunities for improving their life chances Children who did not display any evidence of additional support needs cost the least to look after and were most likely to remain in stable placements and complete their statutory schooling On
86. ho Have Exited Care and Returned eonia 31 32 Costs by Age and Need 28 29 30 Costs by Needs Group 006 28 Costs by Placements 006 36 Costs by Provide l ccceeeees 36 Costs by Provide l cccceeeees 36 Costs by Provider and Placement Individual Child ID amp Placement Number 23 31 32 34 42 52 85 print PIGVIOW FtresecscSvierececua 23 SAVING iaaieo naiiai aa iaie 23 Separate Placements 32 33 35 37 38 47 77 89 FOSPILO ONY 23 Nate ees tentva tanta 46 56 OVIOW 2c Silas aie eines 67 Cate aoran aaraa a eR 67 SampleXmidata xml 73 75 B 2 SDO SCO tinihes ciate Ss 56 59 security file cee B 1 B 2 B 3 security Warnings eee 17 C 4 Separate Placements 32 33 35 37 38 47 77 89 services that each child receives 12 setting trusted sites ce C 4 ShortcutCreator_03 mdb B 2 B 3 show all DOX c ccceceeeeeeeeeesteeeees 29 social care module 9 11 18 social care processes 46 A 1 PFOCESS tonearten 16 27 PIOCESS Ziina 16 27 PLOCESS 8 cceeeeeceeeeeeeeeeneeeees 16 27 PrOCESS 4 ccccccceceeeeeeeeeeseteeeeeees 16 PROCESS Sa ra a ccittahacianiwadess 16 27 Pr ceSS Oen at costs a ivae bes 16 Process 7 noana 16 27 PLOCESS 8 1 ccccccceececeeeesseeeeeeees 16 21 social work tCAM cccceeeeeeeeeeee 13 58 SSDA 903 return 13 48 55
87. ial work teams as caring for children with disabilities and any children in these teams are then classified as having disabilities The Disability Rules facility that is used to do this is described in Section 7 3 An Either Or variable showing whether each child has Emotional or behavioural difficulties can be imported Alternatively you can import each child s SDQ score and the Cost Calculator then classifies children whose score is 17 or more as having emotional or behavioural difficulties If you import data for a child for both these variables it is the emotional or behavioural difficulties variable that is used The different possibilities for handling Fees or Allowances are discussed in section 6 6 6 5 Classification Guidelines The research highlighted that local authorities do not always have clear criteria or definitions for identifying children with disabilities or emotional or behavioural difficulties The following criteria for children with disabilities have been used in the Cost Calculator disability has been recorded as category of need code for the SSDA 903 return or the child was allocated to the disability team or the child was on the register of disabilities Prior to the use of the SDQ score the following criteria for emotional or behavioural difficulties EBD have been used in the Cost Calculator Permanent exclusion from school or Statement of special educational needs in response to emotional or behavi
88. ide and the placements are of the same type the Cost Calculator is not able to distinguish them and when the information for the second one is imported it overwrites the first In this instance the fee or allowance for the support placement needs to be added to that for the main placement Dates The fourth column of Table 2 indicates variables for which a date is the required input These can be formatted in any of the Excel date formats 57 Numeric variables A small number of variables have to be a number namely weekly fees or allowances and the numbers of GCSEs in the specified grades The child identifier area office code and social work team identifier may be numeric but alpha numeric child identifiers are also acceptable and the area office and social work team may also be text This information is shown in the fifth and sixth columns of Table 2 Text variables The fields where text may be input are indicated in column six of Table 2 The Main activity on the 19 birthday may be the SSDA 903 code or you can use text codes of your choice The names of the child the social work team the placement and the provider are all expected to be text 6 4 Alternative Information Sources The last column of Table 2 titled Alternatives shows variables either where alternative coding may be used or where the Cost Calculator may use other data to obtain the information Gender and Ethnic origin allow additional codes to those required
89. ies Unaccompanied asylum seeking children FC Foster care LA Local authority Place Find the child s first placement YOT Youth offending team Res Residential placement Ag Agency placement Young offenders institution Management information system Child protection register Looked after child Pupil referral unit Ceased being looked after Education Health Social Care Processes 1 Admit Decide to look after and find first placement 2 CPlan Care planning 3 Mtn P Maintaining the placement 4 Exit Leaving care accommodation 5 MoveP Finding a subsequent placement 6 Rview Review 7 Legal Legal interventions 8 16 Transition to leaving care services F 1 APPENDIX G System Requirements The CCfCS is a Microsoft Access 2003 application that contains Visual Basic for Applications VBA code It produces its reports in Microsoft Excel 2003 From version 7 5 Microsoft Office 2007 can be used but you need to contact the development team for further information on this To import the data the Excel files must be saved as Excel 2003 files the reports can be opened in Excel 2007 by selecting this option in Set Calculation Parameters see Section 3 3 Users with administrative privileges need personal computers PCs running Microsoft Windows 2000 or XP with both Access and Excel 2003 7 installed Users who have Reporter stat
90. ild Details from the Social Care Looked After Children Menu 34 Separate Placements available selection using the pivot controls Pivot Control Name Gender Ethnicity Group Time Looked After Age at start of Calcn period EBD Disabilities Offender UASC Area Office Social Care Team Placement Type Placement Name Actual Provider Type Provider Name Actual Local Authority Area Support Placement Three plus Placements in Yr Excluded from School SEN Statement Sat GCSE GCSEs AtoG GCSEs AtoC Activity Post 16 Description and Selection Function Gender Ethnicity group Children who have been looked after for a specified number of years at the start of the calculation period Children who were the specific age at the start of the calculation period Children with without emotional and behavioural difficulties Children with without disabilities Children who are not offenders Children who are not unaccompanied asylum seekers Area office from list of area names Social care team from a list Placement type from a list of different types Placement name from a list Provided by local authority agency or family Provider name from a list Placements in or out of LA area Main or support placements Children who had at least 2 other placements in the year preceding the start of a placement Children not excluded from school Children with without statement of Special Edu
91. ill down information is contribute to those costs 30 EJE D E ET E l jin ea L ID CID Child Surname FirstName PINo DatePLSt DatePLEnd LegalStatus DateEraSt Placement PlacementType 2 23 81295 Bronze Maple 1 25 08 1994 25 08 1994 10 Placed with parents Drilling down enables you to see the detailed calculations but the labelling is not designed for end users Once you have identified the children in your report you may find the calculations are clearer in the Individual Child ID amp Placement Number reports A particular use for drill down information is described in Chapter 9 4 6 Analyses by Placement Related Features Children Who Have Exited Care and Returned The report Children Who Have Exited Care and Returned gives the number of days that children who have experienced readmissions have spent in and out of care within the specified time period The table shows the number of days in each placement and the number of days out of care before readmission shown before the next placement This is set to zero for the first placement These figures refer to the placement number The first three placements for child 21294 are described below Total Out Of CareTotal In Care The summary table above shows child 21294 spent 39 days in the first placement within the calculation period He then moved to another placement for 27 days ceased to be looked after for a further 27 days was readmitted and pl
92. ing for each of the built in codes The screen shot below shows the SSDA 903 code S1 mapped to several different descriptions of residential school The Cost Calculator picks up the customised placement types with these descriptions and creates rows for them in your customised costs tables Mapped Placement Codes fox a z A Mapped Placement Codes HE Code Description Mapped To pan lt Residential school LA Residential Ed in LA v pa lt A Agency Residential school in LA Ag Residential Ed in LA v A lt Agency res school out LA Ag Residential Ed out LA lt lt LA res school with health in LA Custom All LA residential schools inside LA boundary Custom All Agency residential schools inside LA boundary Ag Res Ed H in LA LA Residential Ed in LA 4g Residential Ed in LA lt Custom All LA residential schools outside LA boundary LA Residential Ed out LA Custom All Agency residential schools outside LA boundary Ag Residential Ed out LA lt Custom LA residential school providing medical nursing care inside LA bound LA Res Ed H in LA lt Sih Record a9 Hi Custom LA residential school providing medical nursing care outside LA boul Custom Agency residential school providing medical nursing care inside LA H Custom Agency residential school providing medical nursing care outside L 1 PONP of 85
93. is case we need to tell our computer to trust files from the location of S 2 Load up Windows Explorer this can be done via My Documents or My Computer C 4 VTL21_C C DER Fie Edit View Favorites Tools Help 3 Q CB P seach Py roles E Address amp C Name a System Tasks gt SVAULTS AVG Hide the contents of owt this drive Ga 02Priv D Add or remove Ga 03Webs programs a O5Disks Search for files or 05Disks on VTL 20 Dell Tag DC folders 16b6 15aede63ced54ad4d2c3 Adlib Express r P Annliratian Nata File and Folder Tasks i 52 objects Disk free space 86 5 GB 3 At the bottom right of your Window you will see an icon showing which domain you are currently in In the above example we are on the C drive so the domain is My Computer My Computer If you are looking at a location on a network a connected PC then the domain will appear as Internet internet Double clicking on this section will take you to the security options for your domain This will load the following screen C 5 Internet Security Properties 4 We need to add S to the list of trusted sites Click on the green tick and then on the Sites button to reveal this screen C 6 Trusted sites You can add and remove websites from this zone All websites in this zone will use the zone s security settings Add this website to the zone C Require server ve
94. isted in Section 2 4 during the selected placement The calculation period to which the report relates is determined by the computer It ascertains when the user specified calculation period overlaps the interval between the start and end dates of the placement The following example shows the detailed information for the second placement for child 16134 using the Out of London 2006 7 cost sheet with zero inflation The first part of the summary report shows the time period to which the calculation relates This placement falls wholly within the time period chosen for the calculations and so the placement start and end dates of 17 04 2006 to 25 09 2006 are shown This section also contains detailed information about the child e g gender ethnic group age at the start of the placement and other important details Child 16134 has emotional and behavioural difficulties and is an offender However she does not have disabilities nor is she an unaccompanied asylum seeking child Her needs group is therefore summarised as EBD Offender The various needs groups are numbered for convenience as explained below in the description of the Costs by Needs Groups report Cost Calculation for Child ID 16134 Placement 2 calculation period 1704 2007 to 25 09 2007 Outside LA Placement is Secure Local Authority Child is has Almond Ranunculus Female Age at start of Years White SDQ 17 selected
95. l 816 Fees Allow Ag Res Ed H in L Default Default 772 82 119 89 22 92 263 38 462 55 407 81 2765 90 1164 27 2194 07 l g Res Ed H out LA Default Default 964 13 119 89 27 04 263 38 653 87 815 61 2765 90 1164 27 2194 07 Ag Res Ed H out L Dovery Welford School 964 13 119 89 27 04 263 38 653 87 815 61 2765 90 1164 27 2500 00 4g Res Ed H out LA Trees Ltd Default 964 13 119 89 27 04 263 38 653 87 815 61 2765 90 1164 27 2000 00 Ag Res Ed H out LA Trees Ltd The Firs 964 13 119 89 27 04 263 38 653 87 815 61 2765 90 1164 27 2200 00 4g Res Ed H out LA Trees Ltd The Pines 964 13 119 89 27 04 263 38 653 87 815 61 2765 90 1164 27 2700 00 ARes Ed HinlA Dea faut 7284 11989 2292 2338 46265 407 81 276590 1164 27 3013 22 This local authority 772 82 119 89 22 92 263 38 462 55 407 81 2765 90 1164 27 3013 22 964 13 119 89 27 04 263 38 653 87 815 61 2765 90 1164 27 3013 22 Agency Residential in LA Default Default 772 82 119 89 22 92 263 38 462 55 407 81 2765 90 1164 27 2104 70 Agency Residential out LA Default Default 964 13 119 89 27 04 263 38 653 87 815 61 2765 90 1164 27 2104 70 Agency Residential out LA Hometrust Ltd Bluebird House 964 13 119 89 27 04 263 38 653 87 815 61 2765 90 1164 27 3300 00 LA Residential in LA Default Default x 119 89 22 92 263 38 46255 407 81 2765 90 1164 27 2923 86 LA Residential
96. l authority specific finance data In accordance with the general principle that specific information is preferred the Cost Calculator uses the actual weekly fee or allowance if it is available and otherwise it uses the average for that particular type of placement as the default value Hence if there are some placements for which you do not have the individual weekly fee or allowance leave blanks in these rows and the Cost Calculator will substitute the default value You can also manually edit the individual fee or allowance for any selected placement using the View Individual Child Details form When doing What if analysis the cost of moving children into a particular type of placement is calculated using the average weekly fee or allowance for that placement type 61 Chapter 7 Importing and Exporting Data Database Maintenance 7 1 Data Import Overview The Cost Calculator import mechanism is designed to import variables from one or more Excel files where the names of the variables or field names are in the top row of the spreadsheet You specify the variables you wish to import and the names of the files that contain them in an Import Setup form Given the flexibility of this form it may be possible to import data from existing reports produced by your management information system MIS In particular you can import the child and placement data files that are submitted for the SSDA 903 return Since there is an op
97. lacements Placement Type LA Foster Care out LA Default Default w Total Costs per Process 903 Code F5 Provider Local Authority x Process 1 Admit 0 00 Placement Name Mary Fisher Exit care at end Process 2 CPlan 251 53 Start 17 03 2007 of placement Process 3MtnP 25 707 41 End 30 04 2008 Mental Health Process 4 Exit 0 00 FeesjAllow 149 76 Beran yer era oe a Process 6Rview 1 711 15 Area Office South Support Place Process 7 Legal 188 89 Needs Team Long Term LAC1 Remand Process 8 16 0 00 Legal Status C2 w Care Order Full Grand Total 27 858 98 Care Order Date 09702 2007 lt Form View 88 9 3 Total Fees and Allowances Paid Local authorities who have implemented the Cost Calculator would like to compare the totals it gives with the data they submit in their PSSEX 1 expenditure return Since these two sets of analyses categorise items differently a good starting point is to compare the total fees and allowances paid in the calculation period from the Cost Calculator with the Looked After Children section of the PSSEX 1 return From version 7 10 the Separate Placements report of the Cost Calculator offers you the total of all Process 3 costs and also the separate figures for fees or allowances and for social care costs incurred in supporting the placement You can also see total costs split into fees and allowances and all social work costs at the foot of the Cost
98. lect Personal Administration e Select Change My Password E Change My Password User Data Admin OldPassword id Confirm Password Change Password Close e Now type in your old password which will initially be blank and then type your new password twice this is to prevent typing mistakes Passwords are case sensitive e Click on Close to complete the action and return to the menu Creating New Users and Assigning Permissions All users of the database belong to one of two groups User or Data Administrator e Users can access all the reporting options e Data Administrators can manage the database and perform various tasks such as setting up cost tables and importing Child data To add new users you must be logged in as Accounts Admin this user has specific privileges to allow management of users only e f necessary close the application and re start it logging on as Accounts Admin e From the Social Care Looked After Children Menu select System Administration e Now choose the option Manage Users amp Permissions C 2 E Security Manage Users and Permissions Pick User Accounts Admin v Clear Password Permissions icy Delete User User Data Administrator Create New User e Click on the Create New User button e Type in the user name required and click on OK New User New user name 4 12 characters e Now use the Permissions options to assign the new user either as a U
99. n updated and most of the placements occurred in 2007 8 Selecting the Unit Costs Next select the set of unit costs that you want to use Since different unit costs may be applicable in different authorities a menu box offers a choice of unit cost sheets for use in the calculations Click on the arrow to the right of the box to see a drop down list of alternative sets of unit costs and then click on the one you wish to use Six sets of unit costs are supplied with version 7 10 The London cost tables contain unit costs estimated for two inner London authorities while the Out of London cost tables use unit cost values that were estimated from four authorities two shire counties and two unitary authorities The data for the cost estimates were obtained from the local authorities that participated in the Costs and Consequences study The original data have been inflated to relate to the years stated The 2006 7 figures have been inflated by 4 9 for 2007 8 and these values have been inflated by 2 5 to provide unit costs for 2008 9 Any customised cost tables that your authority has created are also listed as possible choices The NEW COST TABLE supplied in the Demonstration version is an example of such a sheet Ward H Holmes L and Soper J 2008 Costs and Consequences of Placing Children in Care London Jessica Kingsley Publishers 20 Setting the Inflation Rate You may set the inflation rate by clicking on the ar
100. n costs but are used for analysis purposes These include a limited number of outcomes variables such as school exclusions and GCSE results that are included in the Cost Calculator to provide some analysis of costs with respect to outcomes 2 2 Data for the Cost Calculator Implementation Version The Cost Calculator uses a number of specific variables associated with children and their placements in order to perform its functions It has been designed to import data from local authorities Management Information Systems MIS so most if not all of the data required should already be available on the MIS These variables are listed in Table 1 below Those shown with the symbol 0gle0de are required in the coding specified for the SSDA 903 return variables marked MeWi2009 were included in the return for the first time that year and are used in the Cost calculator from version 7 8 or 7 10 See Chapter 6 for further details There is no restriction on the number of placements per child that the Cost Calculator can handle only that they should be separately recorded The Cost Calculator also handles post adoption support and support placements that are provided in addition to the main placement for example foster care during school holidays for a child who is placed in a residential school Placement and Provider Names Version 6 5 and above has the facility to import placement names and providers enabling users to obtain reports on the co
101. nal extra cost are added giving a daily total of 722 70 throughout the 161 days of the placement Multiplying these together gives the subtotal cost of 116 355 39 3 YOT support at 6 68 per day is provided for 90 days generating a subtotal of 601 20 4 The only duration related cost incurred at the rate of 4 31 per day is for additional social work visits during the first 91 days of the placement This gives a subtotal cost of 392 21 5 The costs shown for Process 7 are attributable to care proceedings The model allocates these costs over the time from when the care order is obtained up till the child s eighteenth birthday The fractional value 0 042 in this case 6 shown in the No of Times Days Incurred column for this process is the proportion of that time interval that occurs during the placement being costed Multiplying it by the cost of the care proceedings gives the part of that cost attributable to the current placement 4 There are plans to refine this calculation in future versions of the Cost Calculator to allow when applicable the cost of the care order to be calculated up to the date when it is rescinded 27 The model adds the sub totals for the elements of each process and displays them in the Process Cost column These values are summed to give the total cost for the selected placement or the part of it that occurs within the chosen calculation period The costs of placements for individual childr
102. nalysis with respect to a variable that is not included as one of the filters you could substitute your variable for another and re label the report once it is produced Advantages of Customisation Customising unit costs using data specific to your local authority allows you to obtain more accurate cost estimates Although the best results will be achieved by customising unit costs for all placement types it is possible to customise costs for just a selection of placement types and use the standard costs for the remaining placements A stepped approach can be taken whereby costs for a number of placement types are customised at a time The What if analysis described in Section 4 7 gives you the opportunity to explore the effects of changing placement types on costs For example it will allow you to compare total costs if children in agency placements were placed in local authority foster care provision The accuracy of your estimates depends on the accuracy of your unit costs and especially your average fees and allowances We therefore suggest that you only explore the effects of moving children into placements for which these have been customised The use of customised placement types allows you to define separate unit costs including average fee allowance costs for different subsets of placements within a particular placement type The separate sub sets are distinguished by their provider names and or placement names Customisation of
103. nd are used in all calculations until you select different calculation parameters 21 Chapter 4 Reports and What if analysis 4 1 Key Features of the Analyses This chapter describes the various analyses and reports that the Cost Calculator can produce They are accessed using the second and third options on the Social Care Looked After Children Menu shown in the Chapter 3 The different calculations and results that are available from the Reports Menu below are described sequentially They allow you to view the detailed cost calculations for a particular placement to examine summary tables of costs for all the placements in the selected time period arranged either by the children s needs groups or by the placement types and to view the pattern of costs of each placement over time for every child Following this the What if function is explained It provides a means of investigating the impact of substituting one placement type for another and it can be used in conjunction with any of the reports cS for children s services cost calculator Reports Menu ii Individual Child ID amp Placement Number Costs by Needs Group Costs by Age and Need Children Who Have Exited Care and Returned Separate Placements Costs by Provider Casts by Placements Cost by Provider and Placement Names E Loughborough University wvwti vantage training Itd 0870 740 6606 Social Care Looked After Children Menu Dat
104. nd customised by Data Administrators All users however can inspect these lists and so can see any customised unit costs and codes that have been created in their local authority This section sets out the concepts of what can be customised detailed instructions to enable Data Administrators to customise placement types are provided in Chapter 8 Social Care LAC Editable Lists m Placement Types Mapped Placement Codes Cast Table List Cast Table Details 46 Placement Types The first field in the Placement Types list has descriptions of all the types of placement that are built in to the model The entries in the Provider and Placement Name fields are initially all shown as Default signifying that the values in the corresponding built in Default rows of the unit cost table you select will be used in the cost calculations An extra row is generated in this table when the Data Administrator creates a customised placement type for which either the Provider or Placement name or both must be specified Costs for this provider or placement can then be defined which are different from those of other placements of the same type As an example of how you might use customised placement types suppose that your authority purchases most of its out of authority residential placements from a particular provider Cirrus Care and that special rates for these placements have been negotiated In addition your authority purchases various other o
105. ocess Ho Process 1 Decide to Look After amp Place1 of which Basic Conditional extra 2 Care Planning 7 of which Basic Conditional extra plus if YOT 3 Maintain Placement daily ig Social work services Fees amp Allowances per Day Conditional extra plus if YOT 11 12 Cost 13 14 Cost 15 15 Cost 16 upwards Cost plus during first 91 days less if over 1 year in LA less if over 1 year out LA less if over 1 year LAFCKin 4 Exit Care Return Home of which Basic Conditional extra 5 Find Later Placement of which Basic Conditional extra r 6 Review of which Basic Conditional extra plus if age group 16 or over plus if first for leaving care plus if YOT 7 Legal of which Basic Conditional extra 8 Transition to Leaving Care of which Basic Conditional extra Report printed on 19 06 2007 Data imported on 01 06 2007 548 9 Unit Cost 964 13 964 13 119 89 119 89 23 92 722 70 27 04 4 31 0 80 2 96 12 64 263 38 263 38 653 87 653 87 815 61 815 61 10 18 125 53 125 56 2 765 90 2 765 90 1 164 27 1 164 27 26 16134 17 04 2006 Outside LA Female 08411998 Ho of Times Days Incurred 0 Placement to Age at start of selected placement calculation period Subtotal Cost 119 89 23 92 2 25 09 2006 Years 14 14 Process Cost 143 81 a 117 348 80
106. ong as you provide the child identifiers and placement start dates but you will need to check that no child starts two placements on the same date since this would lead to confusion about the placement to which the fee relates Validate at the You can validate your import data by clicking on the Validate button bottom of the Import Setup form This produces a report in the database regarding the validation of your data The same report is seen when you go through the first validation in the option Import data Data Updates Once you have customised the Import Setup form to suit your data you can import new data at any time The import mechanism matches children in the new data with 67 those already in the system it updates rather than replaces what you already have You are therefore able to add any additional data as it becomes available When a new data import is carried out additional values are appended to variables in the Placement Plan Review and YOT groups shown in the first column of the Import Setup form Previous values of these variables are retained or updated if appropriate For example a placement that was previously on going may have ended and therefore while the End date of placement was previously blank the value is updated to show the end date Successive imports of data therefore build up a history of placements care plan updates reviews and YOT support For variables in the Child group ho
107. only be actioned be a Data Administrator removes all Child Placement and associated Dates from the application The option can only be carried out with the pre set password secret and cannot be undone This in built password 68 provides an additional safeguard for Data Administrators ensuring they pause before confirming that they wish to delete all the data E Delete Data WARNING This option removes all Child Placement and associated Dates from the application This action CANNOT be undone Enter password OK Cancel If you do decide to delete all the data you can chose to reinstate demo data to carry out testing before you import your own data You must delete the example data again before importing your own data Import Data This option allows you to validate and import your data If a problem is encountered you will be informed which files or fields caused it and you may have to make alterations to your Import Setup form and or to your data There are three stages to the validation and import process Stage 1 is to validate the structure of your data Clicking the first button on the Import Data form shown checks that e The import path which was specified on the Organisational Settings form as part of the installation process see Appendix B contains the files named in the File Location column of the Import Setup form e Allthe Field Names specified on the Import Setup form are contained in
108. ority Note that if your authority does not pay age related allowances you should enter zeros in the table Using Customised Unit Cost Tables Each customised unit cost table that you create is automatically added to the list of tables which can be viewed from the Social Care LAC Data Administration Menu by choosing Editable Lists and Cost Table List The screen shot shown under this sub heading in Section 5 5 lists two built in cost tables with codes 1 and 2 and examples of customised cost tables which are numbered starting from 101 To carry out calculations using a customised unit cost sheet return to the Social Care Looked After Children Menu choose Set Calculation Parameters select the desired cost sheet and click OK 79 Costing Methodology Once you have created a customised unit cost table the tricky part is to estimate all the different values it contains It may be useful to know about the methodology used in the research study on which the Cost Calculator is based For the standard unit costs for in house residential care we have used the PAF indicator B9 Initially we tried to use the templates designed for the CiN Census and set out in Unit Costs Not Exactly Child s Play by Jeni Beecham These include salary and service provision costs together with administrative overheads they apportion the costs per child by dividing by the average occupancy rate A step by step guide on how to prepare
109. ost social care placements and education provisions facilitates comparisons between the relative value of alternative care packages It makes it easier to estimate the potential benefits of introducing different types of children s services The Cost Calculator is a tool that has been produced to enable local authorities to cost placements and education provisions together with all the associated activity that takes place in supporting looked after children and those with special educational needs Costs are calculated separately for each placement and education provision using a bottom up approach They can be aggregated to produce annual costs costs for individual children and costs for different groups of children according to needs gender age and type of placement or education provision Social care costs can also be analysed by the name of the placement or its provider and by outcome The model described in Ward Holmes and Soper 2008 was developed as part of a research project that aimed to explore the relationship between costs and outcomes for looked after children see Appendix A At present the social care and education modules of the Cost Calculator operate separately In future it is planned to match the two sets of data using either Unique Pupil Numbers or another approach so that joint reports covering the costs of both social care and education for looked after children can be produced Three Functions of the Cost Calculato
110. ost table in the Cost Table Description box shown Cost Table Description Please enter a description for the new cost table Cancel NEW COST TABLE After clicking the Edit button table This implies that for any of the placement types you can alter the costs of the you can change any of the cost values in your new eight social care processes and also the average weekly fee or allowance paid 78 Average weekly fees or allowances It is particularly important to edit the values in the column at the right titled Avg Weekly Fees Allow Fees and allowances are the single most important element of total costs and these average figures are used both in What if analysis and for any individual placements for which you do not import the actual fee or allowance paid The values you enter should be the average weekly cost for each child currently placed in each placement type You may of course decide that certain placement types all have similar costs and treat them as a group entering the overall group average for each of them Age Related Costs Choosing the Age Related Costs tab shows the average weekly allowances for different age bands relating to in house foster care but not treatment foster care also kinship care and adoptive placements These averages should include any additional Christmas birthday and holiday payments You can edit the amounts in the table to reflect those paid in your auth
111. osts By Provider and Placement Names From 01 04 2006 to 31 03 2007 NEW COST TABLE Gender Al Ethnicity Group Al Time Looked After _ Al Age at start of Cale g Al EBD Disabilities Area Office Socal Care Team Placement Type Provider Type Local Authority Areat A Support Placement Al Three plus Placemen Al Excluded from Schoq All SEN Statement Al Click on one or more arrows to the left and select the categories to be shown in the table Bd i Pind Bad ad Bad ad Ba Sat GCSE Al GCSEs Ato G Al GCSEs Ato C Al CL TT TTT Activity Post 16 All Total Costs Provider PlacementNames Total Default Default 1 642 068 Adele New 8 131 Dovery Welford school 124 463 Flower Garden Default 253 749 The Cherry Blossom 123 194 The Lily Pad 136 952 The Maple Lodge 12 457 The Tulip Field 1 604 4 7 Placement Changes What if From the top level Social Care Looked After Children Menu the What if function gives you the opportunity to explore the effects of changing placement types on costs For example this mechanism would allow the user to compare total costs if all children in agency foster care placements were placed in local authority foster care provision or children placed in specific placement types out of the authority were placed within the authority The reports that the model produces are based on the current set of data wi
112. oural difficulties or attendance at a special school for BESD or more than one placement breakdown as a result of the child s behaviour or child is in receipt of mental health support or has refused mental health support or is self harming is involved in prostitution or has an eating disorder 59 Criteria for Classification into Categories Children are categorised as having a particular need or service only if there is recorded evidence of this Examples of the type of evidence needed for children to be classified as having EBD are e self harm that resulted in the child being hospitalised or visiting A and E or being referred to CAMHS e evidence of an eating disorder that resulted in them being referred for a service e a formal caution for prostitution concerns about prostitution or promiscuous behaviour are not sufficient e evidence that the child is receiving ongoing and active support from CAMHS e evidence of an abnormal score on a formal psychological assessment Similarly children are classified as having mental health support only if there is evidence of ongoing and active support from CAMHS They are classified as offenders only if they have been convicted reprimanded or subject to a final warning The statement of special educational needs in response to emotional or behavioural difficulties is for children who have EBD as the primary reason for their statement and those that have EBD for both primary and secondary re
113. path instead of a mapped drive if you prefer for all the paths specified within the Cost Calculator If the link is successful then you will be informed as such If the attempt fails the most likely reason is that you do not have a database called CCfCS_Data mdb located in the specified path However in attempting to create the link the front end CCfCS_Program mdb file has been changed and so you cannot now link that copy of it to the data tables You must therefore unzip a new copy of CCfCS_Program mdb carefully check the file path for CCfCS_Data mdb and proceed to link the two components Organisational Settings As part of the installation you will use this option to set key information specific to your organisation before the system is made available for use namely the organisation name the path where reports are saved to the path where Child and Placement data will be imported from the UCDB Unit Costs Database path when it is available and your organisation s logo e Before you attempt to change any of the settings click on the Edit button Ei CS in the top right This will disappear if you are verified as logged on as a Data Administrator allowing you to make changes E Organisation Settings Name Local Authority Enter the name of gour organisation Report Path Iccctcs Speci the path pou wouid kke fo be used fos the creation of reports Import Path c CCfCS DataFiles Speci the path pou wouid kk
114. pe a question for help f X Child Details Lookup By Child No By Child Name By Student ID SC_ID 16134 Surname almond uas O Offender School Year EDID First Name Ranunculus EBD SEN Statement O NCY Offset UPN Date of Birth 15 05 1992 Disabilities O Excluded O SENStatus __ Gender Compex O satacser O ac ael Ethnic Group A1 Social Care Team Long Term LAC1 Area Office activty postie O Social Care Education From 01 04 2007 Inflation To 31 03 2008 0 Placements Dates Currently showing Placement Number 3 out of 3 placements Placement Type Agency Residential in LA Default Defaul y otal Costs per Process 903 Code Provider Default Process 1 Admit 0 00 Placement Name Exit care at end Process 2 CPlan 125 76 Start 25 09 2007 of placement Process 3Mtn P 63 029 53 End Mental Health Process 4 Exit 0 00 Feesf llow E2 10470 3 Placements Process 5MoveP 1 087 29 Sest ow Eg i Deer aes Process 6 Rview 427 79 Area Office North Support Place Process 7 Legal 142 77 Needs Team Long Term LAC1 Remand Process 8 16 0 00 Legal Status Care Order Full Grand Total 64 813 15 Care Order Date 08 11 1999 lt Form View 84 Chapter 9 Calculation Details 9 1 Age Related Allowances For in house foster care kinship and adoption placements age related allowances may be specified in the categories 0 4 5 10
115. r The Cost Calculator is a tool that can collate the descriptive information that a local authority holds on its looked after population and on its school children The information can then be related to activities which incur costs Secondly it is a calculator that uses data on children s characteristics the unit costs of social care and education activities together with the allowances or fees paid for individual placements and education provisions as a basis for working out costs Reports are available on the sequential costs of placements and education provisions including part placements and provisions within a user specified time period both for individual children and for groups Calculations take account of all the numerous variations in costs engendered by differences in children s needs placement and education provision type and local authority procedures Because the model utilises unit costs that have all been developed using the same standardised approach it introduces greater consistency into the comparison of costs The third function is analysis The Cost Calculator allows users to compare costs for groups of children with different needs over different time periods and to gain a better understanding of why certain children or groups of children cost so much more than others One of the strengths of the model is its use of longitudinal rather than snapshot data This allows users to explore the different care paths that occu
116. r import data about such a child for an earlier year when they were actually looked after or exclude them from the data you import e Excel 2007 files cannot be imported If you are running Excel 2007 select File Save As and save your data as Excel 2003 files 7 3 Specifying Data with the Import Setup Form To specify which files contain your data and the column names that are used you should choose the first option Import Setup on the Social Care LAC Import Export Data menu This opens the form shown below and you should then click the Edit button The grey fields in the Import Setup form are fixed values describing fields which the database uses The white fields are for you to enter the corresponding names of the fields in your data Variables for which there is a tick in the Required column of the Import Setup form are mandatory you must supply data for these If for example your data contains records which do not have a Placement Type then your import will fail All the other variables can be omitted if you don t have data for them the variables will then be set to their default values e g child does not have disabilities does not have emotional or behavioural difficulties is not an offender etc The cost calculations will of course be less accurate and lower than if you supply data for the variables 64 The names you specify In the Field Name column of the Import Setup form mus
117. r and how costs accrue over time The cost patterns for children with particular characteristics or who achieve specified outcomes can be compared For looked Ward H Holmes L and Soper J 2008 Costs and Consequences of Placing Children in Care London Jessica Kingsley after children users can also explore alternative scenarios for example the impact on costs of substituting different placement types for those specified What if Analysis Analysis of costs is useful not only with retrospective data i e calculating the costs of processes and events that have already occurred but also for discovering what might occur or have been so providing guidance for the future The Cost Calculator allows users to carry out a limited number of What if analyses by predicting forwards in time for the current set of children changing placement types or entering different unit costs Examples of possible scenarios are calculate the costs that would be incurred in the next financial year if all children who are currently looked after remain in their current placements and compare those costs that would have been incurred if all children in particular types of placement had instead been in another that provides a specific supportive service Abbreviations In both this guide and the Cost Calculator application you will see that there are frequently used abbreviations The definitions of these can be found in Appendix F 1 3 The
118. relate to the age allowances paid for this girl For 132 days of the placement the age 15 allowance is paid and after her 16 birthday the age 16 upwards allowance is paid for the remaining 234 days These generate subtotal costs of 890 35 and 2 962 77 respectively By contrast child 10314 also has an in house foster placement with the old SSDA 903 code F2 but the data for this in row 51 of ImportEpisodes xls includes the weekly allowance in column M of 136 86 This girl is 16 years old at the start of the 85 calculation period but no age allowance is added in the calculation since the allowance that is read in is assumed to be the full amount that is paid Cost Calculation for Child ID 1325 Placement 1 calculation period from g Weeks in placement before calculation period Placement continues after calculation period 01 04 2007 165 1 to 31 03 2008 Placement is Foster care Local Authority InL amp Area Female 25 04 2004 No of Times Age at start of selected placement calculation period Years 12 15 Process No Process Unit Cost Child is has Purple Tulip A White 00 None C2 Care Order Full Care Order Date Weeks from care order to age 18 276 3 1 Decide to Look After amp Place 670 73 of which Basic 670 73 Conditional extra 2 Care Planning 125 76 of which Basic 125 76 Conditional extra plus if YOT 25 09 3 Maintain Placement daily
119. resent The only costs incurred in such placements are the fees or allowances component of Process 3 Maintaining the Placement Process Details The Social Care LAC Processes listed form the basis of the Cost Calculator computations since the costs are calculated separately for each process The unit cost of each of them is multiplied by the number of times the process occurs and the resulting process costs are summed to find the total cost The first field in this table shows the sector as LAC The Cost Calculator is being extended to compute costs for other sectors such as education which will have their own process lists The process number and description are then set out followed by a short code which is an abbreviation of the process description These short codes are used within the Cost Calculator as a compact way of identifying these different processes E Sector Process Details Table Social Care LAC Processes oO a et Uv a ba H A o H fm S A gt gt ao 3 D m ET aBHHE a eg fT o 7 ecision to Look After amp Place are Planning aintain Placement daily xit Care Return Home ind Later Placement eview egal ransition to Leaving Care L 2l AC LacT o tu a pd M ras n 5 5 Editable Lists Editable Lists is the second option in the Social Care LAC Data Administration Menu Costs and codings accessed from it can be edited a
120. rification https for all sites in this zone 5 We now type the address to trust into the top box and click Add We have to begin this address with File Make sure the Require server verification is not ticked 6 Your location should now be added to the list of sites trusted The name in the box below may be the alternative share name of this site The next time you Log In to your computer these changes will have taken effect C 7 APPENDIX D Installing the Demonstration Version The demonstration version of the CCfCS cost calculator is supplied on a CD Insert demo CD into CD ROM and your computer should start the installation setup process automatically If the setup does not start automatically open My Computer right click on your CD Drive and explore the CD You should see three files Autorun inf run bat setup vbs and three folders CCfCS_withoutruntine CCfCS_withruntime Import Data Double click on the file called Setup vbs to start the setup process Depending on how your IT department sets up your computer you might have a pop up window checking your privileges to run the setup We recommend you always try to run the program under your user name to avoid issues with write permissions If you re experiencing trouble installing under your user name please contact your system administrator When the setup screen pops up you are asked whether you want to install Access 2003 runtime
121. roach adopted proved to be robust with little variation between staff concerning the amount of time they spent completing standard tasks However variations in activity were identified to support children with different needs and to arrange and support different placement types Differences in authority procedures also had a bearing on the level of activity and therefore the costs of completing certain tasks for example there were substantial variations in the level at which decisions for agency funding were made Key Findings The study identified a number of factors that impact on the cost of looking after children These factors relate to the organisation and procedures operating within the local authorities the pattern and types of placements provided and the needs of children In addition to age the child related factors include disability emotional or behavioural difficulties and offending behaviour The circumstances of asylum seeking children were also found to produce different cost pathways The children in this study fell into eleven groups categorised by single or multiple combinations of the above factors There were five simple groups where children displayed either none or one of the factors and six complex groups of children who displayed two or more of the factors Children who displayed none of these additional characteristics cost substantially less to look after than those who displayed one of them costs were found to be even
122. rows All unit costs in the sheet you have selected are inflated by this percentage before being used in the calculations There is NO change to the values in the cost sheets which are accessed using the Social Care LAC Data Administration Menu Setting the Additional Overheads Rate The supplied unit cost tables include 15 administrative overheads plus a lump sum for capital overheads which together amount to approximately 22 of staffing costs Recent research suggests this percentage may be an underestimate and the Cost Calculator offers you the option of increasing it by clicking on the arrows Process 8 Transition to Leaving Care costs Research has shown that most children in care transfer to the leaving care team at about the age of sixteen although in some authorities children with disabilities and or unaccompanied asylum seeking children do not If the files of children with either of these needs are not passed to the leaving care team you should click the appropriate check box es so a cost for this process is not calculated for these children Version of Microsoft Office The default version of Microsoft Office is 2003 If your computer is running Office 2007 you should click the appropriate check box to ensure that your reports are opened in Excel 2007 When you have selected the Calculation Parameters click OK and you are ready to start using the Cost Calculator The settings you have chosen are automatically saved a
123. s the cost computations are more accurate if you also import data for all these variables If data for one or more of these variables are not available and therefore you don t import them the Cost Calculator substitutes default values in its calculations In general default values assume that something which would increase cost does not occur and therefore when default values are substituted the costs that are calculated tend to be lower than they would be if the correct data were used For example the Cost Calculator deduces whether a child has disabilities using either a specific variable on this or the Category of Need code together with the Social work team If there is no information identifying the child as having disabilities the Cost Calculator assumes that he or she has none and so the additional costs that disabilities generate are not included for that child More detail on the definitions and coding of the variables is provided in Chapter 6 Needs Groups and Outcomes used in Analyses The original research study identified how children s different needs impact on costs and showed that it is useful to distinguish groups with either single or multiple needs Sixteen groups representing possible combinations of needs are described in Appendix A The Cost Calculator automatically allocates each child to the appropriate needs group using variables listed in Table 1 below 12 The variables that are marked J in Table 1 do not impact o
124. s Average Looked Weekly After Adoption in LA Adoption Local Authority In LA Area 36 211 Adoption out LA Adoption Local Authority Outside LA 63 535 66 7 952 Agency Foster Care in LA Foster care Agency n LA Area 97 540 70 0 Ake Agency Foster Care out LA Foster care Agency Outside LA 222 647 167 6 1 329 LA Foster Care in LA Foster care Local Authority n LA Area 110 949 193 3 574 LA Foster Care out LA Foster care Local Authority Outside LA 116 951 206 4 567 Agency Independence in LA Independence Agency n LA Area 14 439 14 6 991 Agency Independence out LA Independence Agency Outside LA 128 040 98 4 1 301 LA Independence in LA Independence Local Authority In LA Area 13 013 16 4 792 LA Independence out LA Independence Local Authority Outside LA 20 165 16 9 1 196 Kinship Care in LA Kinship care Family n LA Area 64 386 121 1 531 Kinship Care out LA Kinship care Family Outside LA 46 362 83 4 556 5 The costs of adoption have been taken from Selwyn J Sturgess W Quinton D and Baxter C 2003 Costs and Outcomes of Non Infant Adoption Report to the Department of Health Bristol University of Bristol Hadley Centre for Adoption and Foster Care Studies 36 Costs by Provider and Placement Names This report offers similar choices to the Separate Placements report but the items shown in the table now represent totals for the named providers and placements that are listed Summary of Total C
125. s automatically set by the Cost Calculator to include an entire summary table However some tables may have too Eile Edit View Insert Format Tools Data Window many columns or rows to fit onto an A4 format when E se a printed It is recommended to use the Print Preview d as Save As command before printing and to change page settings ay saeasweb Page Remove Hidden Data Save Workspace bis File Search if necessary from the preview Setup menu Game Page Setup For example you can change the paper format to x RENGS L Print Preview A Print R Ctrl P landscape Send To Properties AL CCFCS CCFCS2 ImportMain 2 Docu Cost Calculator 5_1 Presentation version 3U CCFCS Wariable_list_For_local_authoritiesFeb07 Exit 4 3 Detailed Calculations Individual Child ID amp Placement Number Choosing the Individual Child ID amp Placement Number option from the Reports Menu allows you to see the detailed cost calculations that are carried out You can view the computations for any placement by selecting a particular ID and placement number from the dialogue box 23 Choose Child and Placement Detail Child ID 16134 v placement No SR Cancel When you click OK the Cost Calculator displays a detailed summary report showing the cost calculation for each of the eight social care processes l
126. s by Needs Group report 9 4 Activity Times for Process 3 Users have asked about the assumptions made in calculating the time spent on social work services for Process 3 Maintaining the Placement The research findings were that on average 55 hours per month was spent on this 16 of this by the social worker 29 by the family placement team and 55 by the administrator 89 APPENDIX A Costs and Consequences of Different Types of Child Care Provision a research overview Aims The aims of the study were to assess how far variations in the cost of different types of provision are reflected in the quality of care experienced by children with different needs and to use the findings to devise robust methods that enable local authorities to calculate the cost consequences of different types of child care provision Methodology The researchers undertook a prospective longitudinal study reported in Ward Holmes and Soper 2008 This was designed to explore both quantitative and qualitative data concerning the background needs and experiences of a population of 478 children looked after by three matched pairs of local authorities The sample were all looked after on the first of two Children in Need census dates February 2000 and were followed until the second October 2001 The sample was restricted to children aged ten years and over and was weighted to include disproportionate numbers of children with disabilities and or in residential
127. ser or as a Data Administrator The user will be created with a blank password To preserve security you should instruct the user to log on to the database and set their own password Other Tasks You can also select existing users from the dropdown box at the top of the screen You can reset the password of any other user by selecting them from the dropdown and clicking the Clear Password button You can delete a user from the list with the Delete User button or you can change their viewing permissions to be either a basic User or a Data Administrator C 3 Security Warnings When opening your database you may see the following warning Security Warning Opening C 01vEl Ext CCFR ShortcutCreator_2k_XP_03 mdb This file may not be safe if it contains code that was intended to harm your computer Do you want to open this file or cancel the operation This is because your computer has not yet been told to trust files which are stored on other computers If the link which you have clicked is stored on a different computer to yours then this security warning will pop up You can stop this message from occurring and thereby reduce the number of clicks that the user must make by telling your computer to trust the location where your shortcut is stored Setting Trusted Sites 1 First work out where our shortcut is This will be the folder that contains the CCFCS Ink file For example this may be stored in S CCFCS In th
128. sers Chapter 6 contains details of data definitions and codes Instructions for importing data are in Chapter 7 Customisations are described in Chapter 8 Further methodological details about the calculations are provided in Chapter 9 Accounts Admin role User accounts are created by the Accounts Admin user who assigns each user either standard User or Reporter rights or Data Admin rights see Appendix C It is therefore possible to have more than one Data Admin user which may be useful Chapter 2 Social Care Data and Methodology 2 1 Concepts of the Cost Calculator Model The Cost Calculator uses data on the needs of looked after children and their placements to itemise the services that each child receives in the time period chosen by the user It combines this information with the unit costs of the different services and the allowances or fees paid for placements This bottom up approach separately costs each social care process that every child receives The various Cost Calculator reports present this cost information aggregated in various different ways and also allow you to look at the individual detailed calculations Variables and How They Are Used The variables used by the Cost Calculator are listed in Table 1 below The green shading indicates the small number of variables that are mandatory it is essential to import data on these Since other variables with the exception of those marked contribute to the cost calculation
129. sts of placements with a specific name or that are provided by a particular agency Users can specify custom placement types and define separate unit costs for each of them For every child information can be imported on area office and social work team The Cost Calculator is able to identify children who are placed with designated disabilities teams as having disabilities More information on this facility is in Section 7 3 Specifying the Data to be Imported The Implementation version of the Cost Calculator includes an Import Setup form described in Chapter 7 to allow users to specify the format of the data from their MIS Technical support for data import is also available The Import Setup form can be inspected but not used in the Demonstration version of the Cost Calculator Table 1 Child and Placement Data used by the Cost Calculator Variable Description INCLUDED IN SSDA 903 Area Office NATIONAL Gender RETURNS BON i I OM Ethnic origin code Category of Need 0aleode Provider code In or outside area of Local Authority SOsleoden newl2009 Date episode placement ceased 90sieodel Reason episode placement ceased BOsreodel Dates of reviews Is child eligible for GCSE ewi2009 ia Number of GCSE passes at A to GJ Number of GCSE passes at A to C B Main Activity on 19 birthday 0edd or description B Dental check ewl2009 Healt
130. t EXACTLY MATCH those in your Excel files so it is a good idea to copy them Alongside each field name that you specify in the form in the File Location column you must give the name of the file from which you wish to import the variable For example A unique ID is required for each child and in the Cost Calculator this is known as the Child field In the Import Setup screenshot this data is pulled from a spreadsheet called ImportChild xls from a column named CRN If your data comes from a different file or has a different column name then you should change the white cells accordingly a Setup Validate Child amp Placement Import Data B Formats Supplied Group Field Description Required Field Name File Location 1 2 1 2 ae SCID Unique Social Care Child ID iv mportChild xls Ee ha orig FrsNare CIRRSTNAME portraits rad E Dfsunnane lingers ri pam Date of ape po y y O ma e C c For oo e _ _ ma ooo z 3 C e icaies C a e r E a Oea cid an fender rig avipFostTs CipaiviyPostts _ inpontutcomessis o Da oce Na of GCSEs waded ToC DI gcse sec import acetone Grid BCSFshioG No of GCSEs gadedA to CIIGCSEAioG _ inpont ducaions o C E z hid pae Paeon the ea e orig readies o a ecem socata Team o F ma oe e e E _ o o Pacen eeo en a e e Placements Pl
131. t Process 3 Mtn P 3 492 42 End 22 08 2007 Mental Health Process 4 Exit 276 29 3 Placements Process 5 MoveP 0 00 Fees Allow 1 994 07 previous year Process E Rylew 0 00 Area Office East Support Place Process 7 Legal 0 00 Needs Team Disabilities Remand Process 8 16 0 00 Legal Status 2 w Section 20 single period Grand Total 3 768 70 Care Order Date OOO Of Actual Placement Hypothetical placement It should be noted that while the Cost Calculator can provide information on what the total cost would be if particular placement changes were made it takes no account of whether it would be practically possible to make such changes nor does it include additional costs that might be generated by the process of making the changes To undo all the hypothetical changes and calculate using the original placement types simply click the Restore All Changes button 39 While all users may use the What if function as described above other investigations of the possible impact of changes can be undertaken by those who have Data Administrator privileges Such users can try out making alterations to the cost values in customised cost tables and edits of the information relating to individual children and discover their impact on costs See Chapters 5 and 8 which explain editing and customising for further information on this 40 Chapter 5 Viewing and Editing Data 5 1 Who
132. tains the YOT dates of children e ImportRev xls contains the review dates of children and e ImportPlan xls contains the plan dates of children D 2 APPENDIX E General Access Tips and Error Messages Navigation You can navigate through form records or report records using the navigation buttons which are located at the bottom left hand corner of the screen Use the cursor arrow buttons to move on record by record Move to the first or last record Record I4 4 154 gt Bl of 160 Move one record to the left or right Closing Forms There is a Close button on forms and reports either on the form or on the toolbar underneath the menu items at the top of the screen An alternative way of closing a form or report and returning to the previous screen is to click on the title Tab Key The tab key is situated fourth key up from the bottom left hand corner of a standard keyboard This is used when entering information into the fields of a form and moves the cursor onto the next field in order If you find that you need to go backwards you can do this by pressing the tab key while you already have the shift key held down second key up from the bottom left hand corner of a standard keyboard Error Messages When using the system there are certain circumstances when errors will legitimately occur and others where a certain sequence of actions results in an error which has not been anticipated during the creation o
133. ted Care and Returned ccccccceeeeeeee eens 31 32 code MAPPING ccceceecceeeteseereees 66 compressed zipped folders B 2 conditional costs 25 50 51 cost table details cesses 49 Cost table list rniran 49 79 cost tables 16 20 40 49 51 78 79 80 CUSTOMISE 0eececeeeeeeeee es 20 79 London ssc 7 16 20 51 78 Out of London 7 16 20 24 25 51 78 85 costing methodology 80 Costs by Age and Need 28 29 30 Costs by Needs Group eeee 28 Costs by Placements 88 36 Costs by Provider cccceesseeeees 36 Costs by Provider and Placement NAMES iiron 37 costs methodology A 1 costs per day caw a ako 50 create a shortcut to the program B 3 creating NEW USETS e C 2 C 3 criteria for classification into categories customisation 11 20 40 46 47 49 51 60 67 68 77 78 79 80 81 82 Data Administration Menu Social Care LAG ee ee eee AN ee 19 43 46 Built in Placement Type Details45 Editable Lists Cost Table Details 49 Cost Table List 008 49 Mapped Placement Codes 48 Placement Types 0 47 Editable Lists ccee 46 Ethnicity Types s es 45 Import Export Looked After Children Data 0 62 Delete all Existing Data 68 Disability Rules 66 Export Data scsi cist sntgenisnive 72
134. th which it has been provided If any of the child placement or unit cost data are changed all subsequent reports are based on the new data set Comparison of the before and after reports allows the impact of the changes to be studied The model therefore has the facility to investigate the impact of implementing policy changes as well as the effects of variations in unit costs 37 In order to compare the costs before starting the What if analysis you should obtain those reports that you wish to compare and use the Save As function in Excel to save them under different names To carry out a What if analysis select Placement Changes What if from the Social Care Looked After Children Menu You will then see an input form with two panels see below Simply click the placements you wish to change on the left and the type to change to on the right then press OK E Change Placement Types Select placement type s to change Choose ONE type to which all selected hold Ctrl if more than 1 types will be changed Provider PlacementNames Description Provider PlacementNames Default Default Adoption in L Default Defaul a Default Adoption in LA a Defaul Default Default Adoption out LA Default Defau SI Default Default Agency Foster Care in LA Default Defau Agency Foster Care in L b Default y Foster Care in LA b Default Agency Foster Care in LA fred
135. than it needs to be This bloating is caused by Access not clearing out empty space in the file You can compact your database using the Compact and Repair facility This should also fix any minor corruptions which may have occurred To ensure optimal performance you should compact and repair your database file on a regular basis To carry out the function from the Main menu choose System Administration and then select the Compact and Repair button This opens the form shown below where you can select either Program or Data 75 E Security Compact and Repair During use your database may grow in size or develop corruptions You can use this form to compact and repair your program or data database files Program If you are compacting a shared database that is located on a server or shared folder make sure that no one else has it open 76 Chapter 8 Customising Costs and Placement Types 8 1 What can be Customised The Editable Lists described in Section 5 5 are provided to allow you to change the information about unit costs and placement types so as to make the calculations appropriate to the circumstances of your particular authority The information in this chapter should be read in conjunction with Section 5 5 which contains screen shots that are referred to below At present there is no facility to customise reports although if you particularly require the Separate Placements a
136. the types of placement that are built in to the model At the top right of the form is another drop down box where you can select whether you wish to display built in or customised placement types in the list If you choose Built in Placement Types all the items in the Provider and Placement Name fields show as Default This signifies that the values in the default rows of the unit cost table you have selected are used in the cost calculations Choosing Custom Placement Types as shown in the screen shot below allows the Data Administrator to specify one or more subsets of any of the placement types shown in the first column each having either a particular provider or a particular placement name or both E Placement Types DEK Placement Types Custom Placement Types y Select Custom Placement Types to manage your own placement types Description Provider Placement Name y Foster Care out LA Rainbow Children Default A Foster Care out LA Julia Obrien gency Independence in LA Rainbow Children Default g Res Ed H out LA Dovery wf g Res Ed H out LA TreesLtd i Default g Res Ed H out LA w The Firs g Res Ed H out LA The Pines A Res Ed Hinla his local authority ilac school gency Residential out LA lometrust Ltd uebird House A Residential in LA Flower Garden he Tulip Field A Residential out LA ocal Authority Y seways g Residential Ed out LA lower Garden efault g Residential Ed out
137. tion to submit this return as a XML file the Cost Calculator now offers the option of importing the 2008 data in this file format The method of doing this is described in Section 7 5 Social Care LAC Import Export Data Menu The sub menu which contains the data import facilities is accessed by choosing Social Care LAC Data Administration Menu followed by Import Export Looked After Children Data which opens up the menu shown below The various options allow the Data Administrator to load external data into the Cost Calculator database specify how it is used and export data out As usual other users can inspect the forms and tables that the options generate but only those with Data Administrator rights are able to use them More details of how to use the options are in the sections below Social Care LAC Import Export Data p Import Setup Disability Rules Gender Code Mappings Delete all Existing Data Import Data Export Data 7 2 Preparing Data Files for Import Excel 2003 spreadsheets should have field names for the variables in the top row The field names used in your MIS are acceptable providing they comprise letters and numbers only Spaces are not permitted since their invisibility makes them a 62 common source of problems Definitions and codings of variables that are to be imported are set out in Chapter 6 The example data supplied provides examples of suitable Excel files but your data does NOT need
138. tive ways depending on what data you import The last column of Table 2 indicates if alternatives are possible and the three rows shaded lavender have been added to accommodate such variables Further details of each case are provided below In general the rule as to which information from alternative variables is actually used is e if the user provides a specific variable this is used e if the user does not the Cost Calculator infers what information it can from other variables You will notice that Table 2 does not specify Cost Calculator variable names This is because you can choose your own variable names More information about this and about preparing your data for import as Excel files or a single xml file is in Chapter 7 53 AREAOFF ETHNIC _ Category of Need _ Provider code new PLACE_PROVIDER Date episode ceased Date of care order GCSEs A to G GCSE_AG Dental check new TEETH_CHECK EALTH_ASSESSMENT Support placement Mental health support CONVICTED SEN Statement Date first LAC Social work team Provider name Fees allow weekly YOT support started Transfer to LC team 54 v v v v v v v v v v v Table 2 Notes mandatory variable separately for each placement Lavender Shading not included in Table 1 6 2 SSDA 903 Codes Since all local authorities are required to collect data for the SSDA 903 returns the Cost Calculator import mechanism has been designed to
139. to be laid out in exactly the same way Your field names may be different from those in the example data set and the order of the data columns may also be different Your files may contain extra variables that the Cost Calculator does not require These will be ignored as your data are read in The Excel example data files are ImportChild xls contains data about each child ImportEpisodes xls contains data about each placement ImportEducation xls contains information on GCSE results ImportOutcomes xls contains eight outcomes variables such as whether the child has had a health check and whether he or she is an offender ImportYOT xls contains the YOT dates of children ImportRev xls contains the review dates of children and ImportPlan xls contains the plan dates of children Tips on Preparing Data Files If your MIS produces reports with a title above the field names delete the title row to bring the field names into row 1 Since the import mechanism attempts to read all active rows of your spreadsheet if there is or has been any information in rows BELOW your data it is important that you delete these ROWS before importing deleting the data is not sufficient The files to be imported should be located in the Import Path that is specified under Organisational Settings which is accessed by choosing Main Menu and then System Administration Menu A useful check to carry out beforehand is to apply Excel s
140. undary Custom Agency Semi independence inside LA boundary IPRSIN Agency Residential in LA Custom Agency Semi independence outside LA boundary IPRSOUT Secure unit Homes and hostels xj lt j lt lt lt lt lt In Refuge Whereabouts known not in refuge Record O 33 gt JDL of 96 v At present there are two reasons why you may wish to customise these codes e the default mapping is not appropriate in your local authority e you wish to separately distinguish subcategories within a SSDA 903 code Where the SSDA 903 codes do not distinguish the type of provider or identify the location of the placement the respective default assumptions are that the provider is the local authority and the placement is within the local authority boundary These assumptions however will not be appropriate for all local authorities For example if your local authority does not have any residential homes but instead uses agency homes within the local authority boundary it would be appropriate to change the default mapping of H3 from LA Residential in LA to Agency Residential in LA Alternatively if your authority uses both its own and agency residential placements within its own area it is helpful to separate them for the cost calculations You can do this using the suffixes shown on the SSDA 903 codes For example in addition to the 48 SSDA 903 code H3 t
141. units in order to provide sufficient data for meaningful analysis Data on children s needs and experiences were collected from management information systems case files and from structured interviews with children and young people and their carers Costs Methodology The eight processes for which the unit costs were derived are based on the nine case management operations that underpin the task of looking after children outlined in the Core Information Requirements Process Model Department of Health 2003 8 Ward H Holmes L and Soper J 2008 Costs and Consequences of Placing Children in Care London Jessica Kingsley Department of Health 2003 Children s Social Services Core Information Requirements Process Model London Department of Health A 1 Specific data was then gathered from focussed discussions at team meetings to ascertain the time taken to complete these activities Information was obtained from 17 team meetings attended by 104 social workers 23 family placement workers 13 team managers and two independent reviewing officers The amount of time spent by each of the workers on each of the processes was then costed as a proportion of their salary and overheads The total activity was added together for each of the eight processes to calculate standard unit costs In addition the costs of providing the placement including placement fees were added to the cost of maintaining it The consensus app
142. us need to have Excel 2003 7 on their computers but may use the run time version of Access supplied with the CCfCS As users install CCfCS they select the appropriate option either to install CCfCS without Access runtime if they already have Access installed or to install CCfCS with Access runtime G 1 ADbreviatiONS ccceeeeeeeeeeeeeees 10 F 1 Accounts Administrator 11 C 1 C 2 additional unit cost row 0 065 80 age related allowances 05 52 age related costs 006 50 79 alpha numeric child identifiers 58 append to existing data 0 71 area office oo ceeeeeceeeeeeeeeeeeeeees 13 58 AUtOF ihe fiiivecccimsisissestectiieavshianiecaets 63 average 16 50 61 77 78 79 80 85 89 average for the placement type 16 50 average weekly allowance 85 back DUTONS raisini tenets 18 basic unit costs 88 50 51 80 DIANKS E E E 61 78 bottom up approach 8 12 built in placement type details 44 45 calculation time period 20 24 27 28 29 30 35 42 86 89 care plan 16 27 32 42 60 67 68 CCfCS_Data mdb B 1 B 2 B 6 B 7 CCfCS_Data_Vn n Zip 0 0 B 2 CCfCS_Program mdb B 1 B 2 B 7 CCfCS_Program_Vn n Zip B 2 changes to cost calculations 7 example data 8 changing passwords 000 C 1 Child NAMES ccceceeeeeeeeeeseneees 58 Children Who Have Exi
143. ut of authority residential placements from a range of other providers If you define a customised placement type with provider Cirrus Care you can define unit costs and fees for Cirrus Care placements that are different from those for other out of authority residential placements to which the default costs will apply Since there is no restriction on how many customised placement types you can create if you wish you can set them up for a number of different residential providers Placement Types olx Placement Types ALAA IL Select Custom Placement Types to manage your own placement types Description Provider doption in LA Default doption out LA Default gency Foster Care in LA Default gency Foster Care out LA Default A Foster Care in LA Default A Foster Care out LA Default ospital in LA Default ospital out LA Default gency Independence in LA Default gency Independence out LA Default A Independence in LA Default A Independence out LA Default inship Care in LA Default inship Care out LA Default Record KIKI I o n CACI gt of 53 T lt Default Default Default Default Default Default Default Default Default Default efault efault efault efault T lt T lt T lt ee lt lt T lt lt mmes a en Crm eana Pel Crm sel Fel eaa cme cel en Poe Ba wa GIGIT im fae E 5 PF z oe lt lt
144. uthority area you want these placements to map to Agency Residential in LA One way of doing this is to code them H3b An alternative way is to edit the Mapped Placement Codes list To try this out on the Mapped Placement Codes list click the Edit button and select the code H3 The panel on the right see screen shot in Section 5 5 shows the mappings using the possible combinations of the new provider and location codes e g PR1IN The placement is required to be in the local authority s area because there are no entries in the rows that relate to OUT Any provider is allowed although it seems unlikely that a local authority could provide a placement within another local authority s area The default mapping is that for PR1 so it is this that you want to change Click on the arrow at the right of the PR1IN row and scroll up to select Agency Residential in LA Close this form Prepare the Import Setup form to import NoProvLoc xls changing the various file names and remembering to delete the rows that relate to provider and location Delete existing data Once the data is imported use View Individual Child Details to see what placement types are being costed For example row 69 is the third placement for Child 16134 The screen shot below shows this placement is now being costed as Agency Residential in LA 83 CCECS Individual Child Details Sa 3 File Edit Insert Records Window Help Ty
145. wever a new value replaces the old For example if the first time data is imported the variable Disabilities has the value FALSE for child XXX but the second time data is imported it has the value TRUE child XXX is then classified as having disabilities The only way of knowing from the Cost Calculator that child XXX previously did not have disabilities is to use the first set of data that was imported It is quite possible to do this each data import can be saved as a database with a different name and the Cost Calculator programme can be linked up to whichever of these the user wishes to use Import Settings from Previous Version If there is a new release of the Cost Calculator your customised settings can be imported into it using the Import Settings from Import Setup Form option This is available from the Main menu under System Administration Import from Previous Version This should be done as part of the procedure for installing the new version see Appendix B 7 4 Importing and Exporting Data Since the Cost Calculator is supplied with example data already imported you have to delete this when you first import your own data You can do this using the fourth option on the Social Care LAC Import Export Data menu Once you have your own authority s data in the Cost Calculator you will normally update and add to it rather than deleting what is already there Delete All Existing Data This option which can
146. with the demo If you already have Access 2003 installed on your computer it is recommended that you do not install the runtime as it might affect your existing Access application Whether you choose to install access runtime or not the following installation steps are the same When the setup Wizard first appears click on Next to install CCFCS on your computer Enter your customer information and click on Next You have the choice of using typical or custom setup e lf you choose typical setup a folder called CCFCS will be created in your personal My Documents folder the CCFCS demo will be installed in the CCFCS folder D 1 e f you choose custom setup you can change the location where the demo will be installed using browse It is recommend that you create a folder called CCFCS inside the path where you to install the demo in Click on Next after you select the location and click on Install Click on Finish to complete the installation When the installation process is completed you will have a shortcut created on your desktop and in your start menu called CCfCS_Demo Double click on the shortcut to start using the demo program Viewing the Demonstration Data If you want to look at the data used in the demo spreadsheets containing the data can be found in your installed CCFCS folder There are four files e ImportMain xls contains the main child and placement data e ImportYOT xls con
147. wo subcategories H3a and H3b are defined distinguishing between the types of provider H3a being local authority and H3b being agency The Data Administrator can change the mappings in this table by clicking on the Edit a button i at the top right and then selecting an option from the drop down list Section 8 4 provides further information on this Cost Table List The Cost Table List option from the Social Care LAC Editable Lists Menu shows the cost tables that are currently available to you in the Cost Calculator You use Set Calculation Parameters described in Section 3 3 to select which of these costs you wish to use in your calculations Cost tables with codes below 100 shown in the left hand column of the list are supplied with the Cost Calculator Any customised cost tables that your Data Administrator has created are shown in this list numbered 101 upwards Cant Tahis m B A Cost Tables K 2 AIEI Code Description 2 Out of London a 103 a The Data Administrator can click on the Edit button i at the top right and change the descriptions i e names of customised cost tables or delete entire customised cost tables The built in cost tables cannot be changed and are hidden whilst you edit Cost Table Details All users can view the unit cost tables by choosing Social Care LAC Data Administration Editable Lists followed by
148. worker hours being needed to facilitate and supervise contact because the girl is subject to a care order The daily fee or allowance payable for the placement also forms part of the cost of Process 3 The Cost Calculator adds these types of costs to the basic cost figures Separate process elements of which for example nine are listed for Process 3 are defined in the table if conditional costs may apply for just part of a placement The child shown has support from the Youth Offending Team at a unit cost of 6 68 per day 2 There are no additional age group costs for a secure placement but costs that take account of the different frequency of statutory visits for placements of different durations may apply The column headed No of Times Days Incurred shows the number of times or days for which the process element is incurred The computer multiplies each value in this column by the relevant unit cost and so finds the cost of the process element shown in the Subtotal Cost column 3 Age group costs only occur for placements where allowances are paid in house foster care placements with friends or family and adoption placements and there are changes in the allowances according to the child s age 25 Cost Calculation for Child calculation period Placement is Secure Child is has Almond A White 09 EBD Offender Local Authority Ranunculus C2 Care Order Full Care Order Date Weeks from care order to age 18 Pr
149. ype as the default value The Cost Calculator finds the cost of Process 3 by adding the social work costs to the fees or allowances Some reports also allow you to view the fees or allowances separately from the social work costs see Chapter 4 The unit costs provided in the model are based on averages with different sets being supplied for London and for Out of London authorities Users can select the set of unit costs that they wish to use for particular calculations Each set of unit costs contains all of the placement child and local authority variations identified in the research and the Cost Calculator includes these in the calculations it produces Customised sets of unit costs that hold the unit costs specific to an individual local authority can be created by users of the Implementation version of the Cost Calculator Information on how to do this is given in Chapter 8 The NEW COST TABLE included in the Demonstration version is an example of a such a new set of costs Chapter 3 Starting to Use the Cost Calculator 3 1 Opening the Cost Calculator Once the Cost Calculator has been installed following the instructions for the Implementation version in Appendix B or for the Demonstration version in Appendix D you can open the software by double clicking the icon kelccrcs Security Warnings If you then receive a warning asking if you want to block unsafe expressions say No This is simply a security warning asking if you

User Guide - Cost Calculator for Children's Services

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