In our comprehensive Care Trends Report 2023, we surveyed hundreds of social care providers from domiciliary care, residential care, supported living, extra care and retirement living to gain insight into the specific challenges and opportunities in social care today.
From manual payroll processes causing inaccuracies to frequently amending invoices after creation, it’s understandable that social care providers are experiencing challenges with managing the administration of their care business.
Being able to deliver high quality, person-centred care is at the heart of any good social care service. But as the sector speaks of dwindling resource and insufficient digital adoption, many social care providers find themselves lacking the efficiency they need to provide the level of care they want to.
We have compiled the results of our independent survey and identified some of the key business operation challenges social care providers have been facing. We have analysed these geographically, taking a look at how these results compare across the official UK regions.
Challenges with Business Operations in social care
Finance processes in social care can be complex at the best of times; managing the constant need to consider different pay rates or top-ups, potentially log staff mileage and amend invoices after creation just to name a few. And when providers rely on manually managing their finances, errors and data silos are likely to occur with precious time being spent rectifying avoidable issues.
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Mileage and Expenses
Our survey showed some regional disparity around the manual recording of mileage and expenses, but overall, the dependence is far higher than it could be. Scotland seems to report the greatest reliance on manual processes, with 49% saying they record mileage and expenses using paper-based methods or spreadsheets. This compares to slightly lower numbers in the South West of England (27%) and Yorkshire (25%).
So, what could be the cause of this disparity? Each provider will have their own factors when considering the management of processes such as these, but one possibility arises when we recognise varying levels of internet connection across the UK.
Research following an Ofcom study found that half of the UK’s top ten areas for poor internet connection are in Scotland. This could indicate that providers in Scotland are more likely to find themselves unable to access the digital tool they need to log their mileage and expenses, instead having to revert to manually recording the information. A cloud-based software solution could help organisations like these, as the tech saves any progress made even when the internet connection is lost, being updated once it is re-established.
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Invoice Processes
We also noted regional differences around the challenges that providers face when managing their invoice processes. 44% of those we surveyed in the London area and 31% in Wales found challenges when providing timely invoices that meet funder requirements, compared to 18% in the South West and 0% in the North East of England.
Could provider size play a role here? Our survey does indicate that the larger the organisation, the more likely they will struggle: 0% of respondents from services with 1 – 4 employees struggle in this regard, compared to an astonishing 52% for those with 500 – 1000 employees.
Furthermore, 67% of respondents in the North East of England state the main challenge with their business management processes is their need to manually change invoices after initial creation. The highest of all regions by a significant stretch (the second and third highest being London at 45% and Northern Ireland at 35% respectively). These figures do seem to support the notion that social care providers are in need of software solution that can help them with their invoicing processes, from creation to submission.
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Payroll Errors
All regions are experiencing challenges with payroll; unsurprising considering the intricacies faced. Our survey showed that one third of providers (33%) from East Anglia and the North East of England told us that payroll errors in their organisation are high. Interestingly, both regions also showed the highest use of outsourcing their payroll processes to an external company (31% and 27% respectively).
We wanted to reflect on whether provider size has an influence on these findings too. Our survey found that providers with 5 – 9 employees have the highest amount of payroll errors (47%) with 33% choosing to outsource to a third party. Closely followed by 34% of providers with over 1,000 employees stating high payroll errors - but only 21% outsource it.
Perhaps smaller providers haven’t got the resources to manage payroll internally, choosing to outsource to an external party. There will be a cut-off point as to what detail is passed over for calculation, and with this manual passing of data, errors can occur.
And although the largest providers likely have their own internal payroll team, maybe their current systems can’t effectively manage their large employee pool or perhaps having multiple locations which use different payroll methods causes data silos.
A scalable care business management solution can streamline payroll processes for organisations of all sizes, helping to mitigating the issues these providers are likely facing and saving them having to outsource to an external company. By having one system that combines these processes means that the payroll team are party to the most accurate information at all times.
Discover more by downloading our Care Trends Report 2023. In the report, we examine the key challenges faced and opportunities available in social care today, as told by the people at the heart of the service.
Read our other regional blog in this series: How social care providers compare regionally: Challenges with business insight and growth