1. 14 days to go to the Commonwealth Games - Letter For Carers To Park Vehicles – details of disruption to bus services (information for all providers delivering services in Birmingham)
2. Action required – Cost of care exercise – Care Homes, Home Support, Extra Care and Supported Living locations (information for all Birmingham providers)
3. UPDATED GUIDANCE PPE portal: how to order COVID-19 personal protective equipment (PPE) (information for all providers)
4. Birmingham Community Healthcare Project Echo – Tissue Viability 25 July 2022 (information for all Birmingham Care Homes)
5. HMRC Paying the minimum wage in social care: webinars for employers during August 2022 (information for all providers)
6. Department of Health and Social Care update: Formal Notice of data required from 31 July, and link to DHSC guidance (information for all providers)
7. Capacity Tracker upcoming changes (information for all providers)

1. 14 days to go to the Commonwealth Games - Letter For Carers To Park Vehicles – details of disruption to bus services (information for all providers delivering services in Birmingham)

During the Commonwealth Games to be held in Birmingham this summer (28 July to 8 August 2022), there will be a number of road events which will result in road closures and overall increases in demand for public transport for the duration of the games. Please ensure your business continuity plans have been reviewed and updated if needed to reflect any disruption to travel.

Slides (BCCAdultSocialCare_040422) which shows the events that will impact on the routes along with other information, and slides that include hotspot grids showing the busiest areas in the city by time of day and types of transport (Hot Spot Grids), have been circulated to providers. If you don't have copies, please email marketintelligence@birmingham.gov.uk

Details of all of the bus disruptions during the Commonwealth Games are now available via the weblink below, which may also be useful to share with staff as they start to plan their public transport journeys:

Travelling by bus or tram during the Commonwealth Games

If you have any staff who may be interested in cycling during the Games, please make them aware of the fantastic offer from West Midlands Cycle Hire where people can access two free 30-minute cycle hire rides each day during the Games:

Ride for free

Below is a link to the Commonwealth games website, which gives further details about road closures and parking restrictions for all the venues and events.

How could my area be affected? (birmingham2022.com)

A letter has been circulated to providers for Carers who deliver home care which they should display on their Cars when they are parked in any Common Wealth Games Parking Control Areas while they are delivering care to Birmingham Citizens so they will not receive a Parking Penalty Notice. If you don't have a copy of the letter, please email marketintelligence@birmingham.gov.uk - this Letter doesn’t allow Vehicles to Park on No Stopping Routes, it is only for Control Parking Zones where Carers either cannot park on Citizen Driveways or Citizen has not given them a Visitor Parking Permit for the street.

Please ensure all Carers and Drivers display their ID Badges so they can access Roads which will be closed during the Games thus ensuring the Traffic Marshalls allow them entry into those streets.

2. Action required – Cost of care exercise – Care Homes, Home Support, Extra Care and Supported Living locations (information for all Birmingham providers)

Thank you to all locations which have submitted cost of care returns. To enable us to move into the analysis phase of the process as quickly as possible we urgently require any location whose submission has had a query raised against it to review and resubmit their return.

Care home locations will need to login to CareCubed and check if their submission has been put ‘In query’, review the queries raised and resubmit in the system.

Home Support, Extra Care and Supported Living locations should check email inboxes and junk for emails from costofcare@birmingham.gov.uk review any queries that have been raised and resubmit their cost of care forms. If you have not received an email then your submission has been approved and there is no further action required.

3. UPDATED GUIDANCE PPE portal: how to order COVID-19 personal protective equipment (PPE) (information for all providers)

This guidance covers eligible health and social care providers that can order PPE through the portal to meet the increased need that has arisen as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. It has been updated to correct the customer services team phone number.

The full guidance can be found below:

PPE portal: how to order COVID-19 personal protective equipment (PPE)

4. Birmingham Community Healthcare Project Echo – Tissue Viability 25 July 2022 (information for all Birmingham Care Homes)

Join the BCHC Support to Care Home Team for a session on tissue viability on 25 July 2022 at 02:00pm. Learning objectives include;

• Awareness of keep ASSKIN algorithm
• Ability to understand all risk factors associated with the development of pressure ulcers
• Awareness of when to use alternating equipment

To register your free place or learn more email: bchc.carehomeseducation@nhs.net

This is part of the Project Echo fortnightly interactive educational sessions programme. Further information about Project Echo has been circulated to providers. If you don't have a copy, please email marketintelligence@birmingham.gov.uk

5. HMRC Paying the minimum wage in social care: webinars for employers during August 2022 (information for all providers)

HMRC are offering two webinars to help social care employers ensure they are meeting minimum wage requirements for their teams. Almost all workers are entitled to be paid at least the National Minimum Wage. Mistakes are easy to make and you may not always be aware something has gone wrong. Common errors employers in the care sector make include not paying correctly for travel time, other unpaid working time and wage deductions.

The two live webinars will explain the correct payment of the minimum wage in the care sector;

• 2 August 10am to 11:30am
• 10 August 10am to 11:30am

Register below to book your place:

Paying the National Minimum Wage correctly in the care sector - webinars

6. Department of Health and Social Care update: Formal Notice of data required from 31 July, and link to DHSC guidance (information for all providers)

DHSC has published the Formal Notice setting out what information is required by the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care from CQC-regulated adult social care providers, under section 277A of the Health and Social Care Act 2012, as inserted by section 99 of the Health and Care Act 2022.

The Notice can be found below:

Formal notice of a mandate for all ASC providers

DHSC has also published guidance to support providers with this new requirement. DHSC Guidance can be found below:

ASC provider data collection guidance

Per the Formal Notice, the first set of monthly data is due by the end of 14 August 2022.

7. Capacity Tracker upcoming changes (information for all providers)

During August 2022 there will be a number of User Interface improvements to the Capacity Tracker ensuring an easier experience for Care Home and Home Care providers. This include;

• Everything on one page - Capacity Tracker update information for a care home or homecare organisations will be concentrated onto just one page, instead of switching across multiple tabs
• Clear sections - Questions included in the new mandated Adult Social Care submission will be clearly labelled so providers can see at a glance the questions that are part of this. In addition, during the reporting period between 7 and 14 of each month this section will be highlighted
• To provide reassurance to providers, messages will also pop up to let you know when you’ve successfully updated the mandated submission and are compliant for the period.