How to … Submit client records under Supporting People

From 1 April, the Supporting People care services funding regime will mean significant changes to the way care providers submit information on their clients to the government. A new client record form will be introduced and the CORE – the Continuous Recording System – has been revised to ensure it is compatible with this new form.

Information on each client and how he or she will receive services will be submitted by filling in a Supporting People client record form for each person. The form uses a standardised format, so providers working across a number of local authority areas will not have to use different formats to record the data for each Supporting People administering authority.

Filling in the client record form
Before April, providers should receive paper or digital versions of the client record forms, and guidance on how to fill them in and submit them, from the Joint Centre for Scottish Housing Research, the body that will be processing the data. This organisation also processes CORE data.

An example of the client record form and very detailed guidance on filling it in can be found in the "general documents" section of the Supporting People website, www.spkweb.org.uk, or through the Supporting People helpline, 01457 851046; they are also on the CORE website, www.core.ac.uk. A set of training slides for use by providers and councils will be put on these websites in the next few weeks.

The revised CORE system
Because of the new client record form, the CORE system has been revised so that, in future, the CORE lettings log will only collect information on lettings and not support needs. The supported housing and general needs CORE logs are to be combined into a single lettings log.

Changes to the general needs CORE system have been kept to a minimum and mainly involve increasing the range of options for some questions.

The combined lettings log will be piloted this summer and then introduced from April 2004; this delay should allow housing associations time to change their software to take account of the new log.

Until then, the Supported CORE log must be used alongside the Supporting People client record form for accommodation-based support services owned or managed by housing associations. For support services that are not accommodation-based, such as floating support, the RSL should complete a CORE log for the letting and the support provider should complete the client record form separately.

Until the combined lettings log is introduced, some of the questions on the CORE log will be duplicated on the client record form; but the combined CORE lettings log is being developed to fit with the questions on the client record form, so the duplication will end after the first year.

From April 2004, providers will be able to use a digital form that combines the Supporting People client record form and the combined CORE lettings log, removing the need to fill in two separate paper forms. Because it will ask questions common to both forms only once, the number of questions to complete will fall from 33 to 27 – but only, of course, for those providers that have the computer facilities to use the digital form.

Property information on supported housing will not be collected on the combined CORE lettings log because the management group log for supported housing will continue to be used and RSLs will need to provide the Joint Centre with updates on new accommodation-based support services. However, the proposed national IT framework for Supporting People that will link all organisations involved may include a national database of the supply of Supporting People services. This database could eventually replace the Management Group property database for supported housing.

Sending in the information
Support providers, including managing agents, should send batches of client record forms to the Joint Centre once a month with full contact details. It is essential to include the national client record provider ID code as well as the name of the provider. This ID code is supplied by the Joint Centre. The provider and service reference codes, which can be obtained from the administering local authority, should also be included, but it is important to remember that these codes may change when the local authority switches over its computers to the Supporting People IT systems.

When a managing agent works with a registered social landlord, it should send CORE lettings logs to the RSL – unless the two have an arrangement to do otherwise.

How the data will be used
The Joint Centre will provide quarterly reports to administering authorities and the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister. These reports will be used to monitor who is accessing services and whether the full range of needs are being met.

Some statistical information from the client record form will be supplied in the regular CORE bulletins sent to housing associations by the Joint Centre.

The CORE system will continue to provide regulatory and investment information to the Housing Corporation on RSLs that provide supported housing, with the focus on lettings rather than support.