Social Accounts

Social Accounts

May 2012 – May 2013

Stewartry Care Ltd

43 Cotton Street

Castle Douglas

DG7 1AR

Phone: 01556 504699

Fax: 01556 505839

www.stewartrycare.co.uk

Contents

1.  Introduction

2.  Background to Stewartry Care

3.  Mission, Values/Aims, Objectives

4.  Analysis

5.  Scope and methodology of the social accounts

6.  The report on performance

7.  Other Views

8.  Compliance

9.  Changes within the company over the last year

10.  Main Achievements and Conclusions

11.  Plans for the year ahead (next set of social accounts)

12.  Dialogue and disclosure

Appendices

Appendix 1 Environmental Checklist

Appendix 2 Four Square Exercise

Appendix 3 Service User Feedback Questionnaire

Appendix 4 Carer Survey Letter

Appendix 5 Carer Survey

Appendix 6 Stakeholder Survey Letter

Appendix 7 Stakeholder Survey

Appendix 8 Service User Survey Letter

Appendix 9 Service User Survey

Appendix 10 Steering Group Minutes

1.  Introduction

May 2012 to May 2013 saw Stewartry Care produce their third set of social accounts.

‘Social accounting is a framework which allows an organisation to build on existing documentation and reporting and develop a process whereby it can account for its social, environmental and economic performance and impact and then draw up an action plan to improve and overall be accountable to its key stakeholders’. Society is seen to profit from implementing a social and environmental approach to accounting in a number of ways, e.g.:

·  Honouring stakeholders' rights of information;

·  Balancing corporate power with corporate responsibility;

·  Increasing transparency of corporate activity;

Organisations are seen to benefit from implementing social accounting practices in a number of ways, e.g.

·  Increased information for decision-making;

·  More accurate product or service costing;

·  Enhanced image management and Public Relations;

·  Identification of social responsibilities;

·  Identification of market development opportunities;

The Social Accounts Team for the period of May 2012 – May 2013, comprises of Debbie Cochrane Business & Marketing Director and two Quality Assurance Officers Beverley Warwick and Kelly Hiddleston. The project was again found to be a great success and proved a useful tool for gauging the company’s impact on its main stakeholders and receiving vital feedback on performance and areas which require improvement.

Stewartry Care had in the past consulted with service users on company performance in the form of postal questionnaires, the information gathered had not been analysed in a comprehensive manner, nor comprehensively acted upon in the years preceding the Social accounts. The process of social accounting provides the opportunity to engage more fully with selected groups of stakeholders; the information will be considered in greater detail and presented for all to see. The process will provide indicators for the future improvements of our services.

Since the process last year actions have been taken from the social accounts to improve and strengthen the Company. The main focus from last year was to encourage more service user involvement and this has been achieved with increased numbers of steering groups, service users being involved in the interview and training processes as well as reviewing our participation strategy. We believe our quality has improved by listening to the service users and better efficiencies are being met.

2.  Background to Stewartry Care

Stewartry Care Ltd was formed in 1993, and it has grown to become one of the major providers of Home Care in the Dumfries & Galloway region. We pride ourselves in being able to provide flexible care packages delivered in service user’s own homes. Individual requirements vary widely so a flexible range of services is offered from short visits of one hour each week to total care for 24 hours per day.

In the summer of 2004 the ownership of the Company was placed into the hands of the employees, and a Board was elected to oversee the business. The transfer into employee ownership was facilitated by the Baxi Partnership Trust, which remains an active supporter of the Company. (For more details see http://www.baxipartnership.co.uk) Employees benefit from free shares, a sense of ownership, pride and having a say in their future working life.

In this accounting year we have strengthened our office team by adding to our core staff.

The New structure is as follows:

Managing Director Margaret Paterson

Business & Marketing Director Debbie Cochrane

Operations Manager Carylann Williamson

Finance Director Katherine Trotman

Finance Assistant Suzanne Grant

Planning Manager Jill Dobie

Planning Assistant/Co-ordinator Lorraine Sweeney

Quality Assurance Officer / Co-ordinator Kelly Hiddleston

Training / Risk Assessor Karen Robinson

Field Supervisor Susanne Knight/Linda Lamont

Field Supervisor Joanna Brotherston

Field Supervisor Sandra Telfer

Planning Assistant Nina Little

Planning Assistant Claire Ingram

Finance Assistant / Administrator Bernie McFarland

Quality Assurance Officer /Administrator Beverley Warwick

Receptionist Maggie Green

Stewartry Care currently employs 137 members of Staff: 120 of these employees are Home Carers and the remaining 17 staff members are administration, coordination and management staff.

This accounting period has seen our staff totals increase by 3 for which the recruitments have been home carers.

Stewartry Care provides a home care service for older people and people with disabilities within the Dumfries & Galloway council area 88.5% of our revenue is generated by referrals which are funded by Dumfries & Galloway Council. In those cases, we are usually contacted by a representative of the social work service who have already completed an assessment of an individual’s needs, and developed a care plan. There is an element of negotiation as to whether we can fulfil the requirements of the package of care.

Stewartry Care operates under contract to Dumfries & Galloway Council with fixed charge rates. However 11.5% of the care we provide is to individuals who purchase it privately. They or someone on their behalf contacts us and we arrange for a field supervisor to visit and agree what assistance from a carer might be required. A Welcome pack is provided including charge rates. A Written Agreement is signed prior to our commencing the provision of the service. There is an emergency out-of-hours telephone number so that service users and their families, the social work service and staff members can get in touch with us at all times.

Although the split between social work and private clients has reduced we have still seen a rise in the amount of private client base and will be monitoring this over the next year.

3.  Mission, Values and Objectives

MISSION STATEMENT:

“Each person is a unique individual with the right to be in control of their own lives and the right to remain in their own home and maintain their chosen lifestyle”

VALUES/AIMS:

·  To help people live in their own homes or tenancies rather than be admitted to residential care

·  To provide choice by helping people understand the options available to them

·  To provide a service that is as flexible as possible to meet people’s needs

·  To respect people’s right to be treated with dignity and to feel safe and secure

·  To enable people to achieve all they can, maximising independence and maintaining present lifestyles

·  To respect people’s right to privacy and confidentiality

·  To treat people equally and respect individual difference

CORE OBJECTIVES

1)  To enable service users to stay in their own homes with our support by ….

·  Providing a 24 hour personal, domestic, live in care and support service

·  Providing an out of hours emergency phone number with staff based locally to respond effectively

·  Having comprehensive training and recruitment process.

·  Being adaptable in our approach as is reasonably possible

·  Doing our best to provide the service required by the user and tailored to their needs

·  Providing a person centred approach that the service user is at the heart of everything we do

This will always be our primary objective as this is what Stewartry Care is all about; we aim to provide service users with an alternative to a care home or any institutionalized setting.

2)  To be a fair and good employer and promote inclusion in the workplace by …

·  Providing ongoing high standard of formal and informal training leading to improved performance and qualifications

·  Providing formal and practical supervision

·  Setting up of regular workshops, consulting with employee owners

·  Recognizing employees needs for flexibility and family friendly working hours

·  The formation of a Quality Assurance team

·  The formation of our Employee Council

Being an employee owned company we strive to create a sense of belonging and inclusion within the company. Throughout this year we have significantly increased the number of hours of training that have been delivered and have invested in an in house trainer (Karen Robinson) Supervision has also increased with the 3 Field Supervisors regularly meeting with their team.

1 care worker has completed her SVQ level 2 and another is working towards completion of level 3. Training is happening at all levels with managers attending ACAS and Scottish Enterprise funded courses.

A large number of Stewartry Care employees work part time and are able to combine work with other family interests and commitments including other jobs.

3)  To be an environmentally conscious company by…

·  Only using power when necessary e.g. switching of lights/computers

·  Quality planning by matching staff and locations in such a way as to try and limit petrol usage

·  Recycling where possible

Stewartry Care has introduced an Environmental Officer who is working to create a policy with the management team but we currently have a working checklist. See appendix 1.

The planning department continues to work to try to reduce mileage. We are looking to introduce a pilot scheme in rural areas where carers meet and discuss and change availability to meet the needs of the service users and so reduce mileage. Further benefits would be more continuity of staff and less stress for carers eliminating travel time.

4)  To promote and support community initiatives and charitable organisations not necessarily directly involved with the company by…

·  Friends of Stewartry Care run social events to raise money for charitable organisations.

·  The company supports organisations through donations.

·  Sponsorships deals for local sports teams.

·  Taking part in community events.

Stewartry Care believes it is important to support and recognise community and charitable initiatives, at a time were day centres have been hit hard with funding Stewartry care felt we should support these places and we have held staff meetings in various community buildings.

We are looking at having a “Local Charity of the Year” nominated by carers which will be opened up then voted for by the staff, the one with the most votes will then be the charity for that year we are looking to link with other organisations.

We have completed our three year deal with the Stewartry Bowling Association but have decided to continue with our sponsorship for a further year www.stewartrybowling.org

5)  To be a financially stable company by…

·  Maintaining sound financial management and monitoring practices e.g. review accounts at board meetings and trustee meetings etc.

·  Employing the services of an accountant to ensure efficient administration with in house Finance Director and Finance Assistant.

·  Regularly reviewing accounts and records to ensure invoices are settled and accounts updated

·  Practicing good housekeeping, by creating an awareness of waste with direction from our Environmental Officer.

The company must be financially viable. This year a great effort has been made to ensure that the company is more profitable after significant losses last year due to a financial restructure. It looks at this stage this will be achieved as it is expected a slight profit shall be made at our financial year end in June. Full accounts are available on request along with further information regarding the restructure.

6)  To contribute to the local community and economy by…

·  Providing a public service which keeps money in the local area, employing local people

·  Purchasing goods and equipment from local people where possible

·  Hiring local venues, such as community centres for staff meeting and social events.

·  Hold service users steering group meetings in local hotels

We are a local business who purchase when possible from other local businesses (Stationary, food for training courses, Fuel etc). We employ well over 130 local people who help provide a service in the community. With employees being local this brings money into the area where they live.

Wages paid from 1st may 2012 to 31st April 2013 = £1,561,188

4.  ANALYSIS

It was agreed in this year’s accounting period that we would consult a number of key stakeholders for an in-depth analysis.

Other identified stakeholders such as the SSSC will be consulted in future accounts.

Key Stake holders (consulted) / Other stake holders (not consulted)
All service users
Council Funded
Private Funded
Family members of service users
Various Steering Groups
Employees
Care at home staff
Management & Operations Staff
Admin Staff / Employees families
Board Members
Elected Directors
Executive Directors
Non – Executive Directors
Trust Members
Elected Trustees
Partners
Baxi partnership
Purchasers
Dumfries & Galloway Social work
Private service users & families
Chest Heart & Stroke
Alzheimer Scotland / Other Local Authorities
Local Community
Day Centres / Home Carer organizations
UKHCA
Scottish Care
Regulator bodies
Care Inspectorate
Dumfries and Galloway Commission team
SSSC
Finance
Alexander Marshall Accountants
Royal Bank of Scotland

5.  Scope and methodology

Stewartry Care last year made the decision to commit to this process annually and had chosen the period of accounting from May to May, as this time does not clash with any other year end such as our payroll (April) or financial year (June).

This is our third accounting period.

Who did the work?

This year the team consisted of Debbie Cochrane Business & Marketing Director, Kelly Hiddleston & Beverley Warwick Quality Assurance Officers. The main tasks of gathering information would be carried out by Quality Assurance team however through the process this year it has highlighted the need to involve all departments in this process.