Hi all,

On 12^th March, the government announced changes relating to international recruitment of care workers and senior care workers. From 9^th April, care providers in England who wish to recruit a new worker from overseas, or those switching from another visa route, will have to first prove that they have attempted to recruit a worker from within the UK who is already in the route and needs new sponsorship.

The Home Office are running three webinars providing further information on these changes and what they mean for ASC providers. The sessions will cover:

• Changes to Certificate of Sponsorship requests for sponsoring care workers and senior care workers based entirely in England.
• Changes to Minimum Salary Requirement
• Changes to deductions from salary

Please use the links below to register for a session:

Tuesday 1st April:14:30 - 15.00

https://events.teams.microsoft.com/event/dea38eef-57a6-4e01-8acd-0919db1b60aa@f24d93ec-b291-4192-a08a-f182245945c2

Wednesday 2nd April: 11:30 - 12.00

https://events.teams.microsoft.com/event/4615bbc3-a6d4-4651-9851-e7349afc7cf7@f24d93ec-b291-4192-a08a-f182245945c2

Thursday 3rd April: 18:00 - 18:30

https://events.teams.microsoft.com/event/c91af936-ced3-495d-a0ac-bad2e1f28f8d@f24d93ec-b291-4192-a08a-f182245945c2

If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to get in touch.

Liv

Oxfordshire County Council has agreed fee uplifts for the forthcoming financial year. The % increase will be dependent on the care type that you are contracted to provide. https://www.oxfordshire.gov.uk/sites/default/files/file/adult-social-and-health-care/occ_asc_fee_uplifts_2025-26.pdf

As with previous years, we will apply the fee increase up to the ceiling threshold limits, as determined by our framework contracts. We will not apply automatic uplifts to any care that is above the ceiling rate, nor any care that is provided outside of Oxfordshire. The Uplift Review process is available for providers who wish to request an uplift.

More detail can be found on our webpages.

Are you struggling with staff retention? Do you want to attract and keep top talent? The Skills for Care ‘Recruit to retain’ programme offers practical, values-based strategies to strengthen recruitment, support staff development, and reduce turnover. 

This three-day virtual programme will help you build a values-driven, supportive workplace that enhances staff wellbeing, reduces turnover and associated costs and attracts high-quality candidates. It’s designed to support you to meet Care Quality Commission (CQC) standards, deliver high quality care and build a strong, loyal workforce.

Programme dates

Thursday 08 May 2025, 10:00 – 16:00
Thursday 22 May 2025, 10:00 – 16:00
Wednesday 04 June 2025, 10:00 – 16:00

Book your place now: https://events.skillsforcare.org.uk/skillsforcare/2129/register

Start your journey to a smoke-free life today with the help of our stop smoking services for not just you, but also for your loved ones. Stop for life Oxon offer free weekly support and a range of quitting aids that can help guide you to a happier and healthier future.

Everyone's journey is unique. For some, it might involve establishing a new routine or keeping themselves occupied. For others, having a friend or family member join in can provide the encouragement needed to stay motivated.

No matter what approach suits you best, Stop for Life Oxon is here to support you every step of the way: www.stopforlifeoxon.org/well-worth-it

Dear Care Provider,

Hopefully, you are already aware that the regulations relating to the procurement of public services and goods are changing from 24th February 2025. This is part of a reset of how the UK does business for public contracts following Brexit and taking into account the new Government’s National Procurement Strategy.

Key Points:

• Suppliers must register on the Central Digital Platform before submitting bids for new procurements starting after 24th February.
• Registration includes confirming key company information, which can be updated and maintained by the supplier.
• This information will be available centrally, on the Central Digital Platform and will not need to be replicated when tendering.

For clarity, this will only apply to new frameworks and contracts tendered after this date. Call-offs/placements from existing frameworks will continue as normal.

Important Links:

• Suppliers: How to register your organisation and first administrator on Find a Tender in three easy steps (HTML) - GOV.UK

• Doing business with the council - supplying goods and services | Oxfordshire County Council(External link)

• The Procurement Act 2023 A short guide for suppliers(External link)
• Central digital platform factsheet(External link)
• TPP suppliers guide and knowledge drops LinkedIn(External link)

• Recent comms and marketing resources (1)(External link)

Cold health alert issued for the South East

The yellow cold health alert is in effect from 9AM on 07/02/2025 until 9AM on 11/02/2025 across the South East. The yellow alert has a matrix score of 7. This means:

You can see all the weather health alerts currently in place across England on the UKHSA data dashboard.

How to take action if you have a duty to respond

Please review the Weather Health Alert System user guidance to explain how you can use the information contained within the alerts to respond to the forecast weather.

We provide guidance on how to take action for a range of professional groups with a duty to respond, with action cards available for commissioners, health and social care providers, and the voluntary and community sector. Summary action cards are also available below:

· commissioners

· voluntary and community sector

· care homes and other residential settings

· services delivering care to people in their homes

· hospitals and other healthcare settings

For an overview of the weather alerts in place across England, please check the UKHSA data dashboard.

The Met Office may issue National Severe Weather Warnings (for example, snow and ice) with short notice, so you can take appropriate action. Check the Met Office Website to see the National Severe Weather Warnings currently in place.

You can also find information of the latest weather forecast on the Met Office website.

How to protect yourself if you are vulnerable

While exposure to cold weather can affect anyone, some people are particularly at risk. We have published guidance on staying safe during cold weather.

Planning for adverse weather

All organisations should read the Adverse Weather and Health Plan. This is important if you provide health and social care. The plan explains what you should do before and while a cold health alert is in place.

To support local planning, please check the guidance on local resilience forums

About cold health alerts

Chief executives of the following organisations in England receive cold health alerts:

· health trust providers of NHS commissioned care

· local authorities

· social care organisations

The Cold-Health Alert Service in England runs from 1 November to 31 March each year, in partnership with the Met Office. This is the period when low temperatures are likely to occur.

If we observe low temperatures outside of this period, we will issue an extraordinary cold health alert. If this happens, stakeholders should take the usual public health actions.

You can share this email with your organisation or sign up to receive alerts using our registration form. We have a separate form if you would like to update your registration details.

Please let us know if you have a question or have a problem with your subscription. You can also unsubscribe from this service.

UKHSA and the Met Office use the Risk Matrix to assign a risk score for each alert. Users can refer the alert’s risk score to the matrix to understand the severity of the alert and likelihood of its impact.

Updates to cold health alerts

UKHSA and the Met Office make daily risk assessments. We will issue a new alert should the alert level change.

Further Advice and guidance

Flood Alerts and Warnings

UKHSA Privacy Notice

PCH events:

Operating model toolkit communities of practice

Four new digitising and streamlining assessment groups supporting improved demand management, enhance workforce morale and delivery of more personalised care. Open to all, each community of practice focuses on a toolkit theme and associated tool cards:

• 13 January 2025 1-3pm Practitioners, workforce, providers and partners – creating an optimal workforce that can conduct efficient adult social care assessments. Tools explored will support you to manage the workforce, enabling joined up working and exploring areas of strength-based practice and resources to support this.
• 15 January 2025 10-12pm Technology, data, information and tools – embed digitisation and data into the way you undertake your adult social care assessments. This will include tools to support the automation of processes, data gathering and analysing and digitisation of assessment processes.
• 10 February 2025 2-4pm People who draw on care and support, and carers – explore the perspective of people and carers who interact with adult social care assessment process and how they find this process. We will explore tools and resources to support people accessing adult social care assessments and those who seek information on the assessment process.
• 13 February 2025 10-12pm Functional processes (including assessment pathways) – explore elements of the adult social care assessment pathway and the associated processes. We will explore tools and resources to support day-to-day tasks completed by your workforce to support people and carers through the assessment journey.

Adult social care information and advice: artificial intelligence (AI) opportunities (16 January 11-12pm)

Hear from councils introducing AI to support people accessing adult social care information online.

Digital skills community of practice

We are delivering a series of community of practice sessions throughout this quarter that will increase digital confidence and technology skills for occupational therapists, social workers, principal occupational therapists, and principal social workers.

Further online events will focus on navigating the requirements of consent with technology (18 February 2-3pm), and embracing technology and AI (6 March 1-2pm and 27 March 11-12pm).

ADASS events:

AI in adult social care webinars (27 January and 26 February)

Hosted by WM ADASS but open to all, these two online events will explore use of AI at the front door and for improving adult social care. Email info@wm-adass.org.uk to register.

PCH publication:

Implementing digital social care records

Our new briefing brings together learning from councils and integrated care systems across the country following this year’s rollout of digital social care records into adult social care registered provision. It spells out the benefits and challenges and provides practical guidance on how to overcome barriers, and support and incentivise good practice.

DHSC publication:

New reforms and independent commission to transform social care - GOV.UK announced last week included new high-level commitments to digital.

FREE VBA training and Vape workshops

We have a FREE Very Brief Advice session booked for 21st January, to support any non-clinical professionals who work on the frontline with clients, service users or any Oxfordshire residents. Due to high demand, we have added a further 10 spaces to the session. I have attached an updated poster - please could you share??

Very Brief Advice can help anyone to have a 30 second conversation, which could save a life. The training will cover background information on smoking and why it is still so important to help the 65,000 Oxon smokers to quit. The trainer will then cover how VBA works and spend time preparing attends on when and how to have the conversation, where to signpost to and how to make a referral or support an individual to do their own. The 2 hour session is online via Teams and tickets can be booked via Eventbrite.

We also have 3 Vape Workshops planned for 2025. These are run by The National Centre for Smoking Cessation Training (NCSCT). This workshop is designed to provide clinical and non-clinical professionals alike, with up-to-date evidence and practice guidance on vapes and vaping. The course follows the evidence and reflects the ever-developing technology of vapes, device selection and use, considerations for use of vapes by young people and pregnant women, clinical guidance on vaping as an aid to smoking cessation and harm reduction, plus answers to frequently asked questions and vaping myths. The one-hour online session is bookable via the link on the poster, directly with Tom at NCSCT.

Please share the attached posters with anyone who might benefit from this useful knowledge and skills. 24-0162 OCC Vaping poster 2025 dates.pdf

Promotion poster - generic VBA (2).pdf

With the ongoing cold period of weather I wondered if it would be possible to highlight the support that Better Housing Better Health can provide, especially with covering costs of additional heating. The service can issue emergency fuel vouchers of at least £50 if people are finding it costly to heat their homes during these colder temperatures. They can also provide other sources of advice and support for a longer term interventions to improve the warmth of the home.

More general advice can be found here on support in Oxfordshire and I attached the coms pack which has a list of other types of support available in the community, such as libraries as “warm spaces” where people can spend as much time as they need for warmth and company. Winter Warmth Toolkit November 2024 (2).pdf

Oxfordshire Association of Care Providers are hosting Oxfordshire Care Awards 2025 in Blenheim Palace 6 May 2025. To see previous years winners and/or submit your nominations visit Oxfordshire Care Awards Celebrating Excellence in Care