This is a cost modelling and comparison tool for Supporting People commissioners. It allows you to estimate
what you think SP services should cost, and compare your estimates with estimates from other SP teams
on a like-for-like basis.
As more and more SP teams use the tool, there will be more benchmarking data available for comparison.
We hope that this will help you build a better understanding of what a reasonable range of local SP
costs look like, both as hourly rates and as weekly unit costs. It can also be used in consultation with providers.
The tool takes into account a range of different cost drivers which can vary between local areas. Along with
service design details, the tool uses these to build an indicative set of reasonable cost levels.
When comparing estimates from different SP teams, you can apply an area cost adjustment, which takes varying
regional labour costs into account. This allows comparisons between all geographical areas.
We do not expect you to enter any commercially sensitive information into the tool.
Assessing Value for Money
Supporting People services should deliver for value for money, and cost is only one element.
Outcomes are centrally important, and CLG will be rolling out a new outcomes framework. Service relevance,
service performance (utilisation, throughput etc.) and service quality (QAF scores) are also important
indicators of value for money.
Lower unit costs alone do not necessarily mean better value for money.
Appropriate use of the tool
This tool can be used by Supporting People teams and their providers to determine an acceptable
cost range for local services of a particular type, using local information about the most
common service cost drivers include service type, labour, travel and level of support.
This will help both commissioners and providers to explore the reasons why some services
fall outside local benchmarks and to decide whether or not this is acceptable.
The tool should not be used to dictate the costs of individual elements of a service, or to
drill into individual service budgets, unless the provider requests assistance in this area
to better understand their service costs.
CLG sees the development of the SP Outcomes Framework as the final piece in the overall approach to
assessing the value for money provided by support services. It is very important to emphasise that
outcomes data provides one part of the overall judgement about value for money and that outcomes
alone cannot provide sufficient information to judge the effectiveness of a support service.
Outcomes need to be viewed in context, alongside other key pieces of data such as cost,
quality, overall performance, strategic relevance and contribution to local strategic priorities,
user satisfaction and stakeholders and partners views.
Getting started
Each page contains step by step instructions. Click on the tab ‘Service Models’ to begin. Each page serves a different purpose:
- Service Models: on this page you create can create new "Service models"
and load previously saved models. This page also asks for some core data about each service model.
- Staff: here you define the staffing structure for the service (by using ratios;
the actual staff requirements are calculated for you later).
- Cost Levels: here you enter the key constituent costs of the service you will model.
- Unit Costs: this page shows the resultant weekly and hourly unit costs, and allows you to adjust
different cost drivers to see the effect.
- Cost Comparison: this allows you to compare any of your service models with
other service models on the central system.
The help page also contains useful documents on how to use the tool.
The help icons: 
can be clicked for more
detailed information about an item.