Every year there is a large demand for additions to the annual aggregate adult social care (ASC) data collections, while there are typically no areas identified for reduction. The resulting demand for growth of the collections, and the burden it places on local authorities (LAs) and NHS Digital, is not sustainable. The NHS Digital review reported early in 2018 (see below), recommended that client level data be introduced as a low burden solution to many of these demands. The September 2018 Letter to local authorities outlined a project to create client level social care returns. The ambition of this project is that client level data flows are built on data recorded in case management systems to reduce the gap between local and national records of social care data. The development of client level data returns should also relieve the pressure of compiling data for the current aggregate return.
The client level data (CLD) project is focused on updating the granularity for the collection of social care data from LAs. The initial focus will be to ensure that SALT (Short and Long Term Support) data can be replicated at client level. The project is not looking to change definitions, or the data LAs collect. The overall aim for the core project is to minimise changes other than the collection format, whilst being open to improvements where non-contentious.
NHS Digital recently hosted Adult Social Care workshops where they held sessions on the Client Level Data project. The slides from the sessions are available on their website. If you would like further information about the CLD project or the review mentioned above, please contact socialcaredata@dhsc.gov.uk .
