Presentation on the Deferred Payment Agreement Eligibility Calculator for adult social care by Matthew Wood-Hill, DCLG Local Digital Programme and John McMahon, IEG4, at the Local Digital Futures - Working as One: Platforms & Sharing event held on 4 March 2016 in London.
3. What is a Deferred Payment Agreement?
Matthew Wood-Hill | @mattwh1 | DCLG | Local Digital Futures | March 2016
4. Matthew Wood-Hill | @mattwh1 | DCLG | Local Digital Futures | March 2016
What is a Deferred Payment Agreement?
5. Matthew Wood-Hill | @mattwh1 | DCLG | Local Digital Futures | March 2016
What is a Deferred Payment Agreement?
6. Matthew Wood-Hill | @mattwh1 | DCLG | Local Digital Futures | March 2016
What is a Deferred Payment Agreement?
7. A common tool, designed once, in collaboration with users
Matthew Wood-Hill | @mattwh1 | DCLG | Local Digital Futures | March 2016
Identified a common need;
mapped a solution
Devised project plan and brought
developer (IEG4) on board
Assembled a working group to co-
designed the product
User research
Demos and user testing
Product refinement
Getting the product to
market fast
8. Getting it out fast – June 2015
Matthew Wood-Hill | @mattwh1 | DCLG | Local Digital Futures | March 2016
9. Getting it out fast – June 2015
Matthew Wood-Hill | @mattwh1 | DCLG | Local Digital Futures | March 2016
10. APIs underpinning the calculator to be open and
free
Allows local authorities to ‘Be consistent, not
uniform’
Feedback API to anonymously collect data
Working out loud
Open Design Principles
Matthew Wood-Hill | @mattwh1 | DCLG | Local Digital Futures | March 2016
!
11. Average 200-300 hits per council in the first six
months
Just 2 DPAs issued by Local Authorities per
month in this time
How many people took their application further?
How many were ineligible?
It has a clear role in better informing citizens in
planning long terms care.
It’s difficult to stack up a business case.
Current Use
Matthew Wood-Hill | @mattwh1 | DCLG | Local Digital Futures | March 2016
0
200
400
600
Calculator Hits DPAs approved
12. Postponement of care cap
Reflections: Three Key Challenges
Matthew Wood-Hill | @mattwh1 | DCLG | Local Digital Futures | March 2016
Diverse local authority approaches
No common hosting platform?
20. Calculation
Engine
Central Gov
• Rules
• Parameters
Local Gov
• Data
• Signposting
• Localisation
Online Form
• 24/7 access
• Single page
• Anonymous
Outcome Indication
Citizen
Email with results PDF
Data Warehouse Analytics
Results
In 2014 the government reformed the Care Act. Many of these reforms significantly impact on local authorities. We carried out a couple of discovery workshops with DH in 2014 to understand local authority concerns.
One thing it demanded was that all local authorities must offer deferred payment agreements for adult social care finance. Local authorities, at that time, were worried they were about to see a surge in interest in DPAs, and were interested in an online eligibility checker.
A DPA allows people to offset the value of their social care against the value of their property – for people who have less than £23,000 in savings.
The process we went through to design the DPA calculator (John will talk about the product).
Having identified a common need and got a sense of what the solution might be we put together a project plan and team – which included an external consultant and software developer.
We developed the product using an iterative software development approach – starting with a discovery phase, where we invited local authorities to co-design the product and help with user research.
In the Alpha phase we worked towards a live calculator, and our group of collaborators carried out user testing in their own authorities and gave feedback to us and the developers. This was really helpful because different councils identified different problems that others might not have considered as issues yet.
We refined the product based on this feedback (and compromise!) and launched the first beta versions in June 2015.
It was a quick development process, and a methodology we tested in response to a pressing concern. And I think this sort of model for product delivery in the public sector is going to be really relevant in the years ahead – especially in light of the £400 million funding the NHS have to begin developing an NHS.UK digital platform, and ongoing work around health and social care integration.
Our public sector partners in the project, and the three calculators that launched in June.
The calculator was designed around four really important principles:
APIs to be open and free – we used APIs rather than design a widget because it allows it to be used as part of a building block in other services, and so local authorities and suppliers can build their own solutions.
Local authorities can design the front-end themselves, and keep their own branding on it, as well as the look and feel of their website.
Feedback to be collected to inform service and policy
Working out loud – we’ve communicated every step of the way with blogs and media outputs from workshops to make the process as open and transparent as possible.
The postponement of the care cap, which was announced in April/May 2015 (Just when we got the project started!) took the wind out of its sails. The care cap proposed to cap citizen care costs at £72,000 per year. Without the cap, citizens are liable for a potentially infinite amount, making a DPA far less attractive. This means responding to DPAs is now a lower priority for LAs, so there is less interest (resource in the product).
The API approach was designed to allow maximum flexibility in what Local Authorities could put on their sites. Nevertheless, teams in different places have different ideas about what a product should look like, and this is why collaboration and compromise were so important. You can’t design a product that is perfect for everyone.
Central government – in general – does not currently have great capacity in terms of hosting an administering APIs. This is a challenge when we talk about digitising government services – where will they all live?
In terms of the future of the DPA calculator, DH has committed to taking on the calculator and we are working through that process now. We’ll make announcements when it’s safe and sound in its new home!