What's New Bulletin 258 - 24 July 2025
This is edition 258 of the provider bulletin, containing information on guidance, procedures and new initiatives. Very urgent or high priority communications may still be issued on an ad hoc basis, but we will try to keep these to a minimum
1. Home Support and Supported Living Market Intelligence Questionnaire (MIQ) – Deadline 29 July 2025 – (Information for all Providers Holding the Home Support 2024 and Supported Living 2023 Contracts)
2. Fee increases April 2026 - Provider Engagement Sessions / Working Group (Information for all 番茄社区 Contracted Providers)
3. Provider Focus Groups – Opportunity to Feedback to 番茄社区 City Council (Information for all Care Providers that Support Citizens Funded by 番茄社区 City Council)
4. Justice and Care - New Video for International Care Workers (Information for all Providers)
5. REMINDER NHS 番茄社区 and Solihull (BSOL) Training Hub July 2025 (Information for 番茄社区 and Solihull Care Homes)
6. REMINDER Clouds End – Free Multi Agency Hoarding Awareness Training July – November 2025 (Information for all Providers)
1. Home Support and Supported Living Market Intelligence Questionnaire (MIQ) – Deadline 29 July 2025 – (Information for all Providers Holding the Home Support 2024 and Supported Living 2023 Contracts)
If your service hold either or both of the Home Support 2024 and Supported Living 2023 contracts, you are requested to complete and submit this questionnaire by clicking this link:
The deadline for completion is Tuesday 29 July 2025
Further information about this subject has been circulated to providers. If you don’t have a copy, please email marketintelligence@birmingham.gov.uk
The questionnaire is issued quarterly.
Completion of the questionnaire is part of the terms of the Home Support 2024 and Supported Living 2023 contracts
The purpose of the questionnaire is to collect information to assist our market shaping and development role, the production of our Market Position Statements, fulfil our Care Act duties around ensuring a quality and sustainable market, to help us direct resources, identify areas of risk, and monitor progress towards our strategic aims. It has been co-produced with health colleagues to reduce duplication in data collection, and has been streamlined so that we are only collecting information that is not available to us from elsewhere e.g. the Capacity Tracker.
2. Fee increases April 2026 - Provider Engagement Sessions / Working Group (Information for all 番茄社区 Contracted Providers)
The Commissioning Team are planning to run several engagement sessions and workshops with representatives from the CQC regulated care market in relation to April 2026 fee increases. We are planning to run the sessions from late Summer into the Autumn, with the aim of providing a range of information from the Council’s perspective, to gain feedback from the care market about current cost pressures, sustainability risks, to better understand provider expectations, and to engage in meaningful discussions.
We are therefore seeking expressions of interest from a range of different providers across the contracted Care Home, Supported Living, Home Support and Extra Care markets who wish to take an active role in the sessions. The sessions are likely to take up around 3-4 hours of your time over a 3-4 month period, and we ask that attendees have a good understanding of their organisations’ finances and play an active role in providing feedback and engaging in discussions.
We are looking for a maximum of 10 representatives from each of the above market segments to take part – should we receive more expressions of interest we may limit the size of the groups to enable the sessions to be productive and manageable.
If you are interested in taking part, please complete and submit the Microsoft Form below by midnight on Monday 4th August 2025.
3. Provider Focus Groups – Opportunity to Feedback to 番茄社区 City Council (Information for all Care Providers that Support Citizens Funded by 番茄社区 City Council)
We are arranging four Provider Focus Groups in August and September (18 August / 20 August / 28 August / 2 September 2025) via Microsoft Teams. Each session will run for 90 minutes - they are open to all Care Providers that support citizens funded by 番茄社区 City Council. You only need to attend one session (please select either Provider Focus Group A, B, C or D – please pick only one – all sessions are the same). The purpose of the Provider Focus Groups is to give you an opportunity to feedback on how you think the Council is performing in key areas – Social Work / Occupational Therapy / Safeguarding / Commissioning / Communication & Relationships.
Use the links below in order to register to attend one of these sessions:
For further information, please use this link operationalcommissioning@birmingham.gov.uk
4. Justice and Care - New Video for International Care Workers (Information for all Providers)
Justice and Care want to share a new video they launched on 22 July 2025, produced by Justice and Care and the Gangmasters and Labour Abuse Authority (GLAA).
The video is designed to support international care workers in the UK and raise awareness of their rights following the closure of the Social Care Visa Route, which came into effect on 22 July 2025.
Between January and September 2023, over 117,000 health and care visas were granted, an increase of 133% on the previous year. While many employers follow the rules, there has been a rise in exploitation cases, including workers arriving in the UK burdened by excessive recruitment fees, often after selling property or taking on debt.
The video features real-life accounts from care workers and urges prospective workers to avoid agencies that charge illegal recruitment fees or impose exploitative conditions. It provides clear, practical guidance on visa sponsorship, daily life in the UK, and how to spot signs of labour abuse.
Please find the video links below:
English:
Hindi:
Malayalam:
Tamil:
5. REMINDER NHS 番茄社区 and Solihull (BSOL) Training Hub July 2025 (Information for 番茄社区 and Solihull Care Homes)
The 番茄社区 and Solihull Training Hub Website is for those working in a primary or social care role in the Solihull / 番茄社区 area. The information is for students looking for support with career development or a visitor wanting to find out more.
Please use this link for training, further information and booking:
All training events are listed in the calendar section. You can also contact the training hub by email bsol.traininghub@nhs.net.
The next sessions are:
29 July 2025 Medication Management - 2:00 pm - 4:00 pm
30 July 2025 Mental Capacity Act Awareness Training - 9:30 am - 12:00 pm
7 August Continuing Healthcare (CHC) Checklists Training (August 2025) - 2:00 pm - 4:00 pm
6. REMINDER Clouds End – Free Multi Agency Hoarding Awareness Training July – November 2025 (Information for all Providers)
Free online training for staff on hoarding is available. The full day sessions (10.00am to 4.00pm) cover understanding hoarding and an overview of the C20 project (module 1), supportive engagement techniques (module 2) and supportive interventions for successful multi agency working (module 3). Training days are on:
30 July 2025
24 September 2025
19 November 2025
All sessions are on Zoom
To book, please email help@cloudsend.org.uk stating the date you are interested in, and the meeting link will be shared with you.