Independent Care Group

ICG is committed to helping care providers to give the best possible service to the vulnerable people they care for - working in partnership with others to make this a reality. On behalf of care providers we work with North Yorkshire County Council (NYCC), City of York Council (CYC), the Clinical Commissioning Groups (CCGs) in North Yorkshire and the regulator CQC. We act as a conduit passing on the views and concerns of providers and the requirements of commissioners in an each-way process. We try to achieve the best possible solution for the independent sector on all issues including fee rates, contract terms and assistance through training. We make sure that care providers have input into quality standards and assessments which are clear and achievable. We represent providers on the Safeguarding Boards and we press for clarity and transparency of processes. We have part-funded an independent Cost of Care exercise for care homes for older people in York and North Yorkshire working in partnership with North Yorkshire County Council, City of York Council and the NHS Partnership Commissioning Unit. The independent exercise was undertaken by Mazars. This is the second independent exercise which came from an agreement reached between ICG and its Judicial Review claimants in 2012. The report from Mazars using data gathered in the exercise has been used negotiations between ICG and the commissioners to set fee rates 2016-20. As members of the Market Development Board for North Yorkshire we work with all parties to try to maintain the stability of the market while at the same time encouraging innovation and service development in line with personalisation. We are active in putting forward the case for assistance to the care sector through economic development funds to help with business change. Most importantly we aim to make sure that our members are given all the information they need to keep up to date and provide a high quality service.