The unit costs of social work activity are calculated using information from staff about the amount of time spent on each activity, collected by holding focus groups with teams of social workers. This data is combined with salary information from finance departments using a cost formula which also incorporates on-costs and capital overheads.

For each of eight social care processes we calculated a standard cost, identified factors which produce cost variations and set out the results in the different rows of the unit cost sheets.

Local authority customised costs

Purchasers of the implementation version of the Cost Calculator for Children’s Services have the option of carrying out a similar process in their local authority to customise any or all of their unit costs and enter them in a customised unit cost table.

You need to compile information on:

1. The processes and activities in which social workers, their managers, administrative staff and others engage to support the placements of looked after children
2. The salaries and overhead costs of social workers and other staff of local authority children’s services
3. Detailed data about the social work activities, showing the staff who undertake them and the time they spend on each.

Your customised unit cost table can be based on an existing table. You may therefore choose to customise just some of the unit costs and retain the existing values for the others.