Plymouth City Council has partnered with Infoshare+ to modernise how they manage financial assessments for adult social care. The council implemented BetterCare Finance to replace a manual, paper-based system with a digital approach, giving residents a way to easily and accurately complete their financial assessments online.
The Challenge
Plymouth City Council’s previous case management system relied on manual processes. Financial assessments involved paper forms and staff were working across multiple systems to gather evidence and calculate contributions. The council wanted to give residents an online option while making the process more efficient for their teams.
The Solution
BetterCare Finance is a web platform that supports people going through the process of financial assessments for care. It allows users to remotely complete their own assessments, while ensuring transparency, clarity, and simplicity throughout. BetterCare Finance features easy-to-understand animations to guide users through their financial assessments, improving user understanding and answering their questions. Users are guided through the self-assessment forms and can upload evidence to support their claims.
Working with Infoshare+, Plymouth City Council implemented BetterCare Finance with their local calculation rules built in. Before going live, over 3,000 existing cases were migrated into the new system. Testing covered every scenario the council could identify, giving them confidence that the platform would handle their caseload accurately.
BetterCare Finance now integrates directly with the council’s back-office system, Eclipse. Evidence submitted by residents arrives as a PDF attachment, and data flows into the central data hub via SFTP. Staff no longer need to work across separate systems to piece together a case.
“The Better Care Finance System will provide us with a Financial Assessment system that will better serve our citizens and ensure a robust discharge of our duties under the Care Act. The migration service has provided us with the necessary assurance around its accuracy and the integration with our case management system ensures a smooth automated process.”
– Dr. Gareth Sampson, Operations Development Manager for Social Care, Plymouth City Council
The Benefits
The integration with Eclipse is a significant step. Many councils use Eclipse for adult social care, and Plymouth’s implementation shows how BetterCare Finance can sit alongside existing systems without requiring a full technology overhaul.
For councils looking to modernise their financial assessment process, Plymouth’s approach offers a practical example of how digital technology can be used to free up resources, ensuring that the most complex and vulnerable cases get the attention and assistance they need. This means that the majority of people self-serve, and those that can’t do not fall through the net.
“We’re delighted that Plymouth City Council have chosen BetterCare Finance for their digital financial assessments. The implementation has been a real team effort, and the closeness of the collaboration between both organisations is what really made the project stand out.
“We’re very excited to continue working with Plymouth City Council to make sure they get the most out of the platform for their officers and their citizens.”
– Jabran Khan, BetterCare Finance Product Owner, Infoshare+
Find Out More
Learn more about the benefits of BetterCare Finance: https://infoshareplus.com/products/bettercare-finance/
