Upcoming Features for Providers - December 2022

Better. Faster. The Care Hires Platform Version 1.12.0 Release is going live!

The Care Hires team has yet again come up with new features, and developments made available for the system users.

The Care Hires team continually strives to upgrade the system's architecture, and as a result, new features and advancements have been created and made accessible to users of the system. These additions, which will go live with the update, will greatly aid end users in resolving problems and difficulties they have previously encountered. 

The features which are included in the 1.12.0 release, will assist the Providers in their daily operations.

What will be included in this release:

📢 What’s New?

  1. Financial Reports for Care Provider
    1.1 System Export financial data into a CSV file
  2. Newly Updated Terms and Conditions 
  3. Special rates for Weekend / Evening / Holiday

  4. Change worker types to link with VAT Exemptions

  5. Worker Compliance and alert mechanism

  6. Ability to download Worker profiles

📢 What’s Improved?

  1. Footer notes to the Job tab

  2. Toast message when copying email addresses

  3. VAT Will not be charged if the Provider is VAT Exempt

Let’s now have a look at a detailed view of what's new, what's improved, and what's fixed!


1. Financial Reports for Care Providers

A financial reporting dashboard is a visual collection and representation of the key financial metrics & KPIs needed to monitor the financial health of the Providers. This feature is specifically designed and developed to record, track, and understand the Invoicing details of the care provider, while the dashboard automatically collects, consolidates, analyzes, and reports financial data points from various systems and processes. This provides a single point of finance control for providers to understand in detail what their spend and usage is, across all of their services and helps them to make better decisions. As an organization, it is crucial for many reasons to have a detailed analysis of financial information. Hence, this document outlines how the provider can view, and pull-out information in 4 main reports as a CSV file under this feature.

Ability to generate reports from the Care Hires portal

Provider users will be able to view all their financial data reports in one central dashboard. The Provider users will be able to generate 4 different reports on their spending and usage in an easy-to-read format for reference and tracking purposes.

  • Total Spend Rate

  • Month on Month

  • Average Spend

  • Approval Type

This system export function will allow the Care Providers to:

  1. Go to the “Reports” section and select any report type from the dropdown:

2. Click on the “Select Filter” button and filter by, Timeline, search by and select the care home and the agency:

Along with this, to view the Average Rate Report, search by and select the worker type and to view Approval Type Report, search by and select the Approval Type and then click on “Generate Reports" button.

Spend Rate Report - Spend Rate report will display in-depth detail on spending based on care home location. The estimated vs. actual results for the timeline are included in this report. This report will indicate how much money was spent in the past, overall, in GBP.

Month-on-Month Report - Total spending for each month will be displayed.

 

Average Rate Report - Provide the ability to filter by the care home and time period and display agency average spending based on the location of the care home.

 
 

Approval Type Report - Provide the ability to filter by the care home and time period and display job approval type, whether the job was approved manually (user approved) or by the system (auto approved)

 

Finance Reports - Exports financial data into a CSV file

A CSV (Comma separated value) file format is a commonly used file extension that offers data set as an output file, where the end-users can download them in a spreadsheet format. With the help of this tool, Care Hires' users can now quickly filter out the necessary financial data set and obtain the results report in the desired format. This is a common, well-known, and extensively used exporting format that enables users to track, update, amend, and organize financial data offline.

Care Hires has now provided our users with this feature so that they can easily filter out the required financial data set and download the report.

The user can simply click on the “Export to CSV” button to export any of the report types:

Receive an export of the selected data in a CSV format.

**Please note that this dashboard shows information based on the agreement rates and job values defined in the system agreement. Final rate changes and any duration amendments will change the value on the final invoice sent through our accounting platform. Please use the XERO invoice values for all payments and feel free to get in touch with us using the support portal for any payment/accounting discrepancies. 

2. Newly Updated Terms and Conditions

As part of the revamp, we have created new terms & conditions across the business to solidify our position between agencies & care providers.

T&Cs between the Care Providers (newly onboarded) and Care Hires

  • An email message prompting them to log in will be sent when a member of our team submits a Care Provider to the Care Hires system. They should be asked to select a checkbox when they first log in asking them to accept our terms and conditions before they can access the website. They cannot proceed if the box is not checked.

    They may proceed after the check box is ticked.

T&Cs between the newly onboarded Care Agencies and Care Providers

  • When an agency and a care provider are linked to one another as part of the care provider's PSL. They will both separately need to check the box indicating that they accept the terms and conditions set.
    The care provider cannot use the agency's workers or allow the agency to observe their shifts until both parties have signed the contract. You may continue and proceed after ticking the T&Cs checkbox

Ability to approve the contracts

A pop-up will first appear when a Care Provider or Agency registers on our platform, asking them to accept our terms and conditions.

When each policy is accepted, they only need to check the appropriate box before clicking the "Next" button. The pop-up screen contains hyperlinks to the pertinent terms. The user also has the ability to download the agreement by simply clicking on the “Download Agreement” text link.

  • Updated Care Hires Website Terms and Conditions

    • Between Care Hires and our users, a Terms and Conditions agreement serves as a contract that is legally enforceable. Users must accept and abide by the terms of the agreement in order to use and access our website or mobile application. We have included the appropriate sections in this arrangement to explain to our very own consumers the rules for using the Care Hires website and the mobile app, what happens when users misuse our website or mobile app, and so forth. These clauses are used to prevent inappropriate user behaviors including spamming other users, publishing offensive material, and attempting to infect the website or app with malware. When a Care provider or Agency signs up for our system and logs in for the first time, one of the tick-box exercises requires them to check the Website T&Cs button.

  • Updated Privacy Policy

    • The Care Hires privacy policy statement is displayed on the Care Hires website outlining how and what are the user-provided personal information/data we gather, hold, safeguard, and use. By Law, it is required by the government to have a privacy policy in place when gathering personal data from users. The Care Hires Privacy policy transparently states the intentions of user data collection. This data is collected in order to data to provide a more individualized and improved experience on our website and other services. We have informed our users about the plans to safeguard user's personal information from unwanted access. It is requested that our user's read-through the privacy policy where we state, the procedures and the locations where the data is kept. When a Care provider or Agency registers with our system and logs in for the first time, they must tick the Privacy Policy check box to proceed further

  • Updated Cookie Policy

    • Cookies policies are binding legal statements that explain to users of the website or application how Care Hires uses data monitoring and online privacy. When you visit a website again, your devices and browsers read a digitally encrypted file that is saved there called a cookie. These files support Care Hires in providing superior web experiences across all devices, platforms, and visits. In today's digital age, data privacy is a contentious topic. It is a vital requirement to declare how Care Hires uses cookies on its website and the users must be informed about the gathering of tracking data and given the choice not to have their information tracked. When a Care provider or Agency registers with our system and logs in for the first time, they must tick the Cookie Policy check box to proceed further as shown below:


4. Special rates for Weekend / Evening / Bank Holiday

Care Hires has always valued and considered the best interests of its own care workers. As a result, we have developed a feature where both parties can agree upon a special worker pricing that is higher than the standard rates for weekends, bank holidays, and night shifts. When an employee works on a special work shift, the feature will incorporate the agreed-upon rates into the platform, making it simple for the finance department to execute payments without having to manually dig through each shift history. This is stated in the section of the agreement devoted to the worker rate, which also specifies the worker rates decided and taken into account for this agreement, the commission rates for the agencies, and the formulas used to determine the resources' overall costs.

When the agreement is being created by the admin, the agency can submit its rate card which includes:

  1. The Holiday Type

    1. Weekend Rate

    2. Bank Holiday Rate

    3. Night Rate

  2. Multiplier - indicate the multiplication figure on how many times from the basic rate

The special shift rates breakdown is as follows:

  • Bank Holiday Rates

    • The Bank Holiday Rate refers to a higher rate than the standard pay rate, for workers being available and working on a bank holiday. The rate will be calculated, by multiplying the standard final hourly charge rate by the chosen multiplier.

  • Night rates

    • Workers who perform work at night, every hour between 06:00 p.m. and 12:00 a.m, are covered by the night shift. The night shift rate is calculated by multiplying the final hourly charge rate by an agreed-upon multiplier.
      **Please note that the night shifts falling on weekends or bank holidays will be considered the relevant holiday type shift (weekend shifts/bank holiday shifts) and accounted for the that specific shift rate.

  • Weekend Rates

    • Workers who attend shifts on the weekend, beginning on Saturday or Sunday, are entitled to higher pay rates than the regular base wage. The night shift rate is calculated at an hourly rate determined by multiplying the final hourly charge rate by a set multiplier.

A separate rate card containing, the special shift type, and the multiplier must be produced for each job title by the Agency. The agreement can be reviewed and approved by both the provider and the agency, when it has been delivered to them. Each special shift's time frame or schedule is established only within and by the Care Hires system in accordance with the customary set of regulations.

Once the admin adds the specific rate type and the multiplier, the estimated cost, containing the agency commission percentage, and the system will then display the final Special rates resource. 

Once the agreement is created you can click on this icon as shown below to “View Special Rate Types”

The user would then be directed to the Special Rates pop-up window, where they can examine a summary of the special rates associated with that particular agreement:

The user can also check the "Holiday Rate Breakdown" to see the different types of special rates shifts that are available as well as how the rates are calculated and catered for:

 

**Please note that with regards to the Versioning of the Agreement, the rates of the previously listed shifts will be automatically adjusted by the system on the day that a new version of the agreement is created.


5. Change worker types to link with VAT Exemptions

VAT is charged on most goods and services but includes exemptions, such as ‘Professionals’. Care Hires has always been at the forefront of abiding by the regulations and working toward the well-being of our stakeholders. The HMRC recently issued a notice on how to account for VAT on goods and services provided by registered health professionals, including doctors, dentists, nurses, and pharmacists. Hence, within the Care Hires system, we have categorized them accordingly so that VAT isn't charged to them.

For more details on the newly updated VAT Exemptions Act, please visit VAT exemptions

The above VAT exemptions have been factored in across both XERO and Care Hires portals.

Note;

  • XERO

Any worker types that are classified as ‘professional’ and VAT exempt, will be 0% VAT upon invoice.

  • Care Hires portal

Any worker types that are classified as ‘professional’ and VAT exempt, will be calculated at 0% VAT on agreements, and job postings.


6. Worker Compliance and alert mechanism

At Care Hires, compliance is at the crux of our policies and procedures. In order to keep up with this value, we have implemented a new alert mechanism within the Care Hires portal to inform our users of any negligence or error with the documents submitted or when certificates become invalid. This feature will flag workers lapsed compliance documentation, preventing them from using the system until rectified.


7. Ability to download Worker profiles

This feature allows the end-user to download the worker profile along with the personal, agency, and work-related details, the documentation provided, and the certifications uploaded in a read-easy format.

The main reason to deploy such a feature is to provide the end-user with all the details available on the system of the specific worker. It is a convenient and fast way to collect information to store without having to manually keep track of the worker’s details.

All the end-user has to do is simply go to the detailed profile view section and click the “Profile Download” button. Then the user will be able to download the relevant details in a PDF format. All the details as shown below on the screenshot will be visible in the PDF format, downloaded.


What’s Improved?

While going through the system, the team found out that there are some features and functionalities which can be improved in order to provide a seamless user experience to our very own users. Hence, now the team has worked on them and implemented these with the 1.12.0 release.

1. Footer notes to the Job tab

A small note stating that the estimated amount can be different from the actual billed amount will now be displayed on the footer of the Jobs screen.

2. Toast messages when copying email addresses

Within the portal, once the email address is copied to the clipboard, a small toast message will be displayed notifying the user that the email ID has been ''Copied Successfully''

3. VAT Will not be charged if the Provider is VAT Exempt

Complying with the HMRC regulations with regard to VAT exemptions, the provider should not be charged VAT if the provider is VAT exempt.


 9. Mail-chimp Integration

Currently, at Care Hires, Mail-chimp is used for marketing-related content sharing as well as for email campaigns. Once a new provider/agency is onboard with Care Hires, the system will pass information to the mail-chimp subscription list. This will eliminate the process of admins manually inserting the details into the subscriptions list


If you have any questions regarding the new release, please contact a member of the team at +44 (011)6 4822 999. Alternatively, send an email to techsupport@carehires.com we will be able to assist you.