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Algoma District Services Administration Board
CAO / Director Finance Joint Report – June 2004 Service Contracting
The focus of this month’s report will be an overview of the service contracts which are in place for each of the Board’s specific programs and for the Board’s general operations. In previous reports we noted the controls on the activities of the Board and staff through:
Provincial legislation - October 25, 2003, Applicable Legislation
External review processes and appeal mechanisms - November 27, 2003, External Review Processes
Specific program directives, provincial program policies and Local Services Realignment (LSR) program transfer orders - January 2004- External Controls
Provincially mandated and accounting software - May 2004- Supporting Software
Service contracts impact on the day to day working of this Board. Internally the Collective Agreement, Management Agreement and Board policies are service contract agreements. They govern the day to day activities of staff and their compensation. Ensuring adherence to these internal service contracts is the joint responsibility of the Human Resource staff and all staff members.
The provincial program service contract system is the major tool which the province utilizes to ensure that the funds it flows by way of either grants or subsidies are in fact spent on approved activities. It is an essential component of their risk management strategy. Adherence to these service plans is also a cornerstone of our own risk management strategy as it ensures that expenditures are consistent with program rules and directives.
The service contract management approach has become increasingly refined and complex as the programs transfers have matured. Each year, subsequent to the transfer, we have had increased reporting requirements through the service contract process. The Ministry downloading the program typically has moved to ensure a higher level of program monitoring, reporting and accountability then when they directly delivered the program. This drive for greater accountability has in some cases resulted from concerns raised by the Provincial Auditor. This has been matched by municipal concerns that expenditures are consistent with provincial legislation and thus eligible for provincial grants or subsidy.
The detailed ongoing reporting of both activities and expenditures as required in the service contracts are necessary to ensure the initial and continuing flow of program funds. All service contracts provide for the recovery of provincial or federal funding if the terms of the service contract have not been met. The onerous task of negotiating the plans, the ongoing reporting and the year-end reconciliation are part of the Board’s Program Support costs.
Children’s Services
A consolidated annual service contract covers each component of the children’s Service budget. These include: Child Care fee subsidy Special Needs Resources Repairs and Maintenance Program Delivery Family Resource Centres Wage subsidy Pay Equity funding Ontario Works licensed child care Ontario Works informal child care.
The service contract is negotiated following this Board’s budget process. A Board decision to increase child care expenditures must be approved through this provincial process as increased subsidy is not open ended. Generally in Children’s Services, the Board’s budget has been in whole approved.
Following the establishment of the service contract we must report quarterly. Expenditures are reported for each of the above noted components of the Children’s Services budget. Any variances beyond 10% must be accompanied by an explanation.
The financial reporting is supplemented with statistical reporting as follows:
Child Care Fee Subsidy : # of children served,# of families served Repairs and Maintenance: amounts spent on food preparation equipment, health and safety issues, playground equipment, washrooms
Family Resource Centres: # of child care workshops, # of participants, # of children registered, # of families receiving respite care, # of playgroups, # of drop ins, # of lending library transactions Wage subsidy: # of FTE staff
Pay Equity funding: level of funds distributed by provider Ontario Works licensed child care: # of participants served, # of children served
Ontario Works informal child care: # participants served, # children served
At year-end we are also required to complete a year-end reconciliation and an (APER) Annual Program Expenditure Report. These reports provide more detail on expenditure and are used by the Province to perform their reconciliation process. APER is the common reporting tool for transfer payment agencies. The APER is submitted to the Ministry of Children’s and Youth Services along with the Board’s audit and the audit management letter.
Collective Agreement
The collective agreement see Collective Agreement - CUPE Local 3631 is in fact a service contract agreement between the bargaining unit employees and the employer. It sets out in great detail the working environment, scheduling, wages and benefits. It is the first resource when dealing with bargaining unit disputes.
Emergency Medical Services
EMS is not a cost shared program as originally promised at the point of transfer. It is now referred to, by the Ministry of Health, as a grant. Nevertheless, the grant is based on the unilaterally imposed first year (2001) budget template which the Ministry refers to as the base budget. The yearly grant reflects that template and any subsequent annual increases approved by the Ministry of Health. At year-end, we are obliged to sign an assurance letter that the provincial funding was spent as budgeted and solely for land ambulance purposes. This is supplemented by the Financial Information Report (FIR) which is similar to those completed by municipalities. In addition, the Ministry has a practice of making additional information requests relating to any pressing or outstanding issues.
Continued funding is tied to the Certification process. Certification includes the maintenance of response times at the 1996 90th percentile. The certification process can require expenditures to meet standards whether they are covered by the grant or not. The certification process includes review of financial records to further confirm that provincial funding was spent as budgeted and solely for land ambulance purposes.
Specific funding, such as the Response Time Framework funding received by this Board requires proof of improved response times. Response times are reported to the Ministry of Health through the Central Ambulance Communications Centre. These Response Time Framework funds can be recovered by the Ministry if the funding conditions were not met.
Homelessness Funding
This Board receives $60,000 annually under the Homelessness initiative which is covered by a service contract. Once the annual expenditure plan is approved by this Board, it is then submitted to the Ministry of Community and Social Services for their approval. The Ministry requires statistics related to the approved expenditure plan. These include the number of individuals being served.
Presently these funds are flowed through to and then expended by community groups providing food banks and community kitchens. The statistics are manually gathered by these groups and submitted monthly. The statistics include the number of households and individuals served. On a quarterly basis these are rolled and submitted to the Ministry of Community and Social Services.
Management Agreement
Several documents set out the service agreement between the Board and the management employees. They include Management Group Compensation Summary , Management Salary Grids Nov 2001 and Management Staff Policy .
National Child Benefit Reinvestment (NCB) plan
The municipal NCB savings must be reinvested by each Consolidated Municipal Service Manager under guidelines set by the Ministry of Community and Social Services. We are obliged to seek Ministry approval for NCB reinvestments despite the fact these are 100% municipal savings. Once the plan has been approved by this Board the budget is submitted to the Ministry of Community and Social Services.
The Ministry requires statistics related to the approved expenditure plan. This includes the number of clients served by each separate component of the plan. Many of these statistics must be manually recorded. They are rolled up monthly and reported along with actual expenditure to the Ministry quarterly. Any variance of expenditure from actual savings is carried forward to the following year.
North Intake Screening Unit
The NISU was established under a five year host contract following a competitive RFP process. There is an annual service contract between the Ministry of Community and Social Services and this Board. That annual ISU service contract requires the regular submission of budgets, audits and monthly statistics. In 2002, 2003 and 2004 the Board’s submitted budget was not approved and the service contract reflected the Ministry’s imposed budget cap.
Expenditures are reported to the Ministry quarterly at the same level of detail as the budget presented to this Board. See NISU- 2004 Draft Budget. ISU activity is reported on a monthly basis as follows: Average daily # of calls, call handling time, # of calls abandoned, screen in rate, ineligibility rate, call discontinuation rate, total screen out rate. The ISU monthly statistics are then shared with all Ontario Works delivery agents by the Ministry.
Ontario Works
There are several service contracts under Ontario Works with the main contract divided into program sub-areas. Service contracting reporting requirements is especially rigorous under Ontario Works. Information reported to the Ministry is entered and maintained in the Ministry’s Service Management Information System. Due to the failure of the Service Delivery Model Technology (SDMT) system to consistently provide reliable statistical information some statistics must be manually tracked or manually crosschecked.
The Ontario Works main service contract tracks a variety of funding and service data information. The Ministry collects this funding and service data for the following reasons:
1. To calculate funding and recoveries. 2. Assess the Service Managers performance under the Service Contract. 3. Assess the Service Managers compliance to Ontario Works legislation, regulations and directives.
The sub components of the main service contract and the statistical reporting requirements are as follows.
Program Delivery: The mandatory payments to clients under the Ontario Works program benefits from guaranteed open ended funding. Reporting for these payments is done monthly to the Province and can be crosschecked to SDMT. The cost of the administration of the program is not open ended. Thus there is no service contract on the client benefits but there are service contracts for program delivery. Program delivery costs are reported as totals on a quarterly basis and in the same detail as the Board budget for the actual contract and year-end reconciliation.
Employment Programming: The number of clients must be reported in each of the three levels of employment programming. A specific spread between the three employment programming levels must be maintained to ensure funding. There is a maximum level set for the most basic level of employment programming to ensure that delivery agents provided full range of in-depth employment services. The detail of the specific employment and training activities is maintained in the provincially mandated Service Delivery Model Technology and this provides the rolled up numbers which are reported quarterly. It should be noted that this performance based funding cannot exceed actual expenditure.
The Service Data collected includes:
Service Level Funding:
All Levels: · average number of participants (used to set % for the three levels) · number of participant years · total eligible expenditures (limits funding) · number gaining employment through employment programming · number of Ontario Works placements
Level 1 – Basic: · average number of participants (used to calculate funding and performance %’s) · number of participant years · level as a % of total (drives funding) · average monthly number of participants in Independent Job Search · average monthly number of participants in Structured Job Search
Level 2 – Intermediate: · average number of participants (used to calculate funding and performance %’s) · number of participant years · level as a % of total (drives funding) · intensive case management service supports (increases funding) · number with less than 30 hours of Community Placement per month · total number of Community Placement hours · number of participants in Employment Placement without incentives · number of participants receiving jobs skills training · number of participants receiving Basic Education or Training
Level 3 – Intensive: · average number of participants (used to calculate funding and performance %’s) · number of participant years · level as a % of total (drives funding) · number of participants in Employment Placement with incentives · number of participants in Self Employment · number of participants with 30 hours or more of Community Placement · Intensive Case Management and related supports · number of participants in Learning Earning and Parenting (LEAP)
Leaning Earning And Parenting (LEAP) is a program of intensive counselling and supports for young parents. Under LEAP we report the number of participants and related expenditures.
Eligibility Review Officer (ERO) Initiative The service contract requires the reporting of expenditures and any estimated program savings.
Consolidated Verification Project (CVP) Initiative CVP provides for the formalized internal review of cases by a second worker. In Algoma this work is done by the Integrated Services Access Unit. The reviews are driven by risk assessment factors and length of time on assistance. Service contract reporting is done within SDMT and outcomes aggregated by the Ministry. The CVP performance data is then distributed by the Ministry to all Ontario Works Delivery agents. That performance data is the actual reviews completed versus the imposed targets. Failure to meet review targets initiates a review by the Program Supervisor of the Ministry.
In addition to the Ontario Works main service contract, there are other service contracts for services provided under the Ontario Works envelop. These include:
Addictions programming: Following the establishment of the service contract, the Board reports actual expenditure and service data quarterly as follows:
· number of participants · number of participant years · actual expenditure for assessments, treatments, addiction specialists (staffing), supports and other
Year-end reconciliation reports are submitted to the Ministry of Community and Social Services along with the Board’s audit and the audit management letter.
Enhanced Family Support
Enhanced Family Support provides a resource to clients who have to seek support from a spouse. Following the establishment of the service contract, the staff reports quarterly on performance and funding. The statistics include number of cases served and the results of the support enforcement process.
Social Housing
Service contracting is continuously developing in Social Housing as the Ministry of Housing and Municipal affairs initiates new programs and funding streams. Almost all of the social housing funding is federal but it is flowed through the province. As a result, the service contract requirements reflect the federal provincial funding agreements.
In Social Housing, we are required to report using the Service Manager Annual Information Return (SMAIR). The municipal non-profit housing providers are also obliged to complete a SMAIR which we then consolidate for the provincial submission. The SMAIR is submitted to the Ministry of Municipal Affairs and Housing along with the Board’s audit and the audit management letter. The SMAIR is a summary of financial, operating and statistical information that the Ministry uses to:
1. assess the Service Managers compliance with the Social Housing Reform Act, 2000. 2. reporting to Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation.
The SMAIR includes the following:
Federal funding and actual expenditure: Total funding received and actual expenditures by program (federal and municipal). Programs are Public Housing, Rent Supplement, Limited Dividend, Section 26, Section 27, Section 95 Private, Section 95 MNP, Provincial Reformed, Pre – 1986 Urban Native and Post – 1985 Urban Native.
Combined Statistical Information: Statistical information by program including: · households assisted by program type · household types assisted and average gross income by families, seniors, non-elderly singles and special needs
Service Level Standards: Reports on the following service level standards: · Households receiving RGI assistance whose household income is at or below the household limit established in regulation · High need households · Units modified to provide physical accessibility · Households receiving support services
The new Rent Bank initiative and the new Strong Communities rent supplement program have separate service agreements. These require data on the number of families served and the funds expended.
Summary
The service contract approach creates a significant amount of work in submitting proposals, negotiating contracts and then doing ongoing statistical and expenditure reporting. However, this process also provides us with the management information we need to project future year costs and identify service trends.
David Court – CAO
Keith Bell – Director of Finance |
