Before any package of care can be created there must be an understanding as to who any costs will be attributed. In simple terms who is going to pay for it.

A contract states who is responsible for paying for any given care call.

Contracts can be broken down into several different types but by default CareFree is set up with Social Services and Private types.

Within CareFree the Client is the individual who receives the care. This does not mean that they however are the person to whom the invoice is sent.

In CareFree, the person who receives the invoice is referred to as the Customer.

Whether this Customer is responsible for handling the invoices of several Clients will often dictate the type of contract that you are going to set up.

For example where a contract is a Social Services type or a blanket contract the invoices for perhaps many different Client’s care provision will be sent to the same Customer at the same address.

Where ever the invoice for a particular package of care or part of a package of care is to be invoiced to a different customer address then a different contract is required.

Where the Customer is only being invoiced for the care provision of a single Client then his will usually be a Private or a Direct Payment type of contract.

There is a specific screen in CareFree for the management and maintenance of Contracts which allows you to view all the given contracts that your organisation has established. This is useful when looking at amending existing contracts but when setting up a new contract for the first time it is often easier to do this via the Client Screen Contracts Tab.

In order to re-use an existing contract for a new client, simply Click on the icon. Select the contract from the list and then click OK.

Where a contract for a new Customer that will be invoiced for several Clients needs to be set up then using the Contract Maintenance screen will provide the most straightforward way of doing this.

This screen contains all the existing contracts that have previously created and provides a location in which they can be Edited or Deleted as well as providing a further means of creating a new contract.

Using the icon will allow you to create a new Customer if required. The Customer Screen follows the same principles as most of the other screens within CareFree. The action buttons allow you to create a New Customer or Edit/Delete an Existing Customer.

For circumstances where you wish to add a brand new contract for a client or a bespoke contract you should click on the icon. This will launch the New Contract Wizard.

The Wizard follows either three or four steps dependant on whether the client already has an existing contract and packages of care.

Selecting the top option on Step One will allow creation of a Bespoke contract for the client.

The second option launches the Contract Maintenance Screen and is used primarily for creating a new blanket contract that will cover more than one individual client. Click Next to move on.

Step Two allows you to set the information regarding who will be invoiced for the contract. If this is the client themselves then the details will already be transferred across. Should this be anyone different then their details should be entered here. Click Next to move on.

During this stage you can give the contract a name as well as select the Contract Type and set the Start and End dates of the contract.

Using the icon will allow you to attach a list of possible needs that may be selected under that contract. It is a good idea to attach all the possible needs at this stage as a client’s requirement may change over time. Click Next to move on. It’s important to note though that you will only ever invoice for the needs that you deliver.

It may be that if the client has no existing contracts or calls in the system that Stage Three is the final stage. In which case Click Finish to complete the Wizard. If however the client has other contracts and existing packages of care then Stage Four will be available to you.

If the new contract is replacing an existing contract in order to cover the invoices for a specific package of care, then this stage will allow you to quickly change all calls currently listed against a given contract as well as being able to choose the switch over date.

Click Finish to confirm the creation of the new contract.

The new contract should now appear in the list on the Client Screen Contract Tab.