The challenge

Reform of adult social care is a flagship Government commitment. As well as reform of how social care is funded, it is clear that there is a need for a new model of commissioning and accountability to ensure that people receive the best possible care and to tackle the postcode lottery in care outcomes.

In the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic and its impact on care homes, Public First was commissioned by the Department for Health and Social Care to develop rapid proposals for the long term future of social care commissioning for the elderly.

What Public First did

Public First reviewed the operation of and evidence from social care systems across the world. Alongside this, we convened round-tables of domiciliary care owners, local authorities, NHS care providers and care home managers to understand their perspectives on the strengths and weaknesses of the current system.

Using that evidence base we narrowed down a range of potential options to design four distinct commissioning models, assessing each against the Secretary of State’s key priorities and refining them accordingly.

Public First presented final proposals to the Secretary of State and Minister for Care who commended our work and directed senior officials to take our recommendations forward as part of the Government’s social care reform agenda.