Under the Care Act 2014, ÌÇÐÄvlog¹ÙÍø has a duty to promote diversity and quality in provision of services and have oversight of the provider market. This means that the council must ensure that people who are living in ÌÇÐÄvlog¹ÙÍø and require care and support have a choice of high-quality services to choose from with sufficient information to make informed decisions.
The council works collaboratively with other relevant partners, including experts by experience, to shape the whole market for care and support, and to achieve the best outcomes for people living in ÌÇÐÄvlog¹ÙÍø - now and in the future.
Find details on the Adult Social Care vision, priorities and commissioning strategies, which underpin our market shaping work.
Our approach to the market
The council has been working strategically, alongside our care and support providers and with the ÌÇÐÄvlog¹ÙÍø Care Association, to improve market stability and relationships with our market providers. In our approach to the market, we aim to:
- build strong relationships with the whole market to encourage innovation, choice, and availability, enshrined in good information and advice​
- ​collaborate with providers and system partners, organisations, and suppliers to ensure our services are shaped and mobilised effectively
- ensure all purchasing decisions are outcome-focused and driven by evidence of what works
- put in place fair and transparent processes for identifying and purchasing care in line with the Care Act, often working jointly with health commissioners to provide greater consistency for providers
As a result, this has allowed us to:
- elevate service quality by predominantly purchasing from providers rated as good or outstanding
- develop better relationships with providers through proactive engagement and collaboration for future procurements or innovation
- enhance market stability and increase capacity within the ÌÇÐÄvlog¹ÙÍø market by encouraging local providers to join our long-term contractual arrangements
- assess the effectiveness of our current and future workforce, supporting our social care workforce to meet growing demand and greater complexity of need
- enhance the use of data and insights to inform our market shaping work, identifying market trends, gaps, and opportunities
- manage costs and ensure value for money by contracting through Dynamic Purchasing Systems where providers select or specify agreed rates, including from joint health and social care pricing matrices
- use contracts to specify service delivery outcomes and promote fairness and transparency through compliance with Care Act Regulations on Choice of Accommodation and Third-Party Top-Ups
See information on our procurement opportunities.
For detail on market sustainability and the cost of care, please see our ÌÇÐÄvlog¹ÙÍø Cost of Care report.
Key challenges and opportunities
There are several challenges that Adult Social Care (ASC) in ÌÇÐÄvlog¹ÙÍø continues to face in relation to service delivery:
- as we celebrate that people are living longer, many individuals are facing prolonged periods of ill health, necessitating increased care and support to meet more complex needs. Meeting demands with limited resource