A revolution in adult social care must occur if issues around increasing numbers of people living longer and the yawning multi-million social care funding gap are to be reconciled. At a Westminster conference on Caring for Older People (Wednesday 8th September), cosponsor TPP Law spoke on how we are at a tipping point with personalised budgets, where money follows the individual, and massive public sector debt is forcing change come what may.
TPP Law, a firm specialising in advising care providers, launched a special report at the event – “Future Service Models for Adult Social Care” which looks in detail at three service models which could be used to provide adult social care effectively in the future, addressing the advantages and risks of each option.
While some services could be provided with varying degrees of local authority involvement, others could transfer to independent providers, encouraging local authorities to become service commissioners rather than service providers over time.
Opportunities appear to abound for independent providers. It is estimated that residential care services cost between £200-£300 more per person per week to provide by local authorities than if provided by the independent or voluntary sector. It is also estimated that there are some 24,000 people in local authority-run care homes. If these services were outsourced savings of anything from £250 million to £375 million a year could be achieved.
The three future service models explored in TPP Law’s special report are:
- In-house local authority trading companies
- Transfer of services into a social enterprise
- Partnerships with the independent sector
Matthew Wolton, Director of TPP Law, comments: “There is no longer an ‘as we are’ option for local authorities. They will have to act and to explore alternatives around providing care for older people in the medium and long term. The nature of the authority, their current set up and future political direction will have much to do with the choices they make.”
