People receiving care at home are set to benefit from more personalised support from familiar carers under neighbourhood commissioning of social care.
- People will see the same carer more regularly so they can get to know their needs and spot changes sooner under new neighbourhood commissioning for social care
- Local councils will be tasked with arranging social care in people’s home in a smaller geographical area or ‘neighbourhood’
- Care workers will spend less time travelling between visits, with more predictable rounds closer to home
Thousands of people receiving care at home will see more familiar faces while care workers spend less time travelling between visits, under new plans to organise social care around local neighbourhoods.
Councils will be encouraged to commission home care across smaller geographical areas, with one or two main providers serving each neighbourhood.
New guidance and toolkits will be published in the spring to support local councils move to neighbourhood-based models of home care commissioning. The government will work with local councils over the coming months to track and support their progress.
For care workers, that means they can spend their working day in a much smaller area, rather than travelling long distances between visits.
For people receiving care, it means a better chance of seeing the same carers regularly and building relationships with people who know them, their needs and their families.
Familiarity can also help care workers notice changes in someone’s health or wellbeing sooner, helping people get the right support before problems escalate.
Currently, councils can commission individual visits from multiple providers spread across large areas. People may see different carers across multiple days, while workers can spend significant parts of their day travelling between appointments.
Research by the Health Innovation Network South West into care rounds across 6 providers in Bristol found that reorganising existing visits into geographical zones could potentially deliver the same care with 35% less staff time and 65% less driving.
Minister of State for Social Care and Mental Health, Alison McGovern, said:
We have a growing, ageing population and an NHS facing significant pressures. We are turning it around, but our NHS is at risk of being overburdened. Our national care service is the answer, and neighbourhood commissioning is a step towards this.
Commissioning social care by neighbourhoods will help people stay well, independent and at home for longer. Home care will be more personalised, and people will see familiar carers who understand their needs and priorities. Carers won’t travel as far, saving time instead of rushing from visit to visit and carrying out set tasks in an impersonal way.
Under our plans, social care will work in lockstep with our NHS; better care at home means fewer unnecessary trips to hospital. We will work with councils and our NHS to deliver more care in our community, care that is proactive, planned and preventative, as we continue to lay the foundations for our national care service.
The government is shifting more care into the community, as part of its 10 Year Health Plan. Neighbourhood commissioning of social care parallels the ongoing work to build neighbourhood health across the country, which will bring together GPs, local councils, social care providers and voluntary, community and social enterprise to deliver more health and care services in the community.
This follows the Secretary of State’s announcement that the government will provide £40 million for GPs to provide extra support to around 300,000 vulnerable patients, to reduce avoidable hospital admissions and prevent serious illness. GPs will identify patients in their community who may require additional care targeted at the most at risk.
In September, the Prime Minister Andy Burnham announced that a fully funded national care service will be established in the next Parliament, providing free personal care for older people, based on need rather than their ability to pay. The national care service will be founded on the same principles as the NHS and will be funded by changes to the triple lock pension.
In the short term, the government is:
- making an additional £4.6 billion funding available for local councils in 2028 to 2029 compared with 2025 to 2026
- establishing the first ever fair pay agreement for care workers
- developing an adult social care workforce plan
Baroness Casey’s review of adult social care has been brought forward a full year, which will deliver recommendations for building a national care service.
Acting upon Baroness Casey’s recommendations, the government has also established a safeguarding board, is developing fast-track care for people with motor neurone disease and will appoint a dementia tsar.
Dr Jane Townson OBE, Chief Executive of the Homecare Association, said:
We welcome the move to neighbourhood commissioning, which reflects what the Homecare Association has long argued: commissioning is the key to quality, fair work and better outcomes.
To succeed, it must come with fees that cover the cost of care, predictable work and payment for whole rounds rather than contact minutes. People must also keep a real choice over who supports them.
Done well, neighbourhood commissioning can mean familiar care workers who know the people they support, less time on the road and more secure jobs. These relationships help care workers spot changes early and keep people well at home. We look forward to working with government, councils and the NHS to develop guidance that puts these principles into practice.
Caroline Abrahams CBE, Emily Holzhausen CBE and Jackie O’Sullivan, co-chairs of the Care and Support Alliance, said:
Commissioning home care at a neighbourhood level makes a lot of sense, and we hope it will help to promote more joined-up health and care for those older and disabled people who need it.
Just as importantly, it should lead to care professionals being able to spend more time on the job, and fewer hours travelling, thereby supporting greater continuity in their relationships with people in receipt of care and their families. Since strong relationships are central to good quality care, this really matters.
Phil Holmes, President of the Association of Directors of Adult Social Services (ADASS), said:
We support efforts to improve continuity of care because relationships matter to carers and those who draw on care and support. Most councils are already moving towards models that give people more consistency, while placing a strong emphasis on the quality of care and regularly reviewing arrangements to make sure they are working.
The starting point must always be people’s experiences and the outcomes that matter most to them. By making the best use of neighbourhoods and local communities, we can help more people see familiar carers who understand their needs and can spot any changes early.
This is about moving away from a system defined by time and task, where too many people see a succession of strangers at the door, and towards one built on trust and personalised support.
Read more: More familiar carers and less travel under new social care plans – GOV.UK