The Trick to Managing Demand in Social Care.

“The Care Policy and Evaluation Centre Estimates, based on population trends that 29% more working-age adults, and 57% more over-65’s, will need care in 2038 compared with 2018” (National Audit Office, 2021). 

Social care demand in the UK has been increasing rapidly in recent years. However, funding has not increased in relation to demand and managing an ever-increasing need for care is becoming more of a challenge for local authorities and providers alike.  

As pressures build more professionals are looking for ways to manage this demand and meet it head on.  The value of preventative care has been recognised for quite some time, even if it has not been a priority in practice. Yet, separately, there has been a noticeable shift toward the use of data in a more effective manner. This is especially the case in the improvement of sourcing decisions and informing better planning for care. Managing demand, however, is not only about reducing the demand through preventative measures, but through reshaping the sector through a more well-rounded approach to brokerage and commissioning practices. This also means increasing the quality of the care provided through an outcome-based approach. Utilising commissioning strategies to support sustainable care providing and maintaining a focus on person independence as an end goal. 

Social Care Funding Pressures: Rising Demand Meets Finite Resources 

Local authorities and providers in the UK both grapple against the backdrop of having a continual rising demand and finite resources. The UK faces an aging population, growing expectations for personalised care, urgency and the complexity of needs increasing.  

At the same time, the fiscal constraints find commissioners needing to make difficult decisions about how they allocate their resources while still driving to provide quality care to those who need it.  

Budget constrains are a very real and significant pressure; however, the greater challenge lies in the way in which the sector responds. The sector is in demand of stronger, more data driven, and enhanced strategic management that is able to navigate an everchanging and escalating complex health and social care landscape. 

Smart brokerage approaches are critical here, with proper leveraging of data, use of digital tools like CareCubed, and clear market insights, commissioners are more well-equipped to make informed choices and accurately match individuals with the right services at the right price from the get-go. 

Prevention as a Tool – Needs Matched Early Intervention 

Smarter brokerage tools can help to ease pressures on the system, particularly when paired with preventative approaches that reduce the demand upstream. Unfortunately, in the United Kingdom ‘since 2010, there has been an increase in… government spending on acute service provisions, meanwhile the budget spent on preventative care has dropped.’ (Hoddinott, 2024). Preventative care doesn’t just tackle illness prevention but increasing liveability standards in deprived areas to improve quality of life and reduce sector-wide strains. Utilising liveability structures to this standard alongside careful goal-oriented care commissioning tools can work as a partnership to optimise care and drive optimal outcomes. 

When prevention is treated as an integral part of the commissioning cycle, with the goal of early intervention, the approach needs to be needs-focused. Brokerage will begin with an assessment, detailing the needs, preferences, and specific circumstances of the individual. Commissioners can therefore identify services that meet the needs of the individual now but also can ensure to prevent escalation and implement preventative services to help prevent more intensive care or potentially even long-term care. 

Data-Driven Decision-Making  

The use of modern brokerage tools can integrate data on the availability of services, alongside, outcomes, costings and the preferences of users. Having tools like the upcoming iESE brokerage solution, can enable commissioners to compare their provider options. This could even be taken as far as checking for providers who provide preventative services with a high long-term benefit rate.  

CareCubed’s new digital brokerage solution enables a data driven approach through a modern digital platform that ensures that sourcing teams have optimal visibility of the supply in their local market. Crucially, this also enables brokerage teams to match individuals with the highest quality local services that can meet both their needs and preferences. Integrating seamlessly with the CareCubed Benchmarking solution, this solution ensures commissioning bodies and providers can agree sustainable fee rates at the point of sourcing a package. 

Focusing on Outcomes 

Partnering personalised care, preventative mindset and the use of a brokerage solution can assist local authorities in reducing the demand for social care services by ensuring that the right care is provided straight away.  

Outcome focused planning requires commissioners to work alongside individuals to generate person-centred plans of support that deliver goals in the long-term, rather than focusing solely on current needs. This can even include things such as lifestyle supports, engagement with the community or any assistive technology.  

By implementing these long-term factors into the care-plan, it prevents the needs from exacerbating and increases quality of life through comprehensive care. This focus is one that ‘pulls a weed by its roots’, preventing any worsening or longevity of the need for care by implementing strategies to provide that person with the fulfilment of that need before it should arise as critical. 

Revisitation & Revision of Outcomes Planning 

An effective brokerage solution for social care will include the repeat monitoring and quality care reviews on a case-by-case basis looking at strengths-based outcomes to offset acute service provisions and worsening needs. As needs evolve and change over time, revisitation and review of said plans ensure that the care plan will evolve with those needs. This reaffirms preventative services that are in place to continually deliver value.  

This cuts unnecessary spending on a need that may no longer be required by an individual who is meeting their personal goals and perhaps is gaining more independence. This spending can then see re-allocation elsewhere; perhaps where an individual needs a more thorough preventative approach to help them obtain more independence.  

Person-Centred Brokerage Builds Sustainability & Independence 

By focusing on the needs and strengths of the individual and working with them to identify the right support, we can better match people to the services that help them meet their personal goals. Having the right service with the right approach and availability can promote smarter brokerage decision making to advocate for appropriate supports for individual independence.  

Having an in-depth preventative care approach to care planning enables the commissioning cycle to be more personalised in approach. Ensuring we identify the needs of the individual as a unique person requiring support can help build more independence for those in care which is, after all, the end goal for most social care services.