Social Market Foundation report on “A market for residential care services”

Summary by the Care England Policy Team. |

In September, the Social Market Foundation published its report on the state of the residential care market. It provided a plethora of interesting insights and conclusion into the adult social care market, including:

Summary by the Care England Policy Team

In September, the Social Market Foundation published its report on the state of the residential care market. It provided a plethora of interesting insights and conclusion into the adult social care market, including:

• There is a risk that this already fragile market will be made significantly worse off by coronavirus. Increased costs faced by providers combined with reduced occupancy rates in care homes will inevitably increase the chance of providers going out of business.
• The study also reported that there is a significant amount of uncertainty among providers about the shape of future policy and the level of local authorities’ fees.

Whilst the study also highlighted several key policies for the CQC and government:

• National guidelines – the Government, in partnership with the independent body, should create national guidelines for the minimum cost of social care services. It should be designed in a similar way to the NHS national tariff and allow for local variance in cost due to unavoidable differences.
• Demand forecasting – the independent body should have a duty to provide government, local authorities and providers of social care with forecasts for future demand by need and place.
• Cost of care forecasting – it should provide government and local authorities forecasts on how the cost of care delivery may change. This should account for changes in need, wages and other local costs. This would ensure that decisions on where to allocate social care funding is made based on the best available evidence.
• Monitor competition – it should monitor levels of competition and concentration in residential care markets at a regional and local level and carry out regular assessments of the market power of both buyers (local authorities and self-funders) and sellers. This evidence would help ensure policymakers considering social care are properly informed.

To read the report in full, please click the following link: Social Market Foundation