For many of us, Covid has thrown into sharp relief both the preciousness of life and its precarious nature for many of the most vulnerable in our society.

For too long, the needs of older people in the UK have not been prioritised as they should have been. Against the backdrop of the pandemic, the vital importance of providing and funding high quality care for older people has never been more evident. On a positive note, it seems as if the toll the pandemic has taken on our most frail citizens has caused the wider public to become more engaged than ever before in finding practical solutions to the challenge of how to take care of them. As a society, it is now time for us to step up and reposition how older people’s care is both viewed and managed and ensure that adequate needs-based funding is directed to the right services and is focused on promoting independence in the safest way possible.

Care services in the UK have long been experiencing increased demands and increasing complexity of care needs, as well as rising costs for care providers and falling numbers of care workers. Covid has further exacerbated all of these problems.

Good commissioning practice requires an in-depth understanding of both the market and provider costs incurred in running a business. Critical to sustainable provision, providers need sufficient cash flow to service costs and a sufficient return to ensure continuation of the business in the long term.

We have always believed that keeping it local is the secret to delivering a system for funding care that works, both for local councils and care providers, to make sure the most vulnerable are protected. We believe that locally informed cost and quality modelling, based on actual costs incurred by providers removes some of the challenges presented by national models.

Talk to us to find out more about how we can help you deliver the best possible value service to your most vulnerable residents.