Amazon & Ebay style websites could be the future for adult social care services

More people should be able to ‘shop’ for social care services and equipment online, according to a new report from the think tank IPPR, published today. The report shows that one in four councils are already using Amazon and Ebay style ‘e-marketplaces’ to help adults needing social care to spend their personal budgets and buy top-up services.

The report says that more and more 60 and 70 somethings, as well as people with disabilities or mental health conditions, will use social media platforms like Facebook to ‘club together’ and spend their personal budgets on social care services tailored to their needs. The report says people will have more choice at cheaper prices, made possible by more small and new providers (like on Uber or Airbnb) and performance ratings (like on TripAdvisor).

The report highlights how Yorkshire and Humber have formed a multi-authority partnership of 13 councils to procure a regional e-marketplace and shows that the cost of commissioning the platforms themselves can be up to 33 per cent lower if a dozen councils share a common implementation team and procure the same functionalities. The report shows that one in four local authorities in England have e-marketplaces and predicts further growth and collaboration between councils.

The report says that in future, a ‘platform based model’ might develop with integrated ‘apps’ for different services, like Apple’s appstore: with different modules for different activities and services - like PA services, social networks, and time-banking – all hosted on a common platform. The report argues that the advantage of the platform model over an e-marketplace is that multiple, smaller developers can design modules at a lower cost, and each can be designed around the specific user experience, rather than trying to make an e-marketplace that does anything and everything.

Carys Roberts, IPPR Research Fellow, said:

“E-marketplaces could be a way to radically transform social care services, but some see them only as drivers of cost-savings. Done badly, they could entrench the worst aspects of the current system; but done well, they could enable personalised, innovative and integrated care.

“People’s experiences of social care are not limited to council boundaries. Regionally procured e-marketplaces are the way forward.

“Success requires much more than a website because social care services are more complex and personal than, for example, applying for a parking permit. Rather than intervening at an individual’s crisis point with a ready-made solution, we need to start from the needs of the user. That might be formal residential care for a 90 year old living with dementia. But it also means enabling a 65 year old with a cronic condition to live independently by ensuring they have the social networks they need to do that. Managing the whole spectrum of care provision is challenging, but also more important than ever when local authorities face budget cuts and stark choices about which services they can continue to offer.”

The report argues that there are potentially three major advantages to e-markets:

• Improving access to the market for new and small providers
• Enabling user-commissioning
• Integrating networks of informal and formal care

The report says that online platforms can make it easier for users to describe the kind of service they want, and for providers to respond with a tailored service and price – shifting the role of commissioner to the user and cutting out the middle-man. The report argues that users will use the channel that makes it easiest to find services and says that users need to be involved in the design of the system, either through feedback or iterative design methods. However, it argues that current IT procurement practices encourage one-off purchases, preventing local authorities from prototyping their digital products.

The report also argues that simply making services available online will not be enough to facilitate diverse and integrated forms of care. It says that a well-functioning, diverse e-marketplace also requires advisors – including social workers and carers – who can recommend and signpost services. The report says that offline activity and the people who work in adult social care are central to making e-marketplaces work. The report argues that local authorities should move from case management to care coordination, providing information, support, advocacy and advice to all, regardless of their support needs or their entitlements to funding.

Notes to Editors

IPPR new report – Next Generation Social Care – will be available on Monday 25 May from: http://www.ippr.org/publications/next-gen-social-care-the-role-of-e-marketplaces

The Association of Directors of Adult Social Services (ADASS) predict that the number of people with dementia will double in the next 30 years, and our research shows that as soon as 2017 the number of older people in need of care will outstrip the number of adult children able to provide it.

Latest statistics of internet usage in the UK show that 62 per cent of people over 75 have never used the internet, but this falls sharply to 29 per cent amongst the 65 – 74 age group.

Contacts

Sofie Jenkinson, 07981 023 031, s.jenkinson@ippr.org

Danny Wright, 07887 422789, d.wright@ippr.org