Yorkshire and Humber councils to launch e-market for social care

New shared regional electronic marketplace programme for adult social care will allow the public to purchase a range of services online

Councils in Yorkshire and the Humber are to start rolling out a social care e-marketplace this summer, which they claim to be the biggest service of its type developed in the region. The website will allow members of the public to buy health and social care support from organisations from just one place.

The service, Connect to Support, will be implemented at 15 local authorities over the next 15 months. Kirklees, Doncaster, North Lincolnshire, Barnsley, Bradford, Calderdale, Sheffield, Wakefield, Rotherham, North Yorkshire, Hull, East Riding, York and Leeds will all take part in the programme. Manchester city council will also participate in the initiative, as the deal allows UK authorities outside of Yorkshire and Humber to use the e-marketplace solution without having to undertake a procurement process.

Online self–directed support provider shop4support will provide one system for the authorities involved, but will customise the technology to meet the needs of each council.

According to Kirklees council, webs users will be able to use their own money or funding they get from their local council to purchase online services that meet their social care needs. It will be used “in the same way as they would purchase their grocery shopping”, said a spokeswoman for the authority.

Providers of health and social care services will be able to promote their services online by registering their organisation’s details on the new website. The target group for the services will be adults, but many of the providers selling their services online will offer support to children as well, according to Kirklees.

“The regional improvement and efficiency partnership in Yorkshire and Humber provided the funding needed to kick start this important piece of web work. It represents a major step forward for the government’s personalisation programme of social care in the region,” the spokeswoman for Kirklees council told Guardian Government Computing.

The launch of the e-marketplace aims to support the government’s ‘Think local act personal agenda,’ which advocates the delivery of more personalised services for residents.

Looking to the future, the spokeswoman said that Kirklees hopes that Connect to Support will provide people with the benefit of buying the support they need directly from organisations, which will be rated by the customers who have already used the service.

She said: “It’s essential we create an online marketplace that meets the needs of people needing support, and we can’t do this unless we have providers and organisations promoting their services on there. Our vision is to develop an online service that offers local people choice, value for money support, information and advice all in one place.”

In November Hertfordshire county council revealed similar plans for a county-wide e-market for adult social care.