Report: New forms of social care for older people

A paper examined the United Kingdom market in care services for older people, ways in which to address market failures in commissioning, and how to reconcile the need of the public sector commissioners to contain costs with the need of providers to earn an adequate return.

The paper argued for a new style of contracts with social care maintenance organizations (explained as either a not-for-profit or for-profit organization, or a statutory body or arms-length company owned by a statutory body, or a consortium made up by any of these) acting as ‘lead provider’ for a comprehensive range of social care services for older people with assessed care needs.