Green slams quality of social care commissioning

The chief executive of the English Community Care Association launched a stinging attack today on the quality of social care commissioning by councils.

Martin Green told a fringe session on inspection at the National Social Services Conference that people were appointed to commissioning roles in councils with few credentials.

He said: “I went to a conference recently where there were strategic commissioners for older people’s services whose previous jobs were in civil engineering. The approach is not good enough and it has to change.”

Green said that services would only become more tailored to users’ needs if commissioning improved, adding: “Commissioners are not in touch with users’ needs.”

He called for explicit professional qualifications for commissioners and clarity about how people got to perform the role.

Green also warned that the Commission for Social Care Inspection’s efforts to create a more outcome-focused inspection system could increase inconsistency in its judgements, saying this was a key concern for providers.