CSCI: Risk aversion stymies personalised care

The Commission for Social Care Inspection warned today that risk aversion by councils and private sector investors was preventing the development of personalised adult social care services.

In a report, Safe as Houses, which looked at what drives private investment in adult care, the CSCI found banks and venture capitalists preferred investing in traditional care models – such as care homes – than more personalised services, such as extra care.

This was because they sought a return on their investment within three to seven years and saw providers with significant council contracts – and hence assured income streams – as being lower risk. But councils continued to commission more traditional forms of care, the report found.

This ran counter to government policy, as outlined in last year’s health and social care white paper, and the demands of the rising “baby boomer” generation of older service users for more personally tailored care.

But CSCI warned that the rising wealth and numbers of older people, as well as direct payment users, meant more people would be purchasing their own care in future, meaning investors would have to become less reliant on following council contracts.

The report said councils needed to become better at assessing the medium and long-term needs of their communities, including self-funders, and then “signal” its commissioning ambitions to investors to encourage them to pour capital into innovative services.

More information

Adult care services white paper one year on

Essential information on direct payments

Commission for Social Care Inspection