Social Care News

efforts on ensuring that commissioning by local authorities really does help to achieve

the aspirations of Fulfilled lives, Supportive Communities for all the people of Wales.

In recent years commissioning has become established as an important process in

helping to drive improvements in social care and securing better outcomes for service

users. Across Wales there are already many examples of good planning and

procurement practice, but to support further development, the Welsh Assembly

Government has drawn on emerging expertise to create a common Framework for

social care commissioning.

The Framework has been developed by the Social Care Commissioning Task Group in

collaboration with its Procurement and Training & Qualifications Sub-groups on behalf

of the Welsh Assembly Government with advice from the Institute of Public Care,

Oxford Brookes University.

The Framework is relevant to all those concerned with social care across adult and

children’s services. It complements more detailed help, advice and guidance on

effective commissioning and procurement for particular populations of users of social

care services including, for example, existing resources for commissioners of

substance misuse services (WAG, Substance Misuse Commissioning Framework,

2005) and commissioners of services for children in need (SSIA, Commissioning for

Better Outcomes for Children in Need, 2008) Guidance on commissioning services for

people with Learning disabilities is also well advanced. The needs of other client

groups will be addressed in the future.

The Welsh Assembly Government, local authorities and their partners all face a very

difficult financial climate over the next few years coupled with increasing demand. This

poses a considerable challenge. The successful implementation of the framework

offered in this guidance offers the best chance of responding to the challenge in a

consistent and fair manner. Difficult times mean that our efforts are likely to come

under even greater scrutiny. The amount of resources available for social care will

depend upon good evidence. We must therefore be clear about:

·           the needs we are able to meet,

·           those we cannot meet together with the possible consequences,

·           the outcomes achieved, and

·           the effective use of resources.

It will be essential for decision makers to receive this evidence.

To download your copy of the new Commissioning Guidance click here.