Commissioning and markets

We aim to cover all aspects of commissioning and provide a range of support, which includes universal support (webinars, tools, reports and more) as well as direct support to help councils deliver improvement according to their specific circumstances, opportunities and challenges.

Who are we?

LGA and ADASS are Partners in Care and Health (PCH) , supporting councils to improve the way they deliver adult social care and public health services; and helping Government understand the challenges faced by the sector.

We are a small team of dedicated and knowledgeable advisers within PCH, with a variety of experience in social care, commissioning and supporting councils’ improvement.

We work with a wide range of trusted experts with vast experience in the sector. Most have previously been senior managers in local government (former directors of adult social services or commissioning assistant directors), but we also work with other partners, including people with knowledge and experience of being a care and support provider, finance, skills and personal development.

We also work closely in partnership with colleagues across our programme to ensure we provide joined-up support to councils. This includes Digital transformation in adult social care, Adult social care workforce, Better Care Fund Support Programme 2023-25 and others.

We use these relationships and experience to inform our ‘universal’ support offers, which can be accessed by all councils and to work directly with individual councils, or small groups of councils, to support their improvement. All this support is arranged and funded by the wider programme.

Themes

To help you, we have organised our resources, under themes we commonly hear when discussing commissioning. However, we offer support across adult social care commissioning so you don’t need to think of these as the only areas where we provide support. 

Networks and communities of practice

We connect with various networks of commissioners and partners across the sector to inform and shape our support offer.

We also co-ordinate and support several groups and forums where social care partners come together to discuss and progress key topics. This includes:

• co-ordinating and supporting the ADASS National Commissioning Network. This is a monthly meeting attended by senior council commissioners who represent each ADASS region. The purpose is to share key information with commissioners for wider dissemination and crucially, is a place where commissioners can use their knowledge and expertise to inform and influence national agendas, such as government policy and our support.
• supporting a monthly meeting of national care and support provider representatives. This includes representatives from the Care Provider Alliance and the Care Association Alliance, as well as national representatives from NHS England and the Care Quality Commission. The purpose of the meeting is to hear about policy, news and information that affects providers and to discuss issues, concerns and opportunities that affect both providers and commissioners, and shape the way forward.
• a further meeting, which has a similar membership and purpose as the group described directly above, but also involves trade union representatives.  

We also support a range of informal communities of practice (CoPs) that are open to any council commissioner from across the country. At present, we have active CoPs in personalisation and extra care housing.

Getting in touch

We are always happy to discuss any commissioning and market shaping related matters.

We also work closely with colleagues across PCH and partners across the sector. If you have an issue related to this area, but aren’t sure where to go next, feel free to get in touch.

In the first instance, please email [email protected]

Other areas of support

• CQC assessment resources from across our programme to support councils with CQC assessment.
• Market intelligence reports and tools to support commissioners to gain greater insight into the make-up and sustainability of their care markets.
• Best practice case studies from councils across the adult social care sector.
• Details of upcoming events from Partners in Care and Health and other health and social care-related events.
• Slides and presentations from previous events run by Partners in Care and Health and our partners.