State has to become a smarter shopper
There is a temptation to play safe when money gets tight. In areas such as adult social care, the focus could easily switch to keeping staff in jobs, rather than making sure that people get the services they need.
We must ensure that the momentum that is building behind personalisation isn't lost. In the short term, individual budgets may well end up costing more. Yet the long-term impact is potentially enormous – both on people's wellbeing and in financial terms. Instead of pointing to the occasional seemingly generous individual budget, we should focus on the "failure demand" that exists in the social care system – demand that wouldn't be there if more people were just given what they want and need first time round.
Procurement is another key area. If the past 12 months have taught us anything, it is that we should challenge economic orthodoxies. One such orthodoxy – economies of scale – ignores the diseconomies that come from bundling services into massive contracts, which only big businesses, distant from the people who should be served, can win. Procurement, when it comes down to it, is just the state's way of shopping – and it's vital that the state becomes a smarter shopper.
Rob Greenland, blogger, thesocialbusiness.co.uk