Limited organisational insight and challenges around growing care provision are some of the key issues for social care providers, outlined in our comprehensive and independent Care Trends Report 2023.
We surveyed hundreds of social care providers from domiciliary care, residential care, supported living, extra care and retirement living to gain insight into the key challenges and opportunities in social care today.
We have compiled the results, identifying some of the specific business insight and growth challenges social care providers have been facing and analysed these geographically, taking a look at how these results compare across the official UK regions.
Challenges with Business Insight in social care
Insufficient organisational insight was one of the challenges providers told us they experience when it comes to their business management. Our survey results indicated some significant regional struggles with 47% of providers in the North East of England, 43% in the North West and 41% in the South East stating they have limited advanced visibility of their organisation.
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Manual Processes
We also know that almost every provider in Yorkshire (94%) told us they have developed their own manual process, such as creating spreadsheets, to provide the visibility they need for cashflow, payroll, rostering, recruitment and facilities. 72% in the London area, 71% in the South West and 56% in Wales have also developed their own processes to gain advanced business intelligence.
But manual practices will likely lack the vital information or visual dashboards that purpose built software solutions offer. Meaning the providers who are relying on paper records or spreadsheets perhaps lack intricate, real-time details that could help them work more proactively.
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Technology Spend
We also asked social care providers where they would prioritise their spend when considering technology investment. Most regions told us they would prioritise their tech investment on management of client accommodation and billing, with the highest region being Yorkshire at 80%.
Others said they would prioritise spend towards finance management, with London coming out the highest at 56%. However, technology spend towards management of information / providing data insight was, perhaps surprisingly, a lower priority in all areas but remained high for those in Wales (44%).
The need to manage items like client accommodation and billing are imperative for the day to day running of care provision, so it’s understandable that many providers resonate with this need the most. But providers don’t need to choose one priority over another. Modern technology can deliver complete care business management, providing advanced data insight alongside much needed client accommodation and finance management in one place.
Challenges with Business Growth in social care
Social care demand continues to grow due to our ageing population and more working age adults seeking support for complex needs. Yet, the sector consistently faces underfunding and retention struggles, meaning some care providers are struggling to meet or grow with demand.
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Lack of finance access
37% of all respondents we surveyed say lack of access to finance is a challenge for business growth. Our survey found the providers finding this is their biggest barrier were in our most populated regions; the Midlands (48%), London (42%) and the North West of England (43%).
Cost of living is generally high for those living in the largest cities. Coupled with a large population and likely greater demand, it’s understandable that providers in these regions indicated the most trouble accessing the level of finances they require for business growth. However, we do recognise that underfunding and tight margins within social care is service wide. Therefore, lack of access to funding in general is a significant challenge for providers in all regions.
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Additional care and property
We also asked organisations when considering their growth aspirations, what method they would want to focus their efforts. 44% of all surveyed said they would consider additional care provisions for business growth, being the most popular aspiration in Wales (63%) and East Anglia (57%). This is expected as many care organisations will be hoping move with demand as requests for social care continues to grow.
Almost half (48%) of all people we surveyed would instead consider additional property for business growth, perhaps branching out into additional care types. This was fairly consistent regionally, with 55% in London, 50% in the South East, 53% in the North East, 43% in Scotland and 42% in the Midlands all looking to prioritise this method of growing their business.
So, what care provision / property would providers want to focus on for their business growth? We do understand that many service users indicate a preference for domiciliary care as they can be supported in their own home. Therefore, business growth towards home or supported living could potentially be the aspiration for our survey respondents.
Whatever the consideration is, with additional provision types it’s important to have processes and systems in place to successfully manage the intricacies that each offering needs.
Discover more by downloading our Care Trends Report 2023. In the report, we examine the key challenges faced and opportunities available in social care today, as told by the people at the heart of the service.
Read our other regional blog in this series: How social care providers compare regionally: Challenges with regulatory compliance
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