From Survival To Stability: Why Financial Health Is Key To Social Care’s Future
Fran Kirke, VP of Care at OneAdvanced, discusses how financial pressures continue to challenge social care providers.
Every day, care organisations are working tirelessly to deliver essential support in the face of growing needs and rising costs. However, too many providers are stuck balancing tight budgets, having ‘just enough’ to stay afloat. The hard truth is, just enough isn’t enough—not for the providers, not for the employees, and certainly not for the clients who depend on them.
Rising operational costs—from wages and the Fair Pay Agreement to energy bills—compound historic underfunding and financial pressures. And demand for care continues to increase, creating a widening gap that organisations are often forced to fill with limited resources.
Providers then end up in survival mode, unable to invest in improving their services for today and the future.
The need to rethink financial stability
Care providers need to have healthy finances in social care, and that doesn’t come at odds with delivering compassionate care.
A financially strong organisation has the breathing room to improve services, retain employees, and innovate to make a meaningful difference to the lives of people they support.
And having this financial security means providers can actually plan for the future rather than constantly reacting to the present.
Beneath the surface
Social care organisations face a web of financial intricacies. Local authority support often comes with layers of red tape. Managing aged debt and resolving invoicing errors take a significant amount of time that few organisations can spare. Regulation and compliance require meticulous reporting, and the sheer volume of admin work to manage all these leaves teams stretched thin.
At the same time, there’s an expectation for providers to keep doing more. But without the right tools and systems in place, these compounded financial struggles threaten to overwhelm this indispensable sector.
Paving a sustainable way forward
Social care providers aren’t just keeping their organisations alive; they’re safeguarding the wellbeing of countless individuals and families.
Providers need to be able to prioritise long-term financial resilience. And part of this means having the tools—including robust financial management softwaresimplify manual processes, optimise resources, and reduce inefficiencies.
By championing financial sustainability, we’re creating conditions where employees can thrive, where clients receive the quality of care they deserve, and where the sector can confidently meet future challenges.
Find out more at: www.oneadvanced.com/ai
