New Government Specification Set to Streamline Adult Social Care System Procurement
The Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) has released a new Foundational Specification designed to simplify how local authorities across England procure adult social care case management and finance systems.
The comprehensive specification follows months of collaborative development involving multiple stakeholders, including local authority representatives from across the country, existing and prospective system suppliers, and key organisations such as the Department for Education, Crown Commercial Service, Care Quality Commission, Partners in Care and Health, Association of Directors of Adult Social Services, and Client Level Data.
The Foundational Specification aims to transform the procurement landscape by providing local authorities with a standardised framework, potentially saving considerable time, costs, and resources when seeking new case management systems. Beyond streamlining procurement processes, the guidance is expected to drive improvements in system functionality, enhance data-sharing capabilities, and create opportunities for economies of scale across the sector.
The development process prioritised continuous stakeholder engagement to ensure the specification reflected genuine user needs and priorities. The consultation began with individual discussions involving a diverse range of local authorities to understand the challenges and aspirations of those working with case management systems.
This initial phase was followed by a nationwide survey distributed to all English authorities and a series of detailed workshops examining different aspects of the specification. These workshops, which attracted representatives from more than two dozen local authorities, provided crucial insights and enabled unprecedented input from frontline practitioners.
Alasdair Bowen, Business Systems Manager for Adult Social Care at the Royal Borough of Kingston, praised the collaborative approach: “The Bettergov workshops were well-designed to address each of the elements of system design in the right order and gave a really great opportunity to share thoughts and ideas openly with other colleagues from around the country.”
The specification is now available through the Knowledge Hub at https://khub.net/web/operatingmodeltoolkit/foundational-specification for use by any local authority and current or prospective case management system suppliers across the UK.
