Community Care Providers Scotland

The association of voluntary sector organisations providing care and support in Scottish communities

CCPS Home » Publications

Research Reports

Service Provider Optimism Survey (May 2010)

This survey, based on the CBI business optimism survey, is the third undertaken as part of longitudinal research designed to track changes in the way that major voluntary sector social care providers view their organisations’ prospects and the environment in which they operate.  The survey will be repeated several times a year: this third survey confirms baseline figures established in the first two iterations, and highlights the impact of changes in the political/funding environment on respondents.

Service Provider Optimism Survey (February 2010)

This survey, based on the CBI business optimism survey, is the second undertaken as part of longitudinal research designed to track changes in the way that major voluntary sector social care providers view their organisations’ prospects and the environment in which they operate.  The survey will be repeated several times a year with a consistent sample of providers: this second survey confirms baseline figures established in October 2009, and raises new issues (and possible future trends) around staff pay and conditions and service closures.

Single Outcome Agreements 2009-10: An Analysis by CCPS

In November 2008, Community Care Providers Scotland published its analysis of the 2008-09 SOAs, looking in particular for references to the aspirations for social care as set out in Changing Lives, and for ways in which local authorities referenced the contribution of social care services to meeting the national outcomes.  This analysis found that social care services did not receive the level of coverage in the SOAs that CCPS and its members might have hoped for, but that it was difficult to assess what this might mean for social care services until more was known about how Single Outcome Agreements are to work.

One year on, this report returns to the coverage of social care in the 2009-10 tranche of Single Outcome Agreements, comparing this to the 2008-09 documents and considering what this tells us about the development of the SOA process.

Service Provider Optimism Survey (October 2009)

This survey, based on the CBI business optimism survey, is designed to track changes in the way that the major voluntary sector social care providers view their organisations’ prospects and the environment in which they operate.  The survey will be repeated several times a year with a consistent sample of providers: this first survey provides a baseline for future work, as well as an interesting insight into providers’ thinking at this time.

The Scottish Budget Spending Review and Concordat: Impact on social care providers: members’ survey 2008

In November 2007 the Scottish Government published its Scottish Budget Spending Review and accompanying Concordat with local government.

These documents signalled a period of considerable change to the policy and funding landscape for social care services in Scotland, including:
• removal of the ring-fence from a number of social care and support funding streams
• agreement that local authorities will not seek to raise additional revenue in 2008/09 (and beyond)through Council Tax increases
• a National Performance Framework setting out 15 outcomes to which all public authorities (and their funded partners) should work
• the introduction of Single Outcome Agreements, based on the 15 national outcomes, as the primary tool for planning, prioritisation and accountability in each local authority area and to be drawn up jointly with community planning partners
• a requirement for 2% effi ciencies from all public bodies.

This survey set out to assess the initial impact of these developments on voluntary sector social care providers.

Single Outcome Agreements 2008-2009: An Analysis by CCPS

In July 2008, all 32 local authorities in Scotland published their Single Outcome Agreements, documents setting out how each area will contribute to meeting the national outcomes set out by the Scottish Government, and describing local outcomes and areas on which particular attention will be focused. After publication of the Scottish Government's national outcomes and indicators, and a further menu of local indicators by the Improvement Service, providers of social care services expressed reservations about the performance framework, amid concerns that aspirations for social care, as detailed in 'Changing Lives', were not adequately reflected in the outcomes or indicators as presented. This report therefore sets out to assess whether or not CCPS' concerns about the coverage of issues set out in 'Changing Lives' were well founded, and whether or not Ministers' aspirations for the role of social care in the Single Outcome Agreements have been met.

Re-Tendering of Social Care Services: Service Providers' Perspectives. Findings of a survey of CCPS Members 

CCPS has conducted a survey among its member organisations in order to gain more insight into providers' perspectives of the way in which re-tendering exercises are being taken forward in Scotland, and to illustrate some of the practical implications of re-tendering on provider organisations, their staff and the people they support. This paper sets out the key findings of that survey.

Social Care and Support Services in the Voluntary Sector: Funding Survey 2008

This report presents and discusses the findings of a survey carried out in April and May 2008. The questionnaire was sent to 66 of Scotland’s largest voluntary sector providers of social care and support  services and had a response rate of 50%.

The survey provides quantitative data relating to funding difficulties faced by service providers, and builds on a similar survey carried out by CCPS in 2007. It is intended to form part of a longitudinal study of the financial situation facing providers.

Approaches to Quality in Voluntary Sector Social Care Services: Summary of a survey of major service providers

The results of the CCPS survey on issues of organisational and service quality have now been published.  The survey was conducted as part of the CCPS response to the publication of the Changing Lives report and the public service reform agenda.  These initiatives provided a new impetus for improving the quality of social care services, and the CCPS Working Group on Quality felt that the time was right to determine where service providers are ‘at’ in relation to some of the developing thinking around quality.  The findings demonstrate that voluntary sector service providers are engaged in a significant amount of activity relating to service quality, and have a wide range of systems in place to monitor, evaluate and improve quality.

Qualification Rates and Training Costs for Voluntary Sector Care Providers

CCPS has recently published the findings of a survey of its members on Qualification Rates and Training Costs for Voluntary Sector Social Care Providers. The survey found that 64% of the workforce of care service providers in membership of CCPS are neither fully nor partially qualified to the standards required for registration by the Scottish Social Services Council (SSSC); that the cost of funding the workforce identified as unqualified by the 42 respondent organisations through to qualification to SSSC standard is in excess of £30 million, not including staff backfill costs or post registration training and learning; and that the statutory sector has access to a higher level of funding for training than the voluntary sector, both in real terms and proportionate to the percentage of staff employed.

Social Care and Support Services in the Voluntary Sector: Funding Survey 2007

The survey was conducted amid growing concerns about levels of funding for these services, and about the system for distributing the funding. Funding is, and always has been, a matter of concern for the sector; however during 2006/07 a number of major service providers took the unprecedented step of serving notice on significant service contracts because the terms of these contracts were not financially viable. In particular, providers reported that they were not able to guarantee a quality service within the limits of the available budget. This survey aimed to identify the scale of the problem, and get a sense of how many organisations may be facing similar difficulties.

The findings of the survey suggest that serious financial problems are widespread, and common to all across the field; that voluntary organisations view withdrawl from service provision as an option of 'last resort'; that there may be early indications that the quality of services, as well as workforce terms and conditions, is beginning to suffer; and that the outlook for 2007/08 is a matter for serious concern.

Scottish Charity : SC029199

Limited Company : SC279913