Source · Select Committees · Public Accounts Committee
Recommendation 28
28
Accepted
Regional commissioning pilots delayed and limited, with national rollout potentially taking ten years.
Recommendation
The MacAlister review envisaged regional organisations operating fully from early 2025, to address sufficiency challenges by 2027. The Department decided against immediately rolling out regional commissioning nationally given insufficient evidence on potential benefits, instead opting for pilots in two regions, Greater Manchester and South East England. Delays meant the Department and local authorities launched the pilot regional cooperatives in 2025 rather than 2024 as planned. The pilots are not testing the full commissioning model as the Department removed the expectation that they would discharge local authorities’ statutory responsibilities. The Department has not committed to a date for a national rollout, but in one 2023 evaluation document, it expected that it could take around ten years to do.79 73 C&AG’s Report, para 2.16 74 Q 17 75 C&AG’s Report, para 1.12 76 County Councils Network (CCH0005) 77 C&AG’s Report, paras 13, 3.11 78 Q 14 79 C&AG’s Report, paras 3.11-3.12 17
Government Response Summary
The government agrees with the recommendation to clarify the principles behind the collaborative regional approach and expects to implement its model nationally by Spring 2029, including launching an expression of interest backed by over £10 million of funding to support the setup of up to six new RCCs in 2026.
Government Response
Accepted
HM Government
Accepted
6. PAC conclusion: The Department has failed to address the problem of local authorities competing for places and the effect that has on driving up costs. 6. PAC recommendation: The Department should clarify, as part of the Treasury Minute, the principles behind the collaborative regional approach it is working towards, by when it expects to implement its model nationally, and how it will support local authorities in the meantime. 6.1 The government agrees with the Committee’s recommendation. Target implementation date: Spring 2029 6.2 Every child deserves safe, high-quality care close to home. Regional Care Cooperatives will make this a reality by transforming the children’s social care system into one that is coherent, collaborative, and sustainable. 6.3 RCCs will harness the collective buying power of individual local authorities (LAs) and allow them to gain economies of scale. By pooling resources, improving forecasting, strengthening multi-agency collaboration, building expertise and capability and acting collectively as a single customer and provider, RCCs will transform care available for children. 6.4 In 2025, two RCC pathfinders were launched in Greater Manchester and the South- East. Ecorys UK have been commissioned to carry out an independent evaluation of the two pathfinders. The first report was published in 2025 and highlights the high potential of the RCC model. Learning from the pathfinders, the department now intends to accelerate the rollout of RCCs. 6.5 The department’s vision is for every LA to be part of an RCC. The department wants to work in partnership with local areas to drive forward the development of RCCs quickly. On 4 February 2026 the department publicly set out its vision for RCCs, building on the pathfinders. Following this, an Expression of Interest will be launched in Spring, backed by over £10 million of funding, with the expectation to be able to support the setup of up to six new RCCs in 2026.