More Than a Provider has published Better Lives, Better Value, Better Partnership, a November 2026 position paper on adult social care commissioning. The collaboration brings together Brandon Trust, Certitude, Choice Support, Dimensions, and MacIntyre.
The paper argues that repeated tendering and short contracts can disrupt support, relationships, and staff teams while creating costs that hourly prices fail to capture. It calls for longer partnerships where support works well and people want continuity, transparent costing, earlier joint reviews of risk, and funding that gives people more control over their support.
Its proposed Responsible Provider Standard would require evidence about governance, outcomes, workforce investment, and how public money is used. The paper also calls for scrutiny of ownership, debt, dividends, rents, and related-party payments. It explicitly recognises that a provider's ownership model or stated values cannot establish responsible practice on their own.
For commissioners, this raises a practical question: how can arrangements protect relationships people value while keeping providers answerable to the people they support? Continuity needs to sit alongside genuine choice and the ability to challenge or change poor support.
Read the announcement and download the full report (PDF, 14 pages).