Handing Back Contracts: Exploring the Rising Trend in Third Sector Provider Withdrawal from the Social Care Market

The purpose of this report is to explore the experiences of and issues associated with processes of handing back social care contracts by voluntary sector providers of services. This research has come at a time of increasing concern regarding the sustainability of organisations (both voluntary and private) that have been involved in contracting public services from government (Coalition of Care and Support Providers Scotland (CCPS), 2017 and 2018a; 2018b). Recent research has highlighted how the introduction of the Scottish Living Wage in adult social care may be contributing to greater insecurity of voluntary organisation providers. This insecurity, in turn, is seen to be leading to providers handing back contracts (Cunningham, Baluch, Cullen and James, 2018). This report highlights in more depth the motives for this phenomenon and its impact on providers, funders, employees and service users.

The report proceeds by introducing an overview on the background literature relating to sustainability and outsourcing in social care. This literature is followed by an outline of the study’s qualitative method. The results of the study are presented, followed by a discussion and conclusion section, and the report closes with several recommendations.