At its simplest, social care involves ensuring that people’s fundamental social needs are met. Social needs are complex and intersectional, as are the people who need support, so solutions and supports must reach across the sector.
Improving outcomes for vulnerable people and families requires a multidisciplinary approach as the complex issues cannot be addressed in isolation. People who come into contact with social services providers often have been doing so over many generations and this presents a systemic disadvantage that must be understood in designing policy and programs.
As government and society’s understanding of vulnerability continues to develop, the social services system is evolving to identify and respond to the complexity, vulnerability and risk earlier.
The breadth of our consultants' work includes disability; children, youth and families; housing and homelessness; and communities and wellbeing support.
Policy and strategy development is the earliest stage of addressing social services challenges by government and the social sector to ensure high-impact approaches and programs. Our consultants have experience supporting clients with the full scope of policy development, from identifying a policy issue to selecting the appropriate policy instrument and assessing policy options.
Quality program design sets social services providers up to deliver maximum impact and value for money through their programs. Our consultants work with social services clients to design and evaluate program strategy, engage with stakeholders, use research and data, and develop outcome reporting.
System reform in social care is undertaken to improve the impact and efficiency of the sector as a whole in order to increase individual and community wellbeing. Our consultants have expertise in operating model design and delivery, business model transformation, market shaping and regulation.
The right organisational design is crucial for social care providers to set, perform against and achieve their social missions. Our consultants' approach to organisational design is guided by the Nous Organisational Architecture Framework, which describes how an entity is set up to deliver value to its people, customers and other beneficiaries.
Intersectional analysis is not just good to have – it is essential for designing policy programs
Intersectional analysis is vital for any policy and program designer who is aiming to meet the diverse needs in a population.
Change is coming to employability services – so what does it mean for their workforce?
As the UK emerges from the COVID-19 crisis, employability services are on the frontline of economic recovery, working alongside jobseekers and employers to help people back into rewarding and sustainable employment.
Our use of human-centred design to transform the sharing of information to enhance child wellbeing and safety has won a 2021 Good Design Award.
