Regional Care Cooperative Programme
Mutual Ventures have been appointed as the delivery partner for the Regional Care Cooperative (RCC) Programme by the Department for Education (DfE). We are supporting two pathfinder regions to develop their RCC.
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On this page participating and interested local authorities can find information about the programme and access relevant learning resources. We will have learning resources available from December 2024.
Programme Elements
Regional Care Cooperatives
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RCCs aim to enhance regional commissioning and improve the delivery of care services for children through increased local authority negotiating and buying power and an improved ability to better shape the market. Crucial to this will be the role of the RCC in developing an improved regional understanding of supply and demand for children's care placements.
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This will lead to an increase in the right types of placements for looked after children, placing children closer to home in a setting that better meets their needs, ultimately leading to improved outcomes for the child. Improved regional collaboration and a market that better reflects the needs of children should also deliver value for money for the local authority and prevent spiralling costs.
National Support on Commissioning, Forecasting and Market-shaping
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In addition to providing support to the RCC pathfinders, the DfE have also commissioned Mutual Ventures to provide a programme of national support on commissioning, forecasting and market shaping in relation to the children's care placements market. This involves evidence gathering in which MV is collecting and analysing data from up to 50 local authorities, providers, and sector experts. While we will be looking at challenges local authorities are facing, this work is primarily solutions focused, identifying where progress is being made against national challenges. We will be providing a programme of support to help local authorities to embed strong and effective working practices in commissioning, forecasting and market shaping.
Our Support
Delivery Support
As part of this project, MV is providing direct support to the two pathfinders through dedicated coaches, technical experts and subject matter specialists who are supporting them through the process of establishing an RCC.
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We will be sharing further information and resources on how we continue to support the two pathfinder regions here.
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Learning Programme
Central to our role as the Department for Education’s delivery partner to establish RCCs is our learning programme. The MV team are actively supporting the RCCs and capturing live learning from the pathfinder teams. From this, we are developing resources and content that shares learning from the programme on the journey to establishing an RCC. These resources will be useful to the Department for Education, the pathfinders, as well as prospective local authorities or regions who are considering establishing an RCC of their own.
To be added to the learning programme mailing list and receive access to all RCC learning resources please contact luke.bevir@mutualventures.co.uk.
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Programme Outcomes
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To bring local authorities together, to work collaboratively to improve the quality of forecasting to meet the future needs of children, particularly children with complex needs.
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To improve the buying and negotiating power of local authorities through collective working to shape the market effectively promote invest in the right provision.
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To increase the number of quality placements so children in care live in the right homes, in the right places.
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To help children in care and care leavers recover, thrive and achieve their potential into adulthood.
