SBC purchases around 10,400 hours of home care weekly for around 700 older people. Social services in residential and nursing homes also support 450 older people. SBC uses Mark Friedman’s (2009) outcome-based commissioning method to procure services from providers. This method has been applied to the SBC’s contract with ‘First City’. First City is a local lead provider for LTC. It works in tandem with 15 partners who jointly support 1,000 people who reside in Borough. This application has allowed Swindon to adapt outdated services to the ever-changing needs of social service users.

The terms of First City were established through engagement with service providers. Certain specifications include involving local communities and the voluntary sector to support service providers and users, implementing and developing technology-based care, and keeping a line of communication open with service users about how the voluntary sector and broader community may support them. 

Objectives are to establish a clear link between performance measures for services delivered and population outcomes for Swindon, to allow service providers to set performance measures within a simple framework set by social services, to ensure the supply of home care in Swindon is sufficient, and to create a link between effort, quality, and outcomes.