Getting Reorganisation Ready

England is undergoing the biggest restructuring of local government since 1974. Over the next two years, almost 200 councils will merge, split, or move into new regional structures, and social care sits at the sharpest edge of that change. The ambition and the destination are right, but the speed at which the sector is being asked to get there is punishing.

Why Technology Will Determine Success

Technology will be a critical determinant of whether this transition is delivered safely. It will decide whether records follow the people they belong to, whether safeguarding referrals are escalated to the right team on day one, whether providers continue to be paid on time, and whether the practitioners delivering services have the information they need to do their jobs. None of that happens by accident. It happens because the work has been done well in advance.

What This Whitepaper Explores

This whitepaper sets out what System C is hearing from across the sector. It draws on a survey of social care practitioners and front-line managers, on conversations with service managers and programme leads inside affected councils, and on the perspective of Socitm, whose members are working through this in real-time. The picture it paints is one of a sector that understands the case for change, recognises the long term opportunity, and is genuinely worried about how the next two years will be managed.