Creating a virtuous circle of investment in TEC: State of the Sector Report 2024

2​8 June 2024

The inaugural State of the Sector report, a collaborative report between TSA and PA Consulting, was revealed at the 2024 ITEC Conference. The report features a couple of case studies including one that highlights the work Hampshire County Council has done to 'create a virtuous circle of investment' in TEC and position it as a key element in their approach to Adult Social Care.

Hampshire County Council recognised that successfully positioning TEC at the heart of its approach to Adult Social Care required a lot more than just the technology itself. Initiated in 2013, Hampshire County Council’s work with the PA Consulting Argenti Care Technology partnership introduced an approach to TEC that focused on the effective transformation, culture change, and innovation needed to deliver the best outcomes for people by mainstreaming the use of TEC. The council’s Director of Adult Social Care described this approach as a “managed leap of faith”, emphasising the need for tangible results.

To accurately measure the financial benefits of their partnership, the council and Argenti co-designed a comprehensive approach that created an audit trail directly back through the local authority’s own financial systems. This methodology, which built the council’s confidence in the results, set the benchmark for measuring the financial benefit of TEC services across the UK. In its inaugural year, the partnership delivered a return on investment of 60%, surpassing expectations and confirming the success of the leap of faith

Over the following ten years, the council consistently increased the net financial benefit, the financial benefit remaining after all costs related to the delivery of the partnership, while garnering extremely positive feedback from users and care practitioners. It had the confidence to continuously develop and innovate the service because the council was assured its care technology partnership was reducing, avoiding, and delaying the cost of care and support. In doing so, a virtuous cycle was created, enabling further innovation and development of services.

Three factors proved pivotal in realising the benefits of care technology. First, the council fostered a culture of curiosity, inventiveness, and creativity, steering clear of adopting devices for novelty’s sake and only using them where the improved outcome for the individual was clear. Second, an emphasis on continuous education and support for the workforce, led by visible leadership, ensured the seamless integration of care technology into ways of working. Lastly, the council recognised that whilst ideas are easy, execution is everything, and broke with convention by commissioning a partner, PA Consulting, with the expertise to translate ideas into practice.

More information around the TEC opportunity and building the investment case can be found in the full State of The Sector report, available for download here