Imagine building your dream home and being told the construction would be handled by whichever builder agreed to work for the lowest rate, regardless of whether they understood your plans, had experience with your type of build, or had ever worked with your architect and project team before. You’d never accept such an approach for something as important as your home. Yet this is, in effect, how much of the care sector currently engages with care agencies when seeking temporary staffing solutions.
Care, which is one of the most human services we provide, has increasingly been reduced to a commodity, bought and sold in the same way we might procure office stationery or cleaning contracts.
The Race to the Bottom
The commoditisation of care manifests in what has become an increasingly industry-wide “race to the bottom”, a relentless pursuit of the cheapest option, often with a “shift-filling mentality” where anyone will do. This approach treats care workers as interchangeable units rather than skilled professionals who form meaningful relationships with vulnerable individuals.
The consequences of this mindset ripple throughout the entire care ecosystem. When procurement processes focus almost exclusively on cost, they signal that care itself is a low-value service. One large care provider candidly admitted: “You will find it hard, no one wants what you are selling.”
This brutal honesty reveals how deeply embedded the commodity mentality has become. As a new business, I am not naïve enough to think it would not be hard, but I am pragmatic and informed enough to realise it does not and should not be like this.
The Tender Trap
The current procurement system reflects broader challenges the sector must address. Care agencies regularly invest time and resources responding to PSLs and tender processes, crafting proposals that demonstrate their understanding of care needs and commitment to quality outcomes. While traditional procurement processes often prioritise cost over value, there are providers who recognise that exceptional care requires a different approach.
This creates an opportunity for meaningful change. How can providers deliver “person-centred care” and services “as unique as the needs of users” when selection processes treat suppliers/their care teams as commoditised? The rhetoric of individualised care sits uncomfortably alongside procurement practices that suggest care is a standardised ‘product’.
The distinction is important: you procure a commodity, but you commission care and new approaches. When the care sector wants bespoke, person-centred services that adapt to individual needs, it requires a commissioning mindset that values creativity, expertise, and partnership over standardised procurement criteria.
The Sector’s Share of Responsibility
The industry has been tainted by some care agencies that exploit vulnerable situations, charging erroneous rates whilst suffocating carer pay or, during COVID-19 for example, implementing multiple rate increases simply because desperate providers had no alternatives. These practices have understandably created scepticism about the motives and value of care agencies.
When some players in the market behave purely transactional, treating crises, or desperate requirements as profit opportunities rather than chances to support the sector through difficult periods, they reinforce the perception that care agencies are necessary evils rather than valuable partners.
Learning from Success: The Dignus Model
Alternative approaches exist, as demonstrated by the partnership between Dignus and We Are Care. This relationship challenges the commodity model by prioritising long-term outcomes and recognising the professional expertise required in social care.
For individuals with autism, learning disabilities, and mental health conditions supported by Dignus, consistency isn’t a luxury, it’s necessary for their wellbeing. Unfamiliar staff can trigger anxiety, disrupt established routines, and undermine the trust that underpins effective care.
Understanding this reality, Dignus sought a partner who could guarantee the continuity those they provide care to needed, particularly as they expanded into more complex services requiring intensive 3:1 or 4:1 support ratios.
The partnership’s success stems from We Are Care’s approach to workforce development and deployment. Rather than simply providing ‘bodies’ to fill shifts, they invest in understanding each client’s specific care environment, training their staff in Dignus’s methodologies, and maintaining dedicated teams who become familiar with individual needs.
This means care workers understand specific communication styles, know personal triggers and preferences, and can anticipate needs rather than simply react to them.
We Are Care’s value lies in our ability to provide what Dignus calls “invisible integration” – where agency staff work so seamlessly alongside permanent teams that residents experience no disruption in care quality. This is achieved through comprehensive onboarding processes, ongoing training aligned with Dignus’s care philosophies, and a commitment to staff retention that ensures familiar faces remain consistent over time.
Near 100% shift fulfilment rates provide the consistency residents need, while this seamless integration creates cohesive care teams.
This consistency enables more effective care planning and creates an environment where individuals can build trust and engage confidently with their support network. It also creates an environment where care professionals can develop specialised skills, build meaningful relationships, and see the direct impact of their work – precisely the factors that attract and retain quality staff.
Beyond the human aspect, the partnership is enabling Dignus to realise ambitious growth targets. As Louise Orr, COO points out: “This partnership has proven to be exactly what we hoped for – a relationship with a provider who can scale alongside us as we execute our ambitious growth strategy.”
The True Cost of Commodity Care
When care is treated as a commodity, everyone loses. Providers struggle with inconsistent staffing that undermines their ability to deliver quality outcomes.
The financial implications extend beyond immediate costs. High staff turnover, unfilled shifts, and the resulting instability can lead to higher overall expenses, reduced occupancy rates, and ultimately, poorer outcomes for everyone involved.
The Workforce Crisis Connection
The commodity approach creates a damaging cycle when the government is trying to build a sustainable domestic care workforce. If providers treat agency relationships as “necessary evils”, viewing skilled care professionals as unwanted but unavoidable expenses, what message does this send to potential new entrants?
Consider the contradiction: we bemoan the workforce shortage while treating those who provide flexible staffing solutions as commodities. We speak of wanting to attract individuals to social care while procurement processes suggest that skill, experience, and continuity are secondary to cost.
The cost of commodity thinking extends beyond immediate expenses. Providers struggle with inconsistent staffing that undermines their ability to deliver quality outcomes.
When potential care workers observe an industry that treats its flexible workforce as expendable, why would they choose this sector over other service industries that might offer similar pay but with greater respect and career development opportunities?
Reframing Care as Professional Service
The transformation needed isn’t just operational, it’s perceptual. This is vital when we consider the government’s workforce development agenda. Building a sustainable domestic care workforce requires more than recruitment campaigns, it demands creating an industry environment that attracts and retains skilled professionals.
The persistent misconception that social care is low-skilled work fundamentally undermines the sector’s ability to attract and retain quality professionals. This perception ignores the reality that effective care work requires sophisticated emotional intelligence, clinical knowledge, complex communication skills, and the ability to make critical decisions under pressure.
Care professionals must understand medication management, recognise early signs of health deterioration, de-escalate challenging behaviours, provide dignified personal care, support individuals through trauma, and adapt their approach to each person’s unique needs and preferences. They work with vulnerable individuals whose wellbeing depends on their professional judgement, empathy, and skill.
Yet without clear professional pathways, formal recognition of these competencies, and compensation that reflects the true skill level required, social care will continue to be perceived as unskilled work.
The alternative to commodity thinking is a partnership approach that recognises care as both relational and highly professional. This means transparent collaboration rather than arms-length procurement, value-based selection that considers expertise and outcomes alongside cost, and long-term thinking that prioritises sustainability and relationship-building over short-term cost reduction.
When flexible staffing is treated as a commodity, efforts to professionalise and grow the workforce are systematically undermined. How can we expect to develop professional pathways when the procurement process suggests that experience, training, and continuity are less important than cost?
Building Momentum for Change
The social care sector has an opportunity to lead by example. Partnerships like the one between Dignus and We Are Care demonstrate that when organisations move beyond commodity thinking, everyone benefits. The government’s commitment to building a domestic workforce aligns perfectly with providers who understand that procurement practices, partnership approaches, and workforce development strategies are interconnected.
The sector needs more commissioners willing to prioritise long-term value, providers committed to treating staffing partnerships as strategic relationships, and recognition that quality care requires investment in skilled, fairly-paid professionals who can build meaningful relationships with those they support.
When organisations recognise the professional expertise required in social care and build partnerships accordingly, the results speak for themselves: operational excellence, financial sustainability, and improved quality of life for vulnerable individuals. The opportunity now is to scale this approach across the sector.
The social care sector is ready for this evolution. With proven models demonstrating success and a growing recognition that traditional approaches limit growth potential, forward-thinking providers are positioning themselves to lead this transformation.
By Toby Gavin, Director of We Are Care.