The Three-Year Social Care Comission: Falling Behind the Tech Revolution
Why the UK government's plan for an independent commission on reforming adult social care risks being outpaced by technology
The UK government has announced a plan for an independent commission on reforming adult social care, aiming for publication of the full report in 2028. While the three year time horizon has sparked widespread criticism due to the delay in addressing pressing issues affecting millions of people, one significant concern has been overlooked: the timeline’s misalignment with the rapid pace of technological progress. This reality sits in contrast to the government’s more recent pledge to make Britain an AI superpower and harness technology for improvement.
The social care workforce crisis
We have significant issues with human resource in social care. This stems for a milieu of issues including funding and talent, creating a demand resource mismatch. The challenge intersects with all sorts of other policy issues including taxation, employment regulations and migration, compounding the complexity of finding solutions. Meanwhile, the proposed three year review period risks leaving the sector in the lurch.
The big questions about adult social care
The key questions stakeholders, including service users and their families are invested in answering include
How is care provided and delivered?
By who?
At what cost?…and of course, who pays?
Technological opportunities in social care
While human resource challenges persist, technology is evolving at pace. Innovations in artificial intelligence (AI), robotics, and automation offer potential solutions that could transform the delivery of care.
Unbundling the key tasks of social care helps map technology to workstream. Adult social care includes:
Operations management and resource allocation (currently handled between funders— in many cases individual service users— and providers)
Communication and emotional support (delivered by care staff across settings)
Daily living assistance (from personal care to meal preparation to medication reminders)
Non technical triage (non clinically qualified staff escalate concerns/ call for emergency support)
Examples of tech currently deployed in care globally
Technology handling operational tasks in adult social care: I covered an example of this being used within and alongside the NHS in June 2023
AI in Human Facing Tasks: Large Language Models (LLMs), such as ChatGPT, are already supporting communication and decision-making processes in healthcare.
Robotic Assistance For Emotional Support: Robots like PARO and Tombot are providing companionship to users in adult social care, while assistive robots like Lio perform practical tasks such as medication reminders and beverage distribution.
Household Automation: In the consumer space, robotic vacuum cleaners are used in 15% of U.S. households, signalling a shift towards widespread acceptance of automation in supporting with social activities of daily living.
Future Innovations: The Tesla Bot, though in development, depicts a future where robots assist with more complex activities of daily living, from childcare to meal preparation.
How this works in other sectors
To be clear: delivering social care is NOT the same as delivering products sold on Amazon. Clearly, a genuine human interface is fundamental to care. Nonetheless, it is useful to see how technology has transformed workstreams in other parts of the economy. For example, at At Amazon’s fulfilment centres, robots manage various tasks, including sorting, packing, and logistics, showcasing how automation can optimise workflows. These robots communicate with one another and human coworkers, anticipate their energy needs, and recharge autonomously. This improves safety and efficiency while reducing manual handling risks for humans.
There is scope… maybe even necessity… to explore automation where there is a shortfall in human resource or where automation can optimise service delivery. The potential of technology to offer solutions to adult social care should be top of mind for policy makers.
Lara’s take
The time horizon for the independent commission into adult social care’s report leaves many households in the dark for years. As well as this, there is a real risk that innovations in AI and robotics could render the commission's recommendations obsolete by the time they are implemented. Government reviews spanning three or four years are fundamentally out of sync with pace of technological development. Instead of relying solely on traditional reviews, resources should be reallocated to:
Collaborations with tech innovators to adapt tools for use in public services where demand outweighs resource, including adult social care
Upskilling the human workforce and researching the human/ technology interface to leverage AI and robotics effectively where there is a resource gap
Safe and controlled pilot programs testing emerging technologies in collaboration with public sector settings
The public sector is already struggling to keep pace with rapid technological advancements, putting it at serious risk of falling further behind. Compounding this issue is the growing demand-resource mismatch that continues to undermine the quality and availability of public services. As this imbalance worsens, working conditions are likely to deteriorate further, creating a vicious cycle of poor recruitment and retention, which only deepens the crisis.
Technology may represent the only scalable and cost-effective solution to these challenges. This week, the UK government has unveiled plans to foster AI innovation domestically. This is just one piece of the puzzle. Without robust policies to retain home-grown talent and technology through implementation, these innovations risk being bought out and exported, leaving the UK with little to show for its investments.
A technology-first approach must permeate all aspects of policy reform. From addressing systemic inefficiencies to supporting workforce resilience, embracing technology as a core component of public sector strategy is essential for ensuring sustainable, future-ready services. Adult social care is just one example of this.
