Digital innovation in adult social care: how we’ve been supporting communities during COVID-19

The Local Government Association (LGA) and Association of Directors of Adult Social Services (ADASS) commissioned the Institute of Public Care at Oxford Brookes University to work with councils in capturing examples of social care digital innovation across local government in a new report.


This report comes at a time when the health and social care sector has been making repeated calls to the government to resolve the immediate financial pressures arising from COVID-19 and to address the long-term funding and reform of adult social care.

The full report has three parts:

  1. What have we done to support the use of technology for connection, wellbeing and bringing communities closer together?
  2. What have we learned about the factors which lead to successful digital innovation in adult social care and those that don’t? 
  3. What next if we want to keep up the momentum and sustain new learning, approaches and ways of working?

For councils, it is hoped that this report is a useful stock take of recent digital activity across local government which can be used to promote and stimulate continued work in this area with local communities.

For national bodies (including the government in collaboration with the LGA, ADASS and partners), this report captures key areas of continued work needed to enable successful and sustainable digital innovation in adult social care.

Digital innovation in adult social care: executive summary for councillors and directors of adult social care