Regional Adoption Agencies (RAAs) across the North West face increasing demand for adoption support services within a commissioning environment that has become fragmented, administratively burdensome and increasingly difficult to sustain. Variation in commissioning approaches, provider relationships and access to services has resulted in inconsistent experiences for children and families.

The Challenge

Effective commissioning is about making informed decisions that improve outcomes, maximise value for money and build sustainable services. North West Regional Adoption Agencies were seeking to strengthen their commissioning approach across organisational boundaries while responding to increasing pressures on services, finite resources, and evolving needs of children, young people and families.

Regional leaders required access to high-quality intelligence, robust benchmarking and practical commissioning support to inform future decision-making. However, intelligence and market insight were often held across multiple organisations, collectively they have created a system characterised by duplication, inconsistent commissioning practice and multiple approval routes resulting in varying service offers, administrative complexity and fragmented provider relationships.

Our Approach

MIAA’s BI and data analytics team partnered with AM Partnerships Ltd to deliver an innovative commissioning, benchmarking and data insight programme for the North West RAAs as part of the Regional Adoption Agency Innovation Programme, funded by the Department for Education to improve this part of children’s social care.

The programme was designed to equip regional leaders with the evidence, intelligence and practical tools required to make confident commissioning decisions across organisational boundaries. Rather than introducing additional reporting requirements or investing in new digital infrastructure, the approach focused on making better use of existing intelligence, market knowledge and commissioning expertise to create clear, decision-ready recommendations. Key deliverables included:

• A refreshed regional needs assessment highlighting emerging demand, service pressures and future commissioning priorities.
• A pan-regional commissioning strategy identifying which services are best commissioned collaboratively and which should remain locally managed.
• A comprehensive benchmarking and market intelligence pack providing insight into pricing, market sufficiency, provider quality and service gaps.
• Practical commissioning resources including due diligence templates, benchmarking tools and reusable intelligence products.
• A prioritised action plan supporting implementation of collaborative commissioning over the following 12 to 18 months.

The Impact

The programme has provided regional leaders with a stronger evidence base for future commissioning decisions and established a shared understanding of regional priorities, market conditions and opportunities for collaboration, while supporting better outcomes for children, young people and families. Expected outcomes include:

• Improved consistency in commissioning approaches across participating organisations.
• Better-informed decision-making through access to benchmarking and market intelligence.
• Reduced duplication of effort through shared resources and evidence products.
• Increased opportunities for collaborative commissioning where this offers better value and outcomes.
• Stronger market oversight and provider assurance.
• The programme has also produced practical, reusable assets that will continue to support commissioners beyond the life of the project.
• Initial analysis shows potential savings in reducing the number of therapeutic services commissioned and cost variance across commissioning footprints.

By transforming existing data and market intelligence into actionable insights, the programme demonstrates how organisations can strengthen commissioning capability, improve value for money and establish a scalable model that can be applied across health, social care and wider public services. A key strength of the model is its adaptability which will work across a range of sectors and organisations.