Social Care

Buurtzorg ('neighbourhood care') revolutionised Dutch home healthcare by eliminating management hierarchy. Self-managing teams of 10-12 nurses have full autonomy over scheduling, care decisions, and administration. The result: 40% lower costs, higher patient satisfaction, and happier nurses. The model proves a counterintuitive point: decoupling from management hierarchy (Δ) actually increases alignment (Λ) because nurses can respond directly to patient needs. It's PSC applied to organisational architecture.

• Self-managing teams of 10-12 nurses
• No management hierarchy
• 40% lower costs than traditional care

Homeshare matches older people with spare rooms to younger people who need affordable housing. The younger person provides 10 hours weekly of companionship and light help (not personal care) in exchange for low-cost accommodation. Both parties benefit: older people get company, security, and help; younger people get affordable housing. The model operates in 15+ countries, addressing loneliness, housing affordability, and care needs simultaneously. It's social infrastructure that costs almost nothing to operate because the exchange is peer-to-peer.

• 10 hours help per week exchange
• Low-cost housing for younger person
• Companionship for older person

IRISS (Institute for Research and Innovation in Social Services) bridges the gap between academic research and frontline practice in Scottish social care. Rather than traditional training, IRISS acts as a knowledge broker—translating research into usable tools, facilitating peer learning networks, and building sector-wide capability. The model recognises that knowledge needs infrastructure to flow. IRISS creates the 'pipes' through which evidence reaches practice, and practice informs research. It's regenerative because learning compounds across the entire sector.

• Knowledge brokerage model
• Research-to-practice translation
• Peer learning networks

Kids Company supported 36,000 vulnerable children in London under charismatic founder Camila Batmanghelidjh. Despite £42M in government funding and celebrity backing, it collapsed in 2015 within days of a final £3M grant. Investigations revealed chronic overspending, governance failures, and complete dependency on founder's relationships. Kids Company shows that charismatic leadership without structural governance creates extreme fragility—when the founder faltered, the entire system collapsed.

• 36,000 children supported (claimed)
• £42M government funding received
• Charismatic founder-dependent

The Peterborough SIB was the world's first social impact bond, targeting prisoner reoffending. Investors funded rehabilitation services; if reoffending fell, government paid returns. Results were mixed: reoffending fell 9% vs control (triggering partial payment), but the program was terminated early when government launched a national scheme. The Peterborough SIB proved the concept but revealed challenges: complex measurement, political interference, and questions about whether market mechanisms suit social problems.

• World's first social impact bond
• Target: reduce prisoner reoffending
• 9% reduction vs control group

Shared Lives Plus transforms social care by placing adults with disabilities, mental health conditions, or age-related needs with approved carers who share their homes and lives. Unlike institutional care, people become genuine household members—eating together, sharing activities, building real relationships. The model costs 40% less than residential care while delivering better outcomes. Carers are self-employed, creating distributed micro-enterprises. The network supports 14,000+ arrangements across the UK, proving that relationship-based care outperforms institutional alternatives.

• 14,000+ care arrangements in UK
• 40% cost reduction vs residential care
• Genuine household membership

The UK pioneered Social Impact Bonds (now called Social Outcomes Contracts) in 2010 with the Peterborough Prison project. The model: philanthropic and private capital funds social interventions; government pays only if outcomes are achieved; capital recycles into new projects. The UK has now run 100+ contracts across homelessness, employment, children's services, and health. It's proof that outcome-linked capital can create regenerative cycles—successful interventions generate returns that fund the next intervention.

• 100+ social outcomes contracts
• Risk-layered capital structures
• Payment for outcomes, not activities