National evaluation of the Adult Social Care (ASC) Technology Fund

Through the Digitising Social Care Programme, the government is putting £150m into helping social care organisations adopt new digital technologies. The hope is that these technologies will make social care better and safer.

Many of the digital technologies are expensive and very new, and there is not yet much evidence to show that they are making a difference, especially for social care organisations. It can seem like a large cost that only benefits other organisations, and, because of this, social care organisations are not yet convinced that it makes sense to adopt them.

The Adult Social Care (ASC) Technology Fund is an example of how the government is helping organisations to adopt new digital technologies. Launched in April 2023, it has funded eight projects across the country to use new digital technologies in various social care services. These projects will also try to understand the difference that the new digital technologies are making, with the hope is that this evidence will convince others to adopt the new technologies.

PIRU has been asked by the government to do this research, so they can learn more about:

• how to make policies that transform social care, so it becomes more digital,
• what makes for good evidence to convince social care organisations to adopt digital technologies and make them part of their services.

• How, why and in what circumstances have the Adult Social Care Technology (ASC Tech) Fund projects contributed to digital transformation? How do their experiences inform our understanding of how digital transformation can be achieved in adult social care?
• What types of research evidence are the ASC Tech Fund project partners and wider stakeholders generating and using? How do their experiences inform our understanding of what makes for good evidence to facilitate the scale-up, spread and sustained implementation of digital technologies?
• What is the economic value of the ASC Tech Fund projects and what are the economic considerations and implications of digital transformation? How do the experiences of the projects inform our understanding of economic evaluation of digital technologies?
• How have ASC Tech Fund projects considered equality, diversity and inclusion? What are the implications for the goal of digitally transforming ASC and generating evidence that can be used to build a case for change and future investment?

To answer our research questions, we will use an approach to evaluation known as a theory of change which, in this context, explains how we expect the projects to make social care more digital and transform it.

The first step is to develop the theory of change. Once it is developed then we collect data to test and improve it. To do this, we will: review other studies of digital change in social care, interview policymakers and other people involved the ASC Technology Fund and related programmes, collect information and experiences from each of the ASC Technology Fund projects. We will interview project staff, attend events, look at documents from the projects, and collect data about their progress, costs and outcomes. We will bring all the information we collect together in a process of analysis.

The evaluation and the process of analysis will move forward in stages. This will involve looking at what we are learning about the digital technology projects and thinking about the theory of change. At every stage we will share what we learn with our advisors so their views can improve our research. Advisors will include members of the public, other experts and researchers.

Throughout, the evaluation will consider whether digital technology reduces inequalities (e.g. by improving access to care for certain groups of people or improving their ability to communicate) or could increase inequalities (e.g. by further excluding already marginalised groups of people such as those with limited mobility). A group of public members with experience of the Adult Social Care system has been established to advise on the proposal, monitor the conduct of the research and contribute to the interpretation of results and reporting.

We will share our research with the government and other researchers. We will also write easy to read summaries of our research so more people can learn about our research.