Commissioning intentions and strategies are increasingly being seen as an area where joint working and mature relationships with providers are important. Contracts themselves can sometimes set back such relationships by not reflecting such a partnership approach. However, well worded and agreed clauses can do much to facilitate good working relationships between commissioners and providers of social care, whilst at the same time offering protection to people who use services and carers. This paper will look at some of the key issues in designing contract clauses that have a particular impact on all parties. Written by IPC, this paper was originally published as part of the Commissioning eBook.
