The third sector and social care for older people in England: towards an explanation of its contrasting contributions in residential care, domiciliary care and day care

Abstract

This paper reviews the historical and recent development of the third sector in social care services for older people, and uses this as a springboard to develop a typology to capture in stylised form the diversity of providers within the sector. After reviewing a range of evidence concerning the nature of the third sector’s relative contribution, three propositions are developed to explain why this balance varies so significantly between residential care, domiciliary care and day care. First, differences in the character of the regulatory regime, reflecting both the historical legacy of market development and different attributes of the services and their users; second, the nature of the demand for, and supply of, volunteers; and third, variations in the internal composition of the third sector. The last proposition underscores the importance of attending to internal variety within the third sector in understanding its contribution to the broader mixed economy of care