The key strategic decision for commissioning in 2026 is choosing between a relational approach and a regional cooperative model
Comparison: The Commissioning Marketplace
| Relational Children’s Commissioning | Regional Care Cooperatives (RCCs) | |
| Core Value | Trust, communication, and mutual respect between local authorities and providers. | Collective buying power, economies of scale, and market shaping. |
| Structure | Flexible, “nested” activities at local and sub-regional levels. | Formalised regional hubs with strategic leadership and legislative backing. |
| Focus | High-trust local partnerships and specific community-based needs. | High-cost, low-instance placements like secure mental health or complex care. |
| Current Status | Standard best practice; used to improve individual matching and improve block contracts | Active 2026 pathfinders in Greater Manchester and the South-East; national rollout pending. |
Relational commissioning focuses on the quality of the connection
Personalised Service: Prioritising open communication channels and partnership to ensure providers and local authorities share a clear understanding of children and sector challenges.
Local list: Used by most local authorities to prioritise local children by entering into “block contracts” that ringfence spaces in their immediate area.
Flexible Returns: Allows for a “nuanced approach” that adjusts to localised challenges rather than moving everything to a single regional service.
Regional Care Cooperatives (RCCs) a large scale transaction corporate model promoted as a solution to solve the “broken care market”
Bulk Buying Power: Aggregates demand across multiple local authorities to negotiate better prices and stop “spiralling costs”.
New Regional Brand: RCCs are not just buying care; they aim to build it using capital funding to create new regional children’s homes and workforce academies.
Data-Driven lists: RCCs ambition is to build a dedicated forecasting function data analysis, ensuring the right types of placements are available before they are needed.
Choosing your strategic recommendations for 2026
Choose Relational Commissioning if you want to maintain high local democratic oversight and build on existing trust-based relationships within your immediate sub-region.
Choose Regional Care Cooperatives if you are struggling with the extreme costs of specialist placements and need the “legal teeth” of central government to mandate regional collaboration.
