Delegated Authority in Multi-Site and Growing Adult Social Care Organisations
Growth is one of the biggest stress tests of governance. As providers expand across locations or service lines, informal decision-making quickly becomes unsafe. Clear delegated authority and schemes of delegation are essential to maintain consistency, accountability and quality across sites, supported by strong governance and leadership.
This article focuses on how delegation should operate in multi-site and growing adult social care organisations, with practical examples of how to avoid fragmentation and governance drift.
The risks of poor delegation during growth
Without a clear scheme of delegation, expanding providers commonly experience:
- Different decisions made for similar situations across sites
- Managers unclear about their authority limits
- Escalation that depends on personalities rather than thresholds
- Boards losing visibility of operational risk
Designing delegation for scale
In multi-site organisations, delegation must be both consistent and flexible. Schemes should:
- Standardise decision categories and thresholds
- Define site-level vs central authority
- Build in escalation routes that do not rely on availability of individuals
- Align delegation with reporting and assurance structures
Operational example 1: Consistent safeguarding escalation across sites
Context: A provider operates multiple supported living services across different local authorities.
Support approach: The scheme defines safeguarding authority consistently across sites, with local managers empowered to act immediately and clear escalation to a central safeguarding lead.
Day-to-day delivery detail: All sites use the same safeguarding decision record, escalation criteria and reporting timelines. Central review ensures consistency and identifies themes across locations.
How effectiveness or change is evidenced: Audit shows uniform response times and improved quality of safeguarding referrals across all services.
Operational example 2: Managing restrictive practices across multiple locations
Context: Different services adopt varying approaches to restrictions, creating inequity and risk.
Support approach: Delegated authority allows site managers to implement interim controls, while a central restrictive practice panel reviews sustained or high-impact restrictions.
Day-to-day delivery detail: Data from all sites feeds into a central dashboard, enabling comparison and challenge. Panel decisions are communicated back with clear actions.
How effectiveness or change is evidenced: Variation reduces and restrictive practices are demonstrably reviewed and reduced over time.
Operational example 3: Financial control in a growing organisation
Context: Rapid growth leads to inconsistent spending controls between established and new services.
Support approach: The scheme sets uniform financial thresholds while allowing limited flexibility for local operational needs.
Day-to-day delivery detail: All managers receive training on delegated authority. Central finance monitors spend patterns and escalates anomalies for review.
How effectiveness or change is evidenced: Financial variance stabilises and boards receive consistent, comparable data.
Commissioner expectation
Commissioner expectation: Commissioners expect consistency across services, regardless of provider size. They look for assurance that governance scales with growth and does not dilute accountability.
Regulator / Inspector expectation
Regulator / Inspector expectation (CQC): CQC expects leaders to maintain oversight as organisations grow. Inspectors assess whether governance systems remain effective and whether decision-making is consistent and safe across all locations.
Keeping delegation effective during expansion
Providers should review schemes of delegation whenever they:
- Open new services
- Enter new commissioning arrangements
- Introduce new service models
- Experience significant incidents or complaints
Delegation that scales with the organisation protects people, supports managers, and gives boards confidence that growth is being governed safely.