Measuring Digital Inclusion for Families and Carers as Social Value in Adult Social Care

Digital inclusion for families and carers is a practical social value issue because many relatives now expect updates, reviews, appointments and service communication to happen partly through digital routes. Providers working within the Social Value Knowledge Hub need to evidence how digital communication strengthens involvement while protecting consent, privacy and choice.

Strong providers use social value measurement and reporting to evidence family and carer outcomes, while linking digital inclusion to social value policy and national priorities such as inclusion, transparency, prevention, wellbeing and accountable public service delivery.

Digital routes should make involvement easier, not replace human contact. Strong evidence shows whether families feel better informed, people remain in control, and staff use digital communication safely and consistently.

What Digital Inclusion for Families and Carers Means

Digital inclusion for families and carers means supporting relatives, unpaid carers and circles of support to engage with services through accessible, secure and agreed digital routes. This may include video reviews, family portals, digital updates, online meetings, shared action trackers, accessible documents, feedback forms and remote involvement in planning.

The social value comes from reducing exclusion and improving confidence. Strong providers demonstrate that digital involvement is consent-based, proportionate and flexible enough to include people who cannot or do not want to use digital tools.

Why It Matters in Real Services

Families can become anxious when communication is inconsistent. They may miss review dates, misunderstand changes, repeat the same concerns or feel excluded when they cannot attend meetings in person.

If digital routes are introduced poorly, they can create privacy risks, overwhelm staff or exclude relatives with low digital confidence. Strong services evidence how digital communication improves involvement without weakening boundaries or person-led care.

What Good Looks Like

Strong services evidence digital inclusion through consent records, communication preferences, accessible routes, clear response standards, family feedback, staff guidance and governance review.

Providers should be able to evidence who is involved, what the person has agreed, how communication happens and whether it improves confidence or outcomes. This creates a clear line of sight from digital involvement to social value impact.

Operational Example 1: Supporting Remote Family Involvement in Reviews

Context: A supported living provider supported a person whose sibling lived outside the area but wanted to contribute to annual reviews. The person wanted their sibling involved but did not want every daily detail shared.

Support approach: The provider agreed a consent-based remote review process, with clear boundaries about what could be shared and how the person’s voice would remain central.

Five practical steps:

1. Confirm who the person wants involved and what information can be shared.
2. Agree the digital route, accessibility needs and privacy arrangements.
3. Prepare review information with the person before inviting family input.
4. Record family contributions separately from the person’s own views.
5. Review whether involvement improved confidence, planning and follow-up actions.

Day-to-day delivery detail: Staff helped the person choose what to discuss, prepared visual prompts and scheduled the video review at a time that suited them. Managers checked that the sibling’s views supported, rather than dominated, the plan.

How effectiveness was evidenced: The provider evidenced clearer family involvement, stronger review actions, maintained consent and improved confidence for the person and sibling. This demonstrated social value through accessible involvement and person-led planning.

Deepening the Family Digital Inclusion Evidence Pathway

Digital family involvement evidence is strongest when it shows better understanding, reduced anxiety and clearer outcomes. Providers should avoid treating portal access or video meeting attendance as impact unless they can show what changed.

Guidance on measuring social value outcomes in adult social care reinforces the need to connect activity with impact. Family digital inclusion evidence strengthens this by showing how communication improves confidence, continuity and involvement.

Operational Example 2: Digital Updates After a Health Change

Context: A residential service supported a person after a medication change. Their family wanted regular reassurance, but staff were receiving repeated calls across shifts because there was no agreed update process.

Support approach: The provider agreed a short-term digital update arrangement with consent, clear frequency, named responsibility and review date.

Five practical steps:

1. Check the person’s consent and what information can be shared.
2. Agree update frequency, method and named staff responsibility.
3. Record key changes accurately without sharing unnecessary personal detail.
4. Escalate concerns through clinical or management routes before family updates.
5. Review whether updates reduced anxiety and improved continuity.

Day-to-day delivery detail: Staff used an agreed secure route to provide brief updates after key observations. The manager checked that updates were accurate, proportionate and aligned with care records.

How effectiveness was evidenced: The provider evidenced reduced repeated calls, clearer family confidence, accurate records and maintained privacy. This showed social value through reassurance, transparency and safe communication.

Systems, Workforce and Consistency

Teams apply digital family inclusion well when staff understand consent, confidentiality, boundaries and response standards. Digital communication should not depend on informal messages, personal devices or individual staff goodwill.

Supervision should review family contact themes, consent, complaints, communication delays and staff confidence. Handovers should include agreed family communication where it affects current support. Managers should check that non-digital alternatives remain available so inclusion does not depend on technology access.

This also supports commissioner confidence. Wider explanation of social value in UK public sector commissioning shows why providers need evidence that communication improves trust, prevention and service accountability.

Operational Example 3: Supporting a Carer With Low Digital Confidence

Context: A domiciliary care provider introduced digital care visit summaries, but one unpaid carer struggled to access them and felt less informed than when paper notes were used.

Support approach: The provider reviewed accessibility, offered support to use the digital route and agreed a backup communication method while confidence developed.

Five practical steps:

1. Identify whether digital communication is creating exclusion or anxiety.
2. Ask the carer what support, format or alternative route would help.
3. Provide simple guidance without pressuring digital use.
4. Agree a temporary backup route where information is time-critical.
5. Review confidence, communication quality and carer satisfaction.

Day-to-day delivery detail: Coordinators explained how to access summaries, checked whether the carer could retrieve them independently and continued phone contact for urgent concerns. Staff recorded preferences clearly.

How effectiveness was evidenced: The provider evidenced improved carer confidence, fewer missed updates, maintained access and reduced frustration. This demonstrated social value through inclusive digital communication.

Governance and Evidence

Governance gives family digital inclusion evidence credibility. Providers should maintain an audit trail showing consent, communication preferences, digital routes used, response standards, feedback, complaints themes and learning.

Data may include family satisfaction, reduced repeated contacts, improved review attendance, fewer communication complaints, response times and completed follow-up actions. Qualitative evidence explains trust, reassurance, involvement, understanding and confidence.

Strong services demonstrate how digital family inclusion evidence informs care planning, supervision, safeguarding, complaints review, commissioner reporting, quality assurance and board oversight. This creates a clear line of sight from communication to action and outcome.

Commissioner and CQC Expectations

Commissioners expect providers to evidence involvement, transparency and responsive communication. Digital inclusion evidence helps show that providers support families and carers in ways that improve confidence and continuity.

CQC expectations focus on caring, responsive and well-led care. Digital family inclusion supports this when leaders protect consent, privacy and dignity while helping people and their chosen supporters stay appropriately involved.

Common Pitfalls

• Sharing digital updates without clear consent.
• Assuming all families and carers can use digital routes confidently.
• Using personal staff devices or informal messaging.
• Allowing family views to override the person’s own wishes.
• Collecting feedback without closing the loop.
• Reporting portal use without evidencing improved involvement or outcomes.

Conclusion

Measuring digital inclusion for families and carers as social value in adult social care means showing how digital communication improves involvement, reassurance and continuity while protecting consent and choice. Strong providers demonstrate this through accessible routes, staff consistency, feedback, outcome data and governance. When evidence is credible, family digital inclusion becomes a strong social value measure because it shows how adult social care can strengthen relationships, reduce exclusion and support better shared understanding.

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