Measuring Digital Skills Pathways as Social Value in Adult Social Care
Digital skills pathways are a practical social value issue because adult social care services increasingly support people to use technology for communication, health access, learning, hobbies, travel, money management and community participation. Providers working within the Social Value Knowledge Hub need to evidence how digital skills are developed safely and progressively, not just whether people have access to devices.
Strong providers use social value measurement and reporting to evidence confidence and access outcomes, while linking digital skills pathways to social value policy and national priorities such as inclusion, reducing inequality, prevention, independence and community participation.
Digital skills should be built around people’s goals. Strong evidence shows whether support helps people do more for themselves, feel safer online and access opportunities that matter to them.
What Digital Skills Pathways Mean
Digital skills pathways mean planned, supported progression from basic confidence to more independent use of technology. In adult social care, this may include learning to make video calls, use accessible apps, manage appointment reminders, join online activities, use travel information, recognise scams or communicate preferences digitally.
The social value comes from progression. Strong providers demonstrate that digital learning is paced, accessible, safe and linked to real life rather than delivered as a generic training session.
Why It Matters in Real Services
People can be excluded when services assume digital confidence that is not there. A person may have a smartphone but be unable to use appointment reminders, join online groups or recognise unsafe contact.
If support is rushed, people may feel embarrassed, dependent or anxious. Strong services evidence how digital skills are developed through practical coaching, repetition, accessible tools and safeguarding awareness.
What Good Looks Like
Strong services evidence digital skills pathways through baseline assessment, person-led goals, accessible coaching, practice opportunities, safeguarding checks, outcome tracking and governance.
Providers should be able to evidence the starting point, the skill being developed, the support provided and the outcome achieved. This creates a clear line of sight from digital coaching to social value impact.
Operational Example 1: Building Confidence With Video Calls
Context: A person in supported living wanted to speak with relatives by video call but became anxious when the screen changed or calls did not connect immediately.
Support approach: The provider created a simple digital skills pathway focused on confidence, repetition and control rather than staff managing the call for the person.
Five practical steps:
- Identify what the person wants to do digitally and what currently prevents it.
- Break the task into small steps using accessible prompts.
- Practise the same steps with familiar staff before live calls.
- Reduce support gradually as confidence increases.
- Review confidence, independence, family contact and any anxiety triggers.
Day-to-day delivery detail: Staff supported the person to recognise the call icon, adjust volume and end the call independently. They stayed nearby only when requested and recorded which steps the person completed without support.
How effectiveness was evidenced: The provider evidenced increased independent call use, reduced anxiety, improved family contact and clearer confidence tracking. This demonstrated social value through connection and skill development.
Deepening the Skills Evidence Pathway
Digital skills evidence is strongest when it shows progression over time. Providers should avoid describing one-off support as social value unless they can show confidence, independence or access has improved.
Guidance on measuring social value outcomes in adult social care reinforces the need to connect activity with impact. Digital skills evidence strengthens this by showing how coaching changes what people can access and control.
Operational Example 2: Learning to Use Digital Travel Information
Context: A community support service worked with a person who wanted to travel more independently but found printed bus timetables confusing and worried about service changes.
Support approach: The provider supported the person to use a simple travel app, with safety planning and gradual community practice.
Five practical steps:
- Identify the travel goal and what information the person needs.
- Choose an accessible digital tool that matches the person’s skills.
- Practise checking routes, times and changes in a safe setting.
- Use supported journeys to apply the skill in real situations.
- Review travel confidence, independence and safety outcomes.
Day-to-day delivery detail: Staff practised checking bus times before short journeys, then supported the person to compare app information with what happened at the stop. Support was reduced only when confidence and safety were evident.
How effectiveness was evidenced: The provider evidenced increased independent journey planning, reduced missed transport, improved confidence and better community access. This showed social value through mobility and inclusion.
Systems, Workforce and Consistency
Teams apply digital skills pathways well when staff understand that confidence builds through repetition and encouragement. Digital support should not depend on one confident staff member or informal shortcuts.
Supervision should review digital goals, safeguarding risks, progress, barriers and staff confidence. Handovers should include active digital learning steps where consistency matters. Managers should check that staff support people to learn, rather than completing digital tasks on their behalf by default.
This also supports commissioner confidence. Wider explanation of social value in UK public sector commissioning shows why providers need evidence that digital inclusion improves access, equity and independence in real delivery.
Operational Example 3: Recognising Online Scam Risks
Context: A day service supported several people who used messaging apps but were unsure how to recognise suspicious links, friend requests or requests for money.
Support approach: The provider introduced practical digital safety coaching using real-life examples, accessible language and individual support plans.
Five practical steps:
- Review where people may be exposed to online scams or unsafe contact.
- Use accessible examples to explain warning signs.
- Practise safe responses, such as pausing, checking and asking for support.
- Record individual safeguarding preferences and support routes.
- Review confidence, reported concerns and safer online behaviour.
Day-to-day delivery detail: Staff used screenshots, role play and simple “stop and check” prompts. People were encouraged to seek support without feeling blamed or embarrassed.
How effectiveness was evidenced: The provider evidenced increased reporting of suspicious messages, improved confidence, fewer unsafe responses and clearer safeguarding records. This demonstrated social value through safer digital independence.
Governance and Evidence
Governance gives digital skills evidence credibility. Providers should maintain an audit trail showing skill baselines, goals, coaching activity, safeguarding checks, progress reviews and outcomes.
Data may include improved confidence scores, increased independent digital tasks, reduced missed appointments, improved family contact, wider activity participation and reported safety concerns. Qualitative evidence explains pride, control, reassurance, belonging and reduced anxiety.
Strong services demonstrate how digital skills evidence informs care planning, supervision, safeguarding, commissioner reporting, quality assurance and board oversight. This creates a clear line of sight from support model to action to outcome.
Commissioner and CQC Expectations
Commissioners expect providers to evidence inclusion, prevention and independence. Digital skills pathways help show that services reduce exclusion by building practical capability, not just providing access.
CQC expectations focus on caring, responsive, effective and well-led care. Digital skills evidence supports this when leaders ensure people are supported to develop confidence safely, with consent, dignity and choice protected.
Common Pitfalls
- Providing devices without planned skills support.
- Completing digital tasks for people instead of coaching confidence.
- Ignoring safeguarding risks during digital learning.
- Using generic sessions that do not link to personal goals.
- Failing to record progression over time.
- Reporting digital activity without evidencing independence or access outcomes.
Conclusion
Measuring digital skills pathways as social value in adult social care means showing how people build confidence, independence and safer access to digital opportunities. Strong providers demonstrate this through person-led goals, accessible coaching, staff consistency, safeguarding, outcome data and governance. When evidence is credible, digital skills pathways become a strong social value measure because they show how adult social care can reduce exclusion and support people to participate more fully in modern life.