Social Care Management, Strategy and Business Planning is a comprehensive guide to strategic social care management, covering all the knowledge and skills that managers in the 21st century must have, and showing how to make theory a practical reality. The book aims to make business planning a more accessible and user-friendly process, offering practical advice on how to tackle the everyday tasks which good social care management should involve. Topics covered include strategic planning, business development, commissioning and contracting, project management, decision-making, risk, and evaluation techniques. The book also acknowledges the challenges of working collaboratively within a complex legislative and policy framework and juggling different aspects of the management tasks whilst retaining professional identities and ethics. Also included are practical examples and lively tips and comments from practising managers on their experiences in different areas of business planning. This book will be essential reading for anyone involved in managing or leading practice either in the front line or at a more strategic level. It will be useful to post-qualifying social work students and is particularly valuable to anyone following a management training programme.

Acknowledgements. Introduction. 1. Thinking about the legislative and policy environment for care. 2. Strategic planning. 3. The business planning process. 4. Managing resources in your business plan. 5. Project management. 6. The commissioning and contracting process. 7. Managing performance. 8. The process of decision-making. 9. Risk assessment and risk management. 10. Evaluation. References. Contributors to manager's comments. Index.