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Local democracy think-tank the LGiU, and Mears, a leading provider of home care services have launched a campaign to find examples of effective outcome-based commissioning in social care.A survey of 113 adult social care departments, revealed that the majority of local authorities regard a shift to outcome-based commissioning as a 'very important' aspect of social care commissioning in the next five years.However, three-quarters of councils feel that a 'time-task culture', in which service users are allocated social care in short slots of time, is the biggest barrier to commissioning for outcomes.Director of Policy at LGiU Jonathan Carr-West commented:"Councils have to find the best way to incentivise providers to deliver outcomes to  individuals instead of focusing on narrow financial and time-based targets. Our survey shows that local government is shifting its approach which is very welcome - despite cuts in funding we are seeing a smarter approach to commissioning."Nevertheless, councils are still concerned about how this will be achieved. Less than half of respondents say that outcomes are the basis for commissioning in all cases, while 75 per cent see a 'culture of running services on a time-task basis' as the main obstacle to moving this agenda forwards.Mears Executive Director Alan Long said;"It shouldn't matter if a care provider delivers services in ten minutes or ten hours, what matters is achieving a personalized service for individuals and improving their wellbeing.  We would like to see care providers paid on the outcomes they achieve whether this be reducing the numbers of hospital admissions or increasing freedom for family members and carers.  While most Local Authorities support outcomes based commissioning, in most cases current tendering processes make delivering outcomes impossible."In response to these findings, the LGiU is launching a campaign that will work with local authorities to showcase innovative practice. The nationwide campaign will look to share councils' experiences in outcome-based commissioning, payment by results and integration of domiciliary care with housing services.For more information, or to share a case study, please contact Lauren Lucas at lauren.lucas@lgiu.org.ukTo find out more aboutthe importance of outcomes based commissioning read the full report Outcomes Matter.