Summer 2015
The challenge
The 2015 Care Act imposed a statutory obligation on councils to provide choice. Breeze-e was a new venture by three public-private partner organisations, to try and do this. The aim was to create a one stop shop for care recipients – both private purchasers, and those receiving direct payments from authorities – so that people would be able to access everything from walking sticks to residential care packages in one place. There was a commercial aspect to this, but also a pro-social one, saving councils from admin costs and giving care recipients more autonomy.
To gauge the viability of the idea, we did a three-dimensional piece of research, speaking to care customers, care providers, and local authorities to identify the opportunities and risks of the project. We wanted to know what the implications for a digital hub like Breeze-e might be.
How we approached it
Working across two phases of qualitative work, we interviewed 160 care recipients, 40 care providers, and 25 local authority stakeholders. The first wave of research looked at broader issues, and the second drilled down, so as to test the Breeze-e ‘proposition’ and ‘promise’. In particular, it looked at how people could be encouraged to trust an online platform for something as intimate and personal as care. As part of the work we developed a segmentation tool of the types of care recipient, as well as a five-step customer journey to trusting Breeze-e.
What happened
Our work concluded by describing a chicken-and-egg process between the three groups, each requiring the other two to be onboard before they would take the plunge themselves. We suggested a series of steps to try and reach this point of critical mass, focusing in particular, on the vital role of local authorities in validating Breeze-e and generating trust.