Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-rdxmf Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-30T19:09:44.361Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Inter-Sectoral Cost Comparisons: Day Care for the Elderly*

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2009

Martin Knapp  and
Spyros Missiakoulis
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

It is often argued that there are significant differences in the costs of providing public and non-public services. However, these arguments have almost invariably been based on crude comparisons of bald expenditure figures of rather dubious validity. In this paper we describe and apply a conceptual framework which attempts to place such inter-sectoral comparisons on a more reliable basis. Our application is to day care services for elderly people provided by local authority social services departments, area health authorities and voluntary organizations, although the framework has much wider relevance. Our results provide clear evidence to refute the oft-made assumption that voluntary services are universally cheaper than their statutory counterparts. Standardizing costs for the dependency characteristics of users and the activities of day units, we find that voluntary-statutory cost differences are dependent upon the scale of operation. Small voluntary units certainly enjoy a cost advantage, but larger voluntary units are unlikely to be cheaper, and are probably more expensive, than local authority units of a similar scale.

Type
Articles
Information
Journal of Social Policy , Volume 11 , Issue 3 , July 1982 , pp. 335 - 354
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1982

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

REFERENCES

Carter, J. (1981), Day Services for Adults, George Allen & Unwin, London.Google Scholar
Casson, M. C. (1973), ‘Linear regression with error in the deflating variable’, Econometrica, 41:6, 751–9.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Challis, D. J. (1981), ‘The measurement of outcome in social care of the elderly’, Journal of Social Policy, 10:2, 179–208.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cmd 9321 (1954), Report of the Ministry of Health for 1953, HMSO, London.Google Scholar
Davies, B. P. and Knapp, M. R. J. (1981), Old People's Homes and the Production of Welfare, Routledge & Kegan Paul, London.Google Scholar
Department of Health and Social Security (1981) ‘Community Care’, Department of Health and Social Security, London.Google Scholar
Edwards, C. and Carter, J. (1980), ‘The data of day care’, 3 volumes, National Institute for Social Work, London.Google Scholar
Edwards, C., Gorbach, P. and Sinclair, I. (1980), ‘Day centres for the elderly: variations in type, provision and user response’, British Journal of Social Work, 10:4, 419–30.Google Scholar
George, L. K. and Bearon, L. B. (1980), Quality of Life in Older Persons, Human Sciences Press, New York.Google Scholar
Gladstone, F. J. (1979), Voluntary Action in a Changing World, National Council for Social Service, London.Google Scholar
Goda, D. F. (1981), A Training for Life, University of Edinburgh, Department of Social Administration.Google Scholar
Hadley, R., Webb, A. and Farrell, C. (1975), Across the Generations, George Allen and Unwin, London.Google Scholar
Hatch, S. and Mocroft, I. (1979), ‘The relative costs of services provided by voluntary and statutory organisations’, Public Administration, 57:4, 397–405.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Holman, R. (1981), ‘The place of voluntary societies – past, present and future’, Community Care, 12 11, 16–18.Google Scholar
Judge, K. (1981). ‘The mixed economy of welfare: purchase of service contracting in personal social services’, Discussion Paper 195, Personal Social Services Research Unit, University of Kent at Canterbury.Google Scholar
Knapp, M. R. J. (1979), ‘On the determination of the manpower requirements of old people's homes’, Social Policy and Administration, 13:3, 219–26.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Knapp, M. R. J. (1980), ‘Production relations for old people's homes’, Ph.D. Thesis, University of Kent at Canterbury, unpublished.Google Scholar
Knapp, M. R. J. (1981a), ‘Cost information and residential care of the elderly’, Ageing and Society, 1:2, 199–228.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Knapp, M. R. J. (1981b), ‘Cost factors in group care’, in Ainsworth, F. and Fulcher, L. (eds), Group Care for Children, Tavistock, London, pp. 271–92.Google Scholar
Knapp, M. R. J., Goda, D. F. and Missiakoulis, S. (1982), ‘A Study of cost variations in Scottish adult training centres’, Local Government Studies, forthcoming.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
McFadden, D. (1978), ‘Cost, revenue and profit functions’, in Fuss, M. and McFadden, D. (eds), Production Economics: A Dual Approach to Theory and Applications, North-Holland, Amsterdam, pp. 3–109.Google Scholar
Morley, D. (1974), Day Care, Age Concern, London.Google Scholar
Wallis, K. F. (1973), Topics in Applied Econometrics, Gray Mills, London.Google Scholar
Wolfenden Committee (1978), The Future of Voluntary Organisations, Croom Helm, London.Google Scholar