Outcomes based commissioning and the SEND reforms - background, process and impact

Outcomes Based Commissioning (OBC) is an approach that is increasingly being adopted by Local Authorities and Clinical Commissioning Groups (CCGs), wherein services come together to develop a series of commissioning arrangements that are underpinned by the measurement of progress towards a set of shared outcomes.

Central to this process is the identification and co-production of a set of shared outcomes that are underpinned by robust quantitative and qualitative data, which allow commissioners and service leaders to continually evaluate the performance of their services and inform
the local area’s approaches to commissioning services for children and young people with SEND.

As part of the Delivering Better Outcomes Together (DBOT) contract, funded by the Department for Education, the Council for Disabled Children (CDC) has supported a number of local areas to progress their work on outcomes based commissioning (OBC).