Can Social Outcomes Contracts Contribute to Systems Change? Exploring Asset-Based Working, Innovation, and Collaboration

Abstract

In this presentation, I explore whether Social Outcomes Contracts can be designed to impact their wider service delivery systems. Taking a novel process tracing approach, I evaluate the case of the Greater Manchester Homes Partnership (GM Homes) and test three hypotheses related to asset-based working, innovation, and collaboration. Analyzing evidence from 21 interviews, primary documents, user data, and secondary literature, I find compelling evidence that GM Homes helped generate systems-level effects, particularly in the areas of housing provider policies and dual diagnosis services. Findings further suggest that asset-based working was the most influential causal mechanism, but that adaptive management and large-scale collaborative working were vital to enabling this approach.