This Department for Education social care innovation project involved six local authority groups working together to set up a Dynamic Purchasing System (DPS) in independent and non-maintained special schools (NMSS) and in independent children’s homes.

The evaluation explores:

• if the DPS project was established on time and in budget;
• what worked well and what could have been improved;
• effects of the DPS on efficiency, collaboration, innovation, value for money and outcomes; and
• how to best evaluate the DPS.

Further information about the programme is available from the Department for Education and the Social Care Innovation Programme.