Previous chapters have highlighted several aspects of the positive contribution that micro-enterprises can make to care and support services. During the research we also identified factors that facilitated and inhibited how they function. Engaging with changing political and financial contexts and understanding challenges faced by micro providers are central to understanding how they might play an increased role in social care provision in the future. Although the research was designed primarily to evaluate care services and understand their contributions, how micro-sized organisations are situated within the health and social care system and how they relate to other organisations has an impact on their reach and quality of service.

This chapter focuses on four interlinked aspects of micro-enterprises that shape their effectiveness and their likely contribution to future care services. These are: visibility; financial viability; relationship with the local authority; and quality and regulation. These are a combination of factors that are internal and external to the micro-enterprises. They encompass some attributes or structures that the organisations have the power to change and others that lie outside of their control.

The visibility of micro-enterprises

People who coordinated and worked within micro-enterprises, as well as people who used them, frequently commented on the degree to which organisations were well known locally and were visible to potential users. Our analysis suggested a number of positive and more problematic visibility issues faced by micro-enterprises. On one hand, the people running micro-enterprises often had strong links to other local services and typically had experience of working in or using care services for many years. The knowledge and relationships that came from the individuals who started micro-enterprises often put them in a strong position to build a client base and work alongside local partners. However, there was also a strong sense that local authority strategies and processes could limit the progress of micro care providers. This limiting effect was described in a number of ways. Some of the barriers to progress that were identified included a lack of referrals from local authorities, micro-enterprises being left out of provider lists on websites and service users not being fully aware of holding a personal budget or being able to commission their own choice of service provider.