Care Together Program

Care Together: A co-operative and mutual enterprises support program

The Care Together Program is Australia’s first co-operative and mutual enterprise support program in social care.  The Program is funded by the Australian Government through the Department of Health and Aged Care and is being delivered by the Business Council of Co-operatives and Mutuals (BCCM), the national cross-sector body for co-operatives and mutuals.

The Care Together Program is an education, advisory and support program that is assisting selected projects to develop sustainable service delivery in areas where current approaches are not working, including a focus on regional, rural and remote parts of Australia.

Visit the Care Together Program website.

What will the Care Together Program do?

The Care Together Program will demonstrate innovative solutions for improving the appropriateness and sustainability of social care services in areas where other models are not working. Cross-sector multi-disciplinary models will be an important focus of the Care Together Program and aligned to these high-level program outcomes:

• Supporting the establishment of innovative models of social care delivery (including aged care, disability care, veterans’ care, indigenous services, allied health and primary care) in thin markets.
• Increasing opportunities for providers of social care to transition to co-operative and mutual models to address workforce challenges and improve service delivery.

What does the Care Together Program deliver?

Care Together provides education, advice and capacity building to:

• Support the development of a minimum of four new co-operatives or mutuals to deliver care.
• Support up to eight growth and scaling projects working with existing co-ops and mutuals.
• Facilitate the co-design and development of a user-tested prototype to establish a digitally enabled member-owned secondary co-operative to support service delivery in areas of unmet need by providing back-office functions for smaller providers.

How is the Care Together Program being delivered?

Care Together is delivered by the Business Council of Co-operatives and Mutuals (BCCM), which is the national cross-sector body for co-operatives and mutuals in Australia. An expression of interest process provided an opportunity for projects to be selected based on selection criteria aligned to the objectives of the Care Together Program. Read about the Care Together projects.

The BCCM hosts a Social Care Community of Practice, which meets online to build awareness of co-operatives and mutuals in social care, including Australian and overseas case studies. This is an opportunity for individuals and organisations interested in social care co-operatives and mutuals to be connected to the Care Together Program and learn from others. To join the Social Care Community of Practice or for further information about Care Together, email [email protected]