Funded by the Australian Government via the Business Council of Co-operatives and Mutuals (BCCM), this project explores the role of co-operatives in aged care by establishing start-up co-operatives in rural, regional and remote Australia.
The project is developing a prototype Shared Services Co-operative that provides administrative support services for aged care co-operatives and providers. The Mutual Value Measurement (MVL) framework is used as a strategic tool to guide development of these start-up co-operatives, ensuring they deliver measurable social value outcomes.
The use of the MVM framework as a strategic tool has supported the successful establishment of 13 aged care co-operatives.
In the 2025-26 Federal Budget, further $2.4 million was allocated to extend this program.
Caring through Collaboration: Cooperatives in social care
Provision of social care (aged and disability care) is challenging due to a range of factors including changing consumer demands, workforce shortages and the lack of appropriate organisational models to support Australians in a caring and inclusive manner.
Specifically, rural, remote, and regional (RRR) areas in Australia face significant challenges in accessing social care services due to geographical isolation and lower population density.
Responding to these urgent challenges, the Business Council of Cooperatives and Mutuals (BCCM) and the Department of Health and Aged Care (DHAC) co-created an innovative two-and-a-half-year initiative – the Care Together program. This program aims to support the development of 13 community-based social care cooperatives in RRR areas to increase access to quality care services.
The Mutual Value Lab's role
We are collaborating with BCCM as the research, monitoring and evaluation partner for the Care Together Program. Our role involves carrying out field research to collect data on the program and the individual projects to provide research insights and evaluation of the program to BCCM and DHAC.
In August 2024, we finalised a mid-term Research, Monitoring, and Evaluation report.
Key research insights
Our research on the program's first year has highlighted critical support factors for developing successful and sustainable social care cooperatives in RRR areas:
Additionally, the Lab has identified key barriers to providing social care via cooperative business models, particularly those related to the regulatory environment. Much existing regulation in disability care and aged care was formed without considering cooperatives, causing ambiguity around registering as an aged care/NDIS provider. There had been a tendency for different areas in social care to work in silos, doubling the compliance burden faced by these small, cross-sector community-based cooperatives.
Ongoing research
As we enter the second year of this program, the Lab is continuing its research to develop a deeper understanding of issues such as:
- Factors contributing to the sustainability of social care cooperatives and scaling up to provide social care across regions
- Differences between cooperatives and other care models in delivering care services
- Workforce attraction and retention issues in these cooperatives
The Lab is also collaborating with the Monash Business School Centre for Health Economics to investigate whether and how cooperatives can make a difference in social care provision in RRR areas.
