How Uniting NSW got finance and procurement processes SAH ready  

Support at Home is bringing major changes to how home care organisations manage service delivery, finance, and procurement. 

A key requirement set out in the Support at Home manual (section 10.5) is the need to confirm service delivery for every participant, including services delivered by third-party workers and those who are self-managing.  

On top of this, providers have increased responsibility for vendor quality and need to meet updated accounting and compliance requirements. 

Uniting NSW, with thousands of suppliers, has begun meeting these challenges by rethinking their procurement processes. They have redesigned their approach not just to meet compliance requirements, but to reflect the realities of home care, challenging conventional norms and using technology to streamline processes.  

In a recent webinar, Angus Hulls, Procurement Analyst at Uniting NSW, and Ben Woolley, CEO at Redmap, shared their journey. 

In this blog, we recap:  

• Why Uniting’s first approach to procurement didn’t work for home care 
• The key lessons they learned about balancing compliance, efficiency, and client choice 
• How automation and supplier consolidation helped them get Support at Home ready 

How Uniting NSW’s procurement journey began  

After Uniting NSW consolidated its regional entities into one state-based organisation, procurement was one of the first areas to be standardised.  

“We embarked on a procurement maturity journey,” Angus explained. “We put standard policies in place, implemented a purchase-to-pay system, introduced purchase requisitions and purchase orders, and consolidated our supply base to build relationships with strategic suppliers. The catchphrase at the time was ‘one process, one system.’” 

But while this worked well for other areas of the organisation, it didn’t translate neatly into home care. 

“We did PRPO for home care, but we didn’t actually look at the way home care operates,” Angus said. “And we chose not to do supplier relationship management because we thought client choice meant we had no control over that supplier base. That was a mistake.” 

Why best-practice procurement didn’t work in home care  

Uniting quickly realised that best-practice procurement processes were clashing with the realities of home care. 

“The reality of home care is it’s a high-volume, low-value transactional business,” Angus said. “If you don’t have streamlined processes, you’re actually getting in the way of delivering services.” 

Three challenges stood out: 

• Raising POs for small transactions didn’t make sense. “If it costs $150 internally to raise a PO, and your average invoice is $250, it just doesn’t stack up,” Angus explained. 
• Splitting systems reduced visibility. Client budgets and schedules were managed in AlayaCare, but orders were raised in the procurement system. “That split rapidly reduced visibility for our teams,” Angus said. 
• Approvals weren’t adding value. Managers were signing off on thousands of POs for clients they didn’t know. “We started to ask: What value is that approval adding? Why am I not trusting the person who actually knows the client and their budget?”, said Angus.  

Rethinking procurement for home care 

These lessons forced Uniting to rethink procurement in a way that balanced compliance, efficiency, and client choice. 

The turning point came when the team acknowledged that supplier management was not optional. 

“At the beginning, we thought, ‘client choice means we can’t control the supplier base.’ But walking away from supplier management was a fundamental mistake,” Angus reflected. “It just left the door open to a free-for-all, with thousands of suppliers and a huge admin burden chasing compliance.” 

Instead, Uniting began consolidating suppliers, streamlining processes, and leaning on automation. 

How Uniting NSW transformed their procurement process  

By transforming their procurement process, Uniting NSW built more efficient, streamlined systems that left the organisation fully SAH-ready. Key changes include smarter supplier management and upcoming automation and integrations.  

Supplier consolidation  

Consolidating suppliers is a cornerstone of Uniting’s transformation. By reducing the number of suppliers while still respecting client choice, the organisation improved reliability, compliance, and efficiency. 

“Providers were sick of unreliable vendors who didn’t turn up or couldn’t provide compliance documentation,” Angus said. Plus, the team recognised that not every participant had a supplier preference.  “In those cases, having pre-approved suppliers ready to go reduces admin while still respecting choice,” Angus explained. 

Consolidating suppliers allows Uniting NSW to build stronger partnerships, making it easier to meet growing compliance requirements. “As compliance requirements increase, you need suppliers who will work with you,” Angus said. 

Automation and integration 

Uniting NSW is implementing an integration between AlayaCare and Redmap, to ensure  data flows seamlessly between care schedules, purchase orders, and invoices. This will reduce double handling, minimise errors, and give staff a single source of truth for client budgets, service delivery, and supplier compliance. 

“The right information will end up in the right place automatically, which will save time and reduce mistakes,” Angus explained. 

This integration will also allow the care team to be directly involved in procurement decisions, linking services, budgets, and invoices in real time — a critical capability under Support at Home. 

Procurement as a strategic lever  

By combining automation, integration, and thoughtful supplier consolidation, Uniting NSW is turning procurement into a strategic lever for better care delivery. 

“The lesson for us,” Angus concluded, “is that supply management is where procurement can add the most value in home care. You can’t treat it as a side issue. Done right, it supports client choice, reduces admin, and ensures compliance.” 

Want to learn more? Watch Angus Hulls discuss the Uniting NSW journey in our webinar below.