Digitalisation is becoming increasingly important in the care sector. This includes modern documentation systems, which can save considerable amounts of time and improve working conditions. In the context of third-party money management, organisations face particular challenges in this regard due to security concerns and high complexity of processes. In addition, the increasing shift from face-to-face to digital banking services heightens care recipients’ needs for support and creates new barriers for assisting and delegating money matters.

The respective care settings thus experience a range of challenges with third-party money management:

• Home care: When shopping for people in need of care, carers spend substantial time travelling between clients, shops and banks as personal visits are required for withdrawing cash money. Passing on cash cards or savings books involves considerable risks for all parties concerned. Cash transactions based on trust create uncertainty or additional risks.

• Inpatient care: The management of deposit money requires sensitive and time-consuming efforts, especially what concerns communication between staff, clients and relatives or adult representatives. Care organisations face high levels of responsibility for third party funds.

• Informal care: Support in financial matters is largely provided by informal carers, especially family members. Challenges in this area arise from a lack of information or insufficient awareness of existing solutions, opportunity structures for financial exploitation and personal relationship strains.

Aims of the dissertation project:

The current dissertation project investigates how digital applications in this area affect care work and what potential they offer for improving processes and cooperation. A predominantly qualitative research design is used to understand the practices of care organisations and to identify points of failure within the institutional frameworks. Special attention will be given to innovation processes and potential unmet innovation needs, as well as to the aspect of personal and professional autonomy.

The project consists of the following parts:

• A comprehensive scoping review on third-party money management in long-term care to synthesize the existing body of literature

• Interviews and focus groups with care workers, administrative staff and management personnel in care organisations

• Document analysis concerning legal, digital and social frameworks

• Ethnographic field study on the application of a new digital system within a care organisation

The dissertation project was developed within the framework of the research project Social Coin. Parts of the empirical inquiries were carried out during this project.