SCIE's Partners' Council

What is the Partners' Council?

The Partners’ Council is a unique gathering of significant and key stakeholders in social care for adults and children, working together. The Partners’ Council supports and challenges SCIE’s role in shaping and influencing social care in the UK.

The Partners’ Council is the Social Care Institute for Excellence’s (SCIE’s) key stakeholder network. It is a unique and ambitious model of participation. No other national organisation regularly brings together such a diverse range of stakeholders.

The Partners' Council was set up, following extensive consultation, in 2004. Its purpose is to ensure that SCIE's work reflects the needs of people in the social care sector, in particular service users and carers.

How does the Partners' Council work?

The Partner’s Council is made up of representatives from more than 50 organisations across the UK. The intention is that the membership broadly reflects the social care sector in both adult and children’s services. The membership includes: service user and carer organisations, service providers in the private and voluntary sectors, professional bodies and trade unions, academics, local authorities, regulatory bodies and health organisations. One third of the membership must be from user and carer-led organisations.

The Council meets three times a year in a comfortable and accessible venue. It is co-chaired by Allan Bowman, SCIE’s chair, and a member of the Partners’ Council (currently Tina Coldham, who represents MINDLINK, Mind’s national user network). The meetings are often themed around a current policy issue. 

What is the role of Partners' Council members? 

Members are able to take an active part in the discussions and decision making at the meetings and are encouraged to disseminate information to their organisation.

Between meetings members engage with SCIE by giving talks to SCIE staff on their areas of expertise, serving on project steering groups, interview panels and helping SCIE quality assure their work. Three members of the Partners’ Council have gone on to serve on SCIE’s board and the intention is that further members will follow this path. Once a year the Partners’ Council and SCIE’s board have a joint meeting.