SCIE's Partners' Council

The Partners’ Council is a unique gathering of significant and key stakeholders in social care working together. 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.

Representatives from more than 50 organisations across the UK make up the Council. The membership broadly reflects the social care sector in both adult and children’s services and includes:

• service user and carer organisations
• service providers in the private and voluntary sectors
• professional bodies and trade unions
• academics
• local authorities
• regulatory bodies
• health organisations.

One third of the membership must be from service user and carer-led organisations.

This unique and ambitious model of participation was set up 2004 following extensive discussions with a range of stakeholders. No other national organisation regularly brings together such a diverse range of stakeholders.

The role of Partners' Council

The Partners' Council supports and challenges SCIE’s role in shaping and influencing social care in the UK.

Members are able to take an active part in the discussions and decision making at Council meetings. They are also encouraged to share information and what they learn from meetings with their organisations.

Council members also undertake a range of activities with SCIE outside of meetings. This includes 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. The Partners’ Council and SCIE’s board have a joint meeting once a year.

How the Partners' Council works

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.

Each meeting has a theme based on a current issue in social care field, focusing particularly on SCIE’s work on the issue. Recent examples include social care and the media, delivering care and support in a diverse world and the future of social work and the work of the Social Work Reform Board.

Observers

We welcome a limited number of observers to Partners' Council meetings but you must book this in advance. If you would like to come to a meeting, please email pc@scie.org.uk