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SCIE announces Co-production Week 2026 theme as Care equity: who gets care?

The Social Care Institute for Excellence (SCIE) is proud to be hosting the 11th annual Co-production Week from 29 June to 3 July 2026.

The theme of Co-production Week 2026 is ‘Care equity: who gets care?’. Equity in social care means no one should receive worse care, or miss out on care, because of who they are, where they live, or their circumstances—but there are currently persistent differences in people’s access to care, their experiences of services, and the outcomes they achieve.

As the Government moves further into planning for a National Care Service, informed by the Casey Commission, the question of how it will deliver greater consistency, fairness and quality is becoming more pressing. SCIE, supported by The Access Group, recently published a report exploring national standards of care as a mechanism for achieving this. Last month, SCIE also launched its Care Equity Evidence Hub—an online resource bringing together research, data, and practice evidence to address inequities in social care. Co-production Week 2026 will continue to build on this work.

SCIE will release its new research, ‘Understanding People’s Experiences of Inequities in Social Care’. This will explore how people drawing on care and unpaid carers experience inequities in adult social care in England, including what inequity feels like in practice, the barriers people face, and how factors such as disability, ethnicity, gender, socioeconomic background, and geography shape these experiences. SCIE will also be hosting events throughout the week and showcasing innovative projects.

Achieving care equity now is essential to ensure that access to quality care is driven by need, not geography or circumstance, and to prevent deepening inequalities for those most at risk.

Co-production Week will explore how co-production can help achieve better equity in care, how to effectively demonstrate the impact and difference it makes, and how to improve people’s experience of co-production in social care.

We hope the week will inspire practical action, shared learning, and honest conversation across the sector. We are inviting organisations, communities, and people with lived experience to join us—by sharing their work, hosting events, or taking part in SCIE’s discussions—so that together we can strengthen co-production and help ensure fairer access to care for everyone.

Gerard Crofton-Martin

Interim Chief Executive of the Social Care Institute for Excellence (SCIE)

Equity in social care is a vital issue for people who access care and support, and the discussions around equity and ideas shared by people who participate in events that will take place during Co-production Week will help to develop policies, commissioning, and practice that maximise the chances that people with lived experience receive the services and support they want and need.

Patrick Wood

Chair of SCIE’s Co-production Steering Group

SCIE will be sharing further details about key events, resources, and opportunities to get involved as Co-production Week 2026 approaches. To stay up to date, please visit the SCIE website regularly and follow the conversation on social media using #CoProWeek2026.

About SCIE

The Social Care Institute for Excellence (SCIE) improves the lives of people of all ages by co-producing, sharing, and supporting the use of the best available knowledge and evidence about what works in practice. We are a leading independent social care charity working with organisations that support adults, families and children across the UK.

If you have any questions regarding this release, please do not hesitate to contact Molly Pennington, Press and Media Relations Officer, at molly.pennington@scie.org.uk

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