Leading the way for improved social care – SCIE annual report summary

Chief Executive’s report

2022/23 has been a year of continued improvement and progress against the objectives we set ourselves last year. We want to be the best we can be for the benefit of the sector and after a successful year of impact and strong governance we have delivered a second year of surplus in succession. I am immensely proud that we have such a solid foundation to drive forward our strategy and future plans.

Thank you to the Board of Trustees for all of your support over the last year and to my hugely dedicated team along with our Co-production Steering Group and wider network.

Our contribution to the social care agenda continues to widen with SCIE now having a presence on the All-Parliamentary Party Group for Adult Social Care coupled with our membership of the new Housing Taskforce.

Ultimately, the purpose of all of this is the way we serve you the sector, and that we deliver the outcomes we promise. Over the last year we have been reviewing our stakeholder impact and it has been humbling to see the feedback we have received. Improving as an organisation is crucial for us, knowing what we need to improve on is just as important as hearing about what we do well.

For both our Local Improvement and Safeguarding work our stakeholders likelihood of promoting SCIE to peers generated a world class net promoter score of 78 – a brilliant benchmark to work to across all of our work programme areas.

Testament to our effectiveness is the fact that a large part of our work programme is with organisations and partners that we have worked with on a regular basis for a number of years. We pride ourselves on our quality of work and the fact that a large part of our work programme is with existing partners is testament to my team. We will continue to serve these partnerships to the best of our ability and look forward to increasing the number of partners that we work with over the coming 12 months.

A permanent shift to home working whilst beneficial from an environmental and financial point of view, has not been without its challenges. But, as is our culture, we have adapted and fought hard to make it work for the benefit of not only our mission but for the wellbeing of our staff.

There always remains more to do to fulfil our purpose. Now more than ever our sector needs a charity that makes the case for and demonstrates the incredible value and difference that great social care can make to people’s lives. Driven by the evidence and by the voice of lived experience SCIE has a unique role to play.

We look forward to working with you and thank you for your interest in SCIE.

Best wishes,

Kathryn Smith, Chief Executive, SCIE

Chair’s report

The Social Care Institute for Excellence (SCIE) is a trusted partner to the social care sector. Over 22 years we have built our activities around a base of evidence. Our reach into the sector, years in the making, is unsurpassed. With strong and stable leadership under our Chief Executive, Kathryn Smith, we are well placed to implement our plans for the future in order to achieve our vision of a society where care and support maximises people’s choices, removes social inequality and enables people to live fulfilling, safe and healthy lives.

This has been another enormously challenging year for social care, but despite the political uncertainty we have continued to help the sector navigate the challenges it continues to face. Our success in facing this challenge is demonstrated by our annual impact report. One of the highlights for me is that 82% of our impact survey respondents told us that they had/intended to change their practice/approach following our intervention – a brilliant endorsement of our work.

The narrative that is switching to a focus on ‘solutions’ rather than ‘problems’ is key for us as we believe the sector has huge potential to continue to improve care and support based on evidence and best practice. Our focus on personalisation and the use of co-production lies at the heart of our ethos and enables the application of effective and practical care.

I am hugely proud to be the Chair of this leading charity and improvement agency. I want to thank my fellow Trustees along with our Chief Executive, Kathryn Smith, and all of the SCIE team for their huge efforts and dedication. Huge thanks also to our Co-production Steering Group who continue to work with us ensuring that the voice of lived experience is integral to all we do. A special mention should be made to Think Local Act Personal (TLAP), who SCIE host, and their contribution and recognition within the Adult Social Care White Paper ‘people at the heart of care’.

The social care sector is such an important sector to work in and contribute to and at SCIE we know it is a privilege to be part of it.

Rt Hon Paul Burstow, Chair, SCIE