SCIE works with local government organisations, citizens and communities to transform social care.
The sector faces unprecedented challenges and rebuilding what we had before COVID-19 is unlikely to succeed – we need to reimagine social care.
SCIE's comprehensive support unlocks the potential of adult social care services by:
- working with leaders and practitioners to develop strengths-based practice which delivers impact
- using data to drive better decisions and prevent demand escalating
- developing system-wide, outcome-focused commissioning
- helping organisations recover financially from COVID-19
- optimising the use of technology to drive better care.
Local areas start in different places, so we tailor our support to reflect local circumstances. We always aim to develop practical plans to help them make real improvements.
Our work with the sector is guided by a national advisory group, chaired by Iain MacBeath, Director of Health and Wellbeing, Bradford Council, and made up of directors of adult social care and other key stakeholders.
New thinking on adult social care
- Targeted intervention (02 September)
- It's 2020 and AI is calling (30 July)
- Is COVID-19 the turning point for commissioning? (The MJ)
- The future of commissioning for social care (SCIE)
- Beyond COVID: new thinking on the future of adult social care (SCIE)

Practice with impact
We will work collaboratively with leaders and practitioners to remove non-value activities and help you develop productive strengths-based practice which delivers better outcomes.

System commissioning
We will work with you to develop a systems-wide commissioning strategy which delivers impact in collaboration with communities.

Targeted prevention
We will use data from many agencies to help prevent escalating demand and support those at risk from COVID-19.

Recovery from COVID
We will apply a bespoke diagnostic framework that supports councils to model current and future levels of demand and support financial recovery.

Digital-enabled care
We will review your strategic and operational approach to digital technology, and support you to make the right choices and investment.

Who we are
SCIE is the leading authority on evidence and transformation in adult social care. We believe in co-production and collaboration.
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Our team Open
Ewan King
Ewan is Deputy Chief Executive of SCIE and leads SCIE’s transformation work in local government including improvement programmes in Surrey County Council and the London Boroughs of Brent and Bromley
Ewan is an expert in strengths-based practice, innovation and integration in health and social Care, and leads the Social Care Innovation Network and DHSC-funded COVID-19 recovery programme.
Alex Khaldi
Alex is a Senior Associate at SCIE and a leading social care consultant. Alex is a transformation expert and has particular experience in social care policy, demand management, organisation design and change implementation.
Alex was previously Managing Director of the leading social care consultancy Impower, and Partner responsible for social care in Grant Thornton.
Chris Buttress
Chris works as an Associate with SCIE and is a highly experienced management consultant with over 30 years of experience in management consulting.
He specialises in local government strategy and transformation and has led the development of a significant number of corporate, place-based and people strategies and complex change programmes.
Chris was previously a Partner at PwC and led the firm’s local government business and was a member of the Consulting Board.
Brendan Clifford
Brendan has over 30 years’ social services experience, working in community settings across all ages before serving for 10 years as a local authority assistant director, responsible for quality, commissioning and operations. He held the post of Chief Social Worker.
Brendan is skilled in partnership working, between the care and health sector including strategic development of local health and wellbeing boards and most recently, providing capacity to a number of councils in the West Midlands as part of their sustainability and transformation partnership.
He has held positions as Co-Chair of the West Midlands ADASS Network 2011-15, National Vice-Chair of the Principal Social Workers Network for Adults 2015-16 and Chair of a Local Safeguarding Adults Board.
Carmen Colomina
Carmen is a Practice Development Manager at SCIE, a qualified social worker, programme manager and trainer who leads on adult social work practice from the learning and development and improvement point of view.
She has worked extensively in process redesign with local government customers leading to increased efficiency and coordination, maximising appropriate recording and systems suitability and increasing practitioners process knowledge and practice improvement.
Carmen is an expert on strengths-based practice, with extensive knowledge of integrated care and the Care Act 2014 and broad experience in change management.
Elaine Cass
Elaine is a Practice Development Manager at SCIE and a qualified social worker with over 28 years’ experience in social care.
She leads SCIE’s adult safeguarding work, provides a breadth of training and consultancy support to the social care sector and has managed and produced a range of resources commissioned by the Department of Health and Social Care to support Care Act 2014 implementation and SCIE’s current COVID-19 response support programme.
Deanne Mitchell
Deane is a Senior Information Specialist at SCIE with a depth of knowledge of evidence, data and knowledge on integration, best practice and new models of care on adult social care and leads on the literature review component in consultancy projects.
Deanne has expert knowledge of social care information sources, a track record in designing and conducting complex search strategies/multi-method approaches and the ability to critically appraise and synthesise the available research evidence.
She manages Social Care Online, the UK's largest database of information and research on all aspects of social work and social care hosted by SCIE.
Abi Arikawe
Abi Arikawe is SCIE’s Co-production Coordinator with a depth of experience of supporting people with lived experience to influence service design and delivery.
Stephen Gray
Stephen is the founder and owner of Digital First. Stephen has worked across major consultancy organisations (KPMG, PwC, Deloitte as a Consulting Director), outsourcing and technology companies and held senior public and private sector management roles.
He focuses on business and technology transformation, developing and delivering IT and digital strategies, roadmaps, digital and customer experience design and leads complex programmes to enable change through technology.
Wajid Shafiq
Wajid has been implementing cutting-edge software solutions since 1988. But it was the serious case reviews of the early 2000s that inspired him to apply those skills to help the vulnerable.
Since founding technology company Xantura in 2008, Wajid has deployed its OneView platform to more than 80 public sector organisations in the UK – with a consistent focus on helping them better support their clients.
Tom Davies
Tom has been helping organisations understand the benefits of using tech solutions to solve their biggest issues for over 10 years.
More recently, he’s been applying this approach to projects helping vulnerable people. He joined Xantura in 2019 and has been engaging with local authorities and their partners to explain why and how to implement it in their organisations.