SCIE is working with a range of Accelerating Reform Fund (ARF) projects across the country to support innovation, with a particular focus on unpaid carers, for the social care sector. Learn more about projects, SCIE’s role, and emerging learnings and insights by reading below. These are being developed in real-time as project work is ongoing. Please get in touch with our Innovation Team if you have any questions about projects or would like to use these examples within your own work.
Live project case studies
Thank you for the project. It’s a godsend. It makes a big difference, gives me back time, doing something wonderful.
Unpaid carer and project participant
Unpaid carers can often feel alone, unconnected and sometimes unable to talk about their feelings or struggles. Lincolnshire is supporting unpaid carers by offering arts, heritage, and nature-based activities, designed to improve their wellbeing and help them build contacts and feel more part of their community. Through consistent co-production, carers have shaped activities and respite care provided, ensuring their needs are met and that they are comfortable having time away from loved ones.
This project offers an alternative to traditional care interventions, focusing on proactive, early support to prevent carer burnout rather than reacting to crises. By integrating nature and creativity, it offers carers tools for wellbeing and resilience, while creating community and a space to talk with others. Social impact evaluation is being led by the University of Lincoln, providing valuable insights into the effectiveness of these activities through qualitative measures.
By also running training for local practitioners in delivering arts and nature activities alongside, the benefits will have impact beyond the current participants. SCIE is supporting Lincolnshire in developing a blueprint model for this approach that will allow for scaling and replication across the country.
The Bridgit AI chatbot has been introduced to support carers across Peterborough, offering a one-stop platform for information, advice, and links to relevant organisations. Developed by the Caring Together Charity in partnership with local councils, the platform provides carers with instant answers to their questions and personalised guidance. Available through a website or WhatsApp, Bridgit is designed to complement, not replace, in-person services, drawing on trusted sources like the NHS, Age UK, and Carers UK.
It’s been really helpful to get instant advice and find the right support when I need it.
local carer and chatbot user
The platform aims to increase the independence and wellbeing of carers, promoting a holistic, person-centred approach to care. This approach helps reduce the reliance on formal care services, which in turn supports cost savings for the local authority. The platform has already been piloted by local primary care networks and voluntary organisations, demonstrating successful uptake and a positive impact on both carers and the local system. AI tools such as Bridgit could help reduce care review backlogs, giving staff more time for face-to-face visits.
Rutland is developing a bespoke carer support package, learning from Shared Lives models in their neighbouring ICS area. The project will combine respite and day care services for older adults with flexible, community-based care, empowering carers and those they care for and preventing burnout.
Rutland and SCIE are working closely together, with SCIE playing an ongoing ‘critical friend’ role throughout project development. Support so far has included providing our expertise in project scoping, business planning, and ensuring the project stays aligned with best practices. Importantly, we are also supporting Rutland to connect with nearby local areas within their ICS for valuable shared learning and peer insights. Next steps for Rutland are focused on engaging carers in meaningful co-production to shape the service and tailor their approach.
The project has the potential to prevent hospital admissions, support timely discharges, and build a community-led approach that strengthens local networks of support for both carers and those they care for.
What the [ARF] did was offer us an opportunity to work out of our typical systems, where there may be more restrictions to being innovative.
Service Director for Adult Social Care at Cambridgeshire County Council.
In Cambridgeshire, a project led by Arthur Rank Hospice Charity and Cambridgeshire County Council is helping social care practitioners build confidence in having end-of-life conversations with unpaid carers. The initiative focuses on upskilling practitioners to ensure that a consistent approach and language is used across both health and care systems, increasing skills, knowledge and confidence when having difficult conversations. This provides a more holistic care by involving both the person being cared for and the unpaid carer in the process.
The project has already reached over 80 practitioners through face-to-face training, and activities are currently in place to transition the training to an e-learning platform for wider scalability and marketing to other areas across the country. This will include learning modules, podcasts and periodic updates with case studies to ensure continuous learning.
The delivery modules will form part of grass-root training for newly qualified social workers, fully endorsed by Anglia Ruskin Universities.
Local authority leads commented on ringfenced funding allowing teams to work outside of traditional systems and processes, allowing flexibility to be more creative in developing solutions. The Head of Services (Commissioning) Contracts at Cambridgeshire County Council said “I would encourage all commissioners to look at how this particular scheme is working and consider ways of doing something similar elsewhere”.