Gerard Crofton-Martin, Interim Chief Executive at the Social Care Institute for Excellence (SCIE), responds to the King’s Speech today.

Today was a recognition of the scale of the task at hand in reforming health and care. The NHS Modernisation Bill marks a significant step forward in acknowledging that the system must be simpler, more accountable, and better joined up around people’s lives.

The commitment to create a Single Patient Record is positive. People shouldn’t have to repeat their story at every point of contact with services. Joining up health and social care records has the potential to improve safety, support earlier intervention, and help people make informed decisions about their own care. But this will only work if social care is built in from the start, with the right investment in digital skills, data standards, and connectivity across local authorities, providers, and community services.

We also welcome the commitment to ensure the voices of people using care and support will directly feed into the services they receive. Putting people at the centre of care is vital; the transfer of Local Healthwatch functions to local authorities must strengthen, not weaken, the voice of people who draw on care and support.

While today’s reforms rightly focus on delivering more preventative, community-based support, more detail is urgently needed on the role social care will play. Leaving social care out of the equation threatens the Government’s pursuit of its wider ambitions for stability, public service reform, and national renewal. The pace of change and investment in the NHS must be matched by the pace of change and investment in social care if it is to achieve these ambitions.

Gerard Crofton-Martin

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

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

Today, 20 April 2026, the Social Care Institute for Excellence (SCIE) has launched its Care Equity Evidence Hub—an online resource bringing together research, data, and practice evidence to address inequities in social care.

There are persistent differences in people’s access to social care and support, their experiences of services, and the outcomes they achieve. Yet the evidence needed to understand and address these differences is often fragmented, difficult to find and written in ways that limit its use in practice. These barriers prevent those shaping policy, commissioning, and practice decisions from using evidence meaningfully.

The Care Equity Evidence Hub responds to this challenge by consolidating and summarising reviewed and appraised evidence from across research, data and practice. By presenting it in an accessible way and organising it around sector priorities, the Hub makes it easier to find and apply in real-world decision-making.

Evidence in the Hub is organised across six key themes: workforce, underserved populations, neighbourhood health, financial inequities, geographical inequities, and the use of technology in care.

No one should receive worse care, or miss out on care, because of who they are, where they live, or their circumstances. Yet inequities in social care remain a persistent and widely recognised challenge—from timely, personalised support that enables independence and dignity, to long waiting lists, high eligibility thresholds and unmet basic needs.

The evidence on care equity has often been fragmented and difficult for social care professionals to access and apply. This creates a gap between what we know and what we can do.

This new resource for the sector supports people to quickly find, understand and apply evidence in ways that reflect the realities of practice.

By helping us better understand where inequities occur, how they affect different communities and what approaches may help address them, it takes us a step closer to creating a fairer system that responds to people’s varied circumstances—and enables them to live fulfilling lives.

Gerard Crofton-Martin

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

The Care Equity Evidence Hub was shaped through engagement with organisations and individuals across the social care sector—including policymakers, commissioners, providers, researchers, people who draw on care and support and unpaid carers. 

Equity in social care is a vital issue for people who access care and support, and the Evidence Hub will contribute to developing policies, commissioning and practice that result in people with lived experience receiving the services and support they want and need.

The voices of people with lived experience have been central in shaping the Evidence Hub, and we have worked alongside professionals from a range of different backgrounds on an equitable basis to ensure that this resource will be useful for everyone concerned with social care.

Patrick Wood

Chair of SCIE's Co-production Steering Group, who has served in an advisory role to the design and direction of the Hub

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

The Care Show London, the UK’s leading social care conference and exhibition, will return to Excel London on 29 and 30 April 2026. The Social Care Institute for Excellence (SCIE) will join other sector leaders to share the work we’re doing to support best practice in safeguarding — and wider improvement across social care, health and housing initiatives — through our innovative consultancy and training services and our wealth of evidence-based resources. Our safeguarding team will be at our Exhibition Stand, C73, throughout the conference to share practical examples of SCIE’s impact and outline how we can work with care providers across adults’ and children’s care to anticipate and manage safeguarding risks through tailored, co-produced solutions.

Safeguarding is not a tick-box exercise. It is the foundation for trust, growth and organisational excellence—and it is everyone’s responsibility.

Care providers are navigating a complex and changing social care landscape that is forcing them to think differently about safeguarding; SCIE is well-positioned to support them through this to build confident, resilient safeguarding cultures.

Our safeguarding team brings a rich breadth and depth of experience, drawing on years of experience supporting organisations from across every sector and every area of the UK. As we are not-for-profit, our safeguarding consultancy and training services offer exceptional value for money, and our income goes towards improving social care.

We have successfully delivered several hundred projects over the last few years—and learnings from these are what we will be sharing at The Care Show.

Vijay Patel, Head of Safeguarding, SCIE

With major programmes of social care, NHS and housing reform unfolding, there is now broad potential to drive meaningful change. SCIE’s focus is to use our consultancy, training, insights and resources to support this change and secure a more effective, efficient and safe future for social care. Alongside our focus on safeguarding, we will, therefore, provide trusted expertise on wider social care issues.

Our Interim Chief Executive, Gerard Crofton-Martin, will take part in a panel discussion with The Outstanding Society on regulation, quality and compliance. The panel, titled, ‘Outstanding ways to manage complaints and incidents: a secret look into the challenges we all face’, will take place on 29 April at 12:30 PM in The Outstanding Society Learning Lounge.

On 29 April from 12:35, SCIE will also take to the Keynote Theatre for a session titled ‘Towards a National Care Service: exploring how we raise standards of care’. Our Head of External Affairs, George Appleton, will be joined by Isaac Samuels OBE, Co-Chair of the National Co-Production Advisory Group and Think Local Act Personal (TLAP), to discuss SCIE’s sector-led vision for national standards that truly work—raising quality, improving fairness, and bringing real consistency across the country.

One of the biggest problems we face is that, too often, people are not experiencing the care and support we already know should be possible. People face deep and persistent inequalities in social care, where people with similar needs can face starkly different experiences—from timely, personalised support to long waiting lists and unmet basic needs—simply because of where they live.

This government set out plans to reform the adult social care system. This will include creating a National Care Service underpinned by national standards, delivering consistency of care across the country. However, the details of what those standards will entail, and how they will be delivered, are still to be determined.

We are looking forward to discussing our latest report, developed in partnership with The Access Group, which captures how clear national standards can define what is essential and non-negotiable, helping to end this postcode lottery. By focusing on outcomes and what matters most to people, and by making expectations consistent and transparent, this work aims to close the gap between what we know good care looks like and what people actually experience in their day-to-day lives.

George Appleton, Head of External Affairs, SCIE

To find out more about our consultancy work, please get in touch.

The Care Show: Register or learn more about the conference programme.

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 George Appleton, Head of External Affairs, at george.appleton@scie.org.uk  

The Social Care Institute for Excellence (SCIE) has today, 11 March 2026, appointed Baroness Glenys Thornton as Chair-Elect.

Baroness Thornton brings extensive experience of leadership across social care, health, public service and civil society. A member of the House of Lords for more than 25 years, she has held senior ministerial roles, including as a Parliamentary Under-Secretary of Health, as well as various Shadow Spokesperson roles, and has led organisations focused on social innovation, co-production and community impact.

She will work alongside the current Chair, Rt. Hon. Paul Burstow, during a planned handover period ahead of the end of his term in June.

Rt. Hon. Paul Burstow said:

I am delighted that Baroness Thornton will be joining SCIE as Chair-Elect. She brings deep experience, sound judgement and a strong commitment to the values that underpin our work. We have deliberately planned a transition period to ensure continuity, stability and alignment as SCIE continues to support innovation, improvement and reform across social care to achieve better lives for adults and children and help shape the National Care Service to come.

Rt. Hon. Paul Burstow

Baroness Thornton said: 

SCIE plays a vital role in collaborating and innovating across social care with a wide range of partners to change lives, grounded in evidence and lived experience. I am very much looking forward to working with colleagues across the organisation to build on our strong foundations and support the next phase of our impact.

Baroness Thornton

Mr Burstow will continue as Chair until the end of June, working closely with Baroness Thornton and Interim Chief Executive Gerard Crofton-Martin, who stepped into the role earlier this year from within SCIE’s existing senior leadership team. 

Over recent years, SCIE has strengthened its governance, financial resilience and organisational capability, reinforcing its position as a trusted and independent partner across the social care system. From the Commission on the Role of Housing in the Future of Care and Support, which helped shape national conversations about providing more options for housing with care and support, to supporting over 120 innovative projects across the country funded by the Accelerating Reform Fund to inform future innovation development, to most recently setting out a framework for future national standards of care, SCIE remains focused on collaborating and innovating to improve the lives of adults and children. 

Notes to editors 

The Commission on the Role of Housing in the Future of Care and Support was funded by the Dunhill Medical Trust and led by SCIE. More information can be found here. 

The Department of Health and Social Care appointed SCIE to provide hands-on support for the Accelerating Reform Fund until the end of March 2025. More information can be found here.  

SCIE launched a new report, ‘Towards a National Care Service: raising national standards of care’, supported by The Access Group, which sets out how national standards could help deliver greater consistency, fairness and quality in adult social care across England. More information can be found here.  

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 George Appleton, Head of External Affairs, at george.appleton@scie.org.uk  

The Social Care Institute for Excellence (SCIE) has responded to a speech by Baroness Louise Casey at the Nuffield Trust Summit today, 5 March 2026, where she set out her initial reflections on the state of the social care sector as part of the work of the independent social care commission.

In her speech, Baroness Casey described the Commission’s work to date, including extensive engagement with the social care sector and the significant level of support it has received. She emphasised the role that lived experience has played in informing the Commission’s early thinking, and reflected on the current state of the system, describing a sector shaped by decades of policy commitments and reforms rather than a single founding moment.

Baroness Casey has brought welcome clarity to the scale of the challenge facing social care. Her framing of the sector’s pressures—demographic change, growing complexity of need, and a system built through ‘add-ons and workarounds’—will resonate with many across the sector. The Commission’s extensive engagement with organisations, practitioners and people with lived experience is encouraging, and we look forward to working with Baroness Casey and the Commission as this important work progresses.

Her call for a moment of reckoning and renewal is an important one. Social care has never had the kind of design moment that shaped other parts of the welfare state. If we are serious about reform, we need to be honest about the pressures created by demographic change and rising complexity of need, and clear with the public about what a future system of care and support should provide.

We also welcome the focus on strengthening safeguarding. The proposal to establish a new National Safeguarding Board could help ensure that learning is shared and responsibilities are clearer across the system. This is an important step to ensuring that safeguarding is everyone’s responsibility.

Gerard Crofton-Martin

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

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

The Social Care Institute for Excellence (SCIE) has today, Monday 2 March 2026, responded to The King’s Fund report, ‘Not my priority: How the public sees social care (and what can be done about it)’.

The key points include:

Many people do not understand the basics of social care, who provides it, how it is funded and what it does.

Social care is far down the list of policy priorities for the public, though it rises when people are prompted about it.

Public satisfaction with social care is very low and people are pessimistic about it getting better.

People want the state to cover most of the cost of social care but there is less agreement on the details.

Public opinion is the essential bedrock of social care reform. Without a deeper and broader understanding of what social care is, and what it makes possible, political consensus will remain fragile and progress will stall. The Casey Commission should use this moment to lead a sustained public dialogue that listens to people’s lived experience and makes clear what good social care enables in everyday life.

High-quality social care transforms lives, enabling people to live with greater independence, dignity and purpose. It reduces pressure on the NHS, strengthens community ties, and helps people thrive. Yet many people do not understand who provides care, how it is funded or what good social care looks like.

This misunderstanding matters. When social care is poorly understood, it struggles to secure sustained public and political priority. It often sits low on the list of national concerns unless people are prompted to think about it directly. Over many years we have seen reviews, commissions and proposals for reform, but not the enduring settlement the sector needs.

The media, policymakers and others with influence have a critical role to play in shifting this conversation. That starts with listening to, and elevating, the voices of people who draw on care and support, their families and friends, and the workforce. Their stories bring to life the broad, and sometimes intangible, nature of care. They also help identify the expectations the public can stand behind, building a stronger evidence base for reform than the sector’s usual oscillation between ‘fix’ and ‘flourish’.

There is room for optimism. If we pair honesty about the pressures with a sharper, person-centred account of what social care makes possible, and ground the next phase of reform in public understanding as well as policy design, we can move the debate from drift to determination, and create the conditions for meaningful, lasting change.

Gerard Crofton-Martin

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

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

Social care in England is marked by stark geographic variation. People with similar needs can face very different experiences depending on where they live: from timely, personalised support that enables independence and dignity, to long waiting lists, high eligibility thresholds and unmet basic needs.

This is what is meant by the social care postcode lottery – a system where access to support, quality of care and outcomes are shaped less by need and more by local circumstances, capacity and interpretation of duties. The consequences are serious: people’s safety, independence and wellbeing are put at risk, while unpaid carers are left to absorb growing financial, emotional and physical pressures. These impacts fall hardest on marginalised communities, deepening existing inequalities.

The Government has launched the Casey Commission as a first step towards creating a National Care Service, underpinned by national standards of care. While this commitment signals ambition, there remains limited clarity about what national standards should cover, how they should operate in practice, and how they would genuinely reduce today’s postcode lottery.

SCIE’s new report, titled ‘Towards a National Care Service: Raising national standards of care’, supported by The Access Group, follows extensive engagement with the sector. It argues that the core challenge facing social care is not a lack of values or vision, but the inconsistent translation of those shared principles into people’s day-to-day experiences of care and support. England already has strong foundations in the Care Act 2014 and a widely shared understanding of what good care should enable – people living the lives they choose, with dignity, connection and control.

However, those values are applied unevenly across the country. This inconsistency is what has produced the postcode lottery in access, quality and outcomes. The report, therefore, frames national standards of care not as a prescriptive blueprint for services, but as a mechanism for clarifying expectations so that people can rely on a consistent baseline regardless of where they live.

SCIE’s proposed framework sets out how national standards could define what is essential and non-negotiable, while deliberately protecting flexibility in how outcomes are achieved locally. The emphasis is on standards that specify what good care delivers for people, rather than mandating uniform processes or service models. In this way, national standards could help expose and reduce unjustified variation, strengthen accountability, and support learning and improvement across the system, without stifling innovation or personalisation.

Crucially, the report is clear that national standards alone cannot fix the deep-rooted challenges facing social care, including workforce shortages and financial pressures. Their impact depends on how they are designed and implemented, and whether they are supported by the right system conditions, from data and accountability to commissioning capability and co-production infrastructure.

Kathryn Marsden OBE, Chief Executive of SCIE, said:

It is indefensible that, in this country, two people with the same social care needs, living only a few miles apart, can experience completely different levels of support. That postcode lottery undermines people’s dignity, independence and safety, and it places intolerable pressure on families and unpaid carers who are left to fill the gaps.

National standards of care offer a practical way to close that gap – not by imposing a one-size-fits-all model, but by making clear what people should be able to expect from the system wherever they live. Done well, they can translate long-standing values in social care into clearer, outcomes-focused expectations that are rooted in lived experience and backed by accountability.

But we also need to be honest about the context. Social care operates in a complex, resource-constrained system, shaped by workforce shortages, financial pressures and shifting political priorities. Poorly designed standards risk becoming symbolic, compliance-driven or disconnected from reality. This is not about quick fixes. Ending the postcode lottery will require sustained commitment, careful implementation and a focus on learning and improvement – not just ambition on paper.

As the Casey Commission builds momentum towards its final report in 2028, this is the moment to get the foundations right – starting with clarity about what good care should deliver, and how we reduce variation in people’s experiences without losing what makes care personal and local.

Kathryn Marsden OBE

Chief Executive at SCIE

Sojan Joseph, MP for Ashford, said:

The levels of inequality in our adult social care services have been far too high for far too long. We cannot build an NHS fit for the future unless we address these deep structural issues in our adult social care system.

I am pleased the Government is taking steps to address the significant challenges in our adult social care sector, both through funding and fundamental reforms to the sector, such as funding for home modifications to give people more independence and allow them to be discharged from hospitals, embracing new technology, and making social care a desirable and respected profession – both through the pay increase given to carers last year and through a shift in culture.

I look forward to working with the Government after Baroness Casey’s Commission concludes to ensure that her findings are implemented and our adult social care system is fixed for everyone, not just those fortunate enough to live in a postcode that provides better services.

Sojan Joseph

MP for Ashford

Call to action

SCIE is calling for national standards of care to be developed iteratively and collaboratively, with early action focused on testing what works in practice. Initial steps should prioritise co-production and piloting, working with people who draw on care and support, carers, providers, commissioners and system leaders to test how outcomes-focused standards operate on the ground.

The report sets out a phased approach to developing national standards of care, with an initial focus on priority challenges in social care and areas of interface with health, where variation in access, experience and outcomes is most acute. It proposes starting with a small number of high-impact touchpoints, while supporting a shift towards prevention and early intervention and strengthening data and system intelligence. These early standards would be developed, tested and refined over time, working alongside government and the Casey Commission as thinking progresses, aligned with its expected timelines.

SCIE and The Access Group will support this work by continuing to convene partners, contribute evidence and learning, and work alongside government and the Casey Commission as thinking develops – helping ensure that national standards evolve into a credible tool for reducing the postcode lottery ahead of the Commission’s final report, expected in 2028.

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 submission, please do not hesitate to contact Molly Pennington, Press and Media Relations Officer, at molly.pennington@scie.org.uk

Kathryn Marsden OBE, Chief Executive of the Social Care Institute for Excellence (SCIE), will step down from her role at the end of February 2026 after almost six years at the helm.

Kathryn joined SCIE in May 2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic. Under her direction, SCIE has renewed its strategic focus, steadied its business operations and established itself as a leading voice in social care—collaborating and innovating to improve lives.

Kathryn’s 36-year career in social care has been characterised by her passion and commitment to the people who draw on care and support. Whether debating policy reforms, promoting evidence to improve services, or raising awareness of inequalities in access and care experiences, she has championed co-production as the golden thread for supporting people to live their best lives. Kathryn’s commitment was recognised when she was awarded an OBE for Services to Social Care in His Majesty The King’s New Year Honours List 2025. This commitment will remain SCIE’s beating heart as we build on her remarkable legacy.

Kathryn will take up the position of Chief Executive at the Yorkshire Air Ambulance Charity. 

SCIE’s Board of Trustees have appointed Gerard Crofton-Martin as Interim Chief Executive, who will take up the position after Kathryn’s departure.

Gerard joined SCIE in 2020 and most recently served as Director of Transformation and Improvement. Gerard has led multimillion-pound work programmes supporting local authorities and Government Departments with adult social care improvement and transformation, workforce development and knowledge management.

Gerard has over 25 years of experience working in the statutory and charity sector. Before joining SCIE, Gerard was Director of Strategy, Impact and Transformation at Independent Age and before that was Director of Quality and Evidence at Healthwatch England within the Care Quality Commission.

On behalf of SCIE, I would like to express my sincere and heartfelt thanks to Kathryn for her unparalleled dedication and hard work.

Kathryn’s impact on SCIE and the wider sector has been profound. In every sense, she has led with both head and heart, and SCIE is stronger, more influential, and more future-ready because of her.

She has been the architect of SCIE’s organisational turnaround, restoring financial stability and ensuring its future sustainability. SCIE is now in a position to move from strength to strength and focus on delivering our mission of supporting best practice, shaping policy and raising awareness of the importance of social care.

With her thoughtful, authoritative voice, Kathryn has become a highly respected leader and a trusted convenor within the care sector. She has strengthened SCIE’s reputation as a constructive partner, shaping national conversations and building alliances that reflect our values and purpose.

Her leadership during the pandemic demonstrated SCIE at its best: responsive, authoritative and deeply connected to sector needs. Standing up the National COVID-19 Hub at pace and supporting local systems through the crisis was a testament to her steadiness and her values.

I wish Kathryn every success in this next chapter. I have greatly valued—and genuinely enjoyed—working with her, and I know her impact will continue to be felt at SCIE long after her departure.

As we look to the future, we are delighted to welcome Gerard into the role of Interim Chief Executive. Gerard brings a wealth of experience to the role and has been central to championing our mission, keeping people who draw upon care and support at the heart of what we do. I look forward to working with him as we continue on this mission.

Rt. Hon. Paul Burstow

Chair of SCIE’s Board

I am leaving SCIE incredibly proud of what we have been able to achieve together over the last six years. Being SCIE’s Chief Executive has been a great privilege—affording me the opportunity to shape the future of social care for the better and to speak truth to power. I leave grateful for the part I was able to play in enabling people who draw on social care to live fulfilling lives.

I will greatly miss the many colleagues, social care leaders and frontline professionals I have been lucky enough to work alongside. Diverse and dynamic, committed and resilient, they share my passions for improvement and innovation in social care.

SCIE’s vision and mission remain unchanged. I feel confident that, having left the charity in good health, it will continue to thrive. I know Paul and Gerard will ensure that SCIE continues on its journey to improve social care for adults and children.

Kathryn Marsden OBE

Chief Executive at SCIE

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 submission, please do not hesitate to contact Molly Pennington, Press and Media Relations Officer, at molly.pennington@scie.org.uk

Today, 5 December 2025, the Social Care Institute for Excellence (SCIE) has responded to the announcement made by the Department of Health and Social Care that 80% of CQC-registered care providers now use digital social care record (DSRC) solutions.

A DSCR, also known as an electronic care plan, allows the digital recording of care information and care received by an individual, within a social care setting, replacing traditional paper records.

The previous government’s white paper ‘People at the Heart of Care’ made policy commitments to improve and increase the digitisation of social care through the digitising social care programme.

Today’s announcement represents a significant milestone for the sector, with DSCRs demonstrating improved care quality and safety.

This is a significant achievement for a sector that started from a position where only around 40% of providers were fully digitised, and many were still reliant on paper-based records.

Reaching the point where 80% of care providers are using digital social care records represents a fundamental shift in how care is planned, delivered and monitored. It also reflects the enormous commitment shown by providers, care staff, people who draw on care and support, local systems and national partners to modernise social care in challenging circumstances.

The government’s ambition for a left shift and to move from analogue to digital is only possible if strong digital foundations are in place. Greater uptake of digital social care records supports more joined-up assessments, better shared decision-making, and a clearer, more complete picture of a person across health and social care.

Learning from SCIE and The Access Group’s roundtables on national standards of care indicates that the biggest challenge now is not the availability of technology, but the collective will to redesign systems around people rather than processes. This should be accompanied by investment in relationships and infrastructure, ensuring that the drive to digitise strengthens, rather than diminishes, what matters most to people who draw on care and support. This must go hand in hand with supporting our workforce with the training and skills they need to continue to deliver solutions.

As the sector moves forward, the focus must now be on ensuring that digitisation is inclusive, well-supported and genuinely improves outcomes for people who rely on care and support every day.

Deborah Rozansky

Director of Policy, Research and Information at SCIE

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 submission, please do not hesitate to contact Molly Pennington, Press and Media Relations Officer, at molly.pennington@scie.org.uk

At the National Children and Adult Services Conference (NCASC) 2025 last week, the Social Care Institute for Excellence (SCIE) highlighted the critical role co-produced digital innovation must play in the future of social care reform.

NCASC 2025 showed just how much determination there is across the sector to rethink what care and support can look like. What stood out this year was the generosity and honesty of the conversations; sector leaders, practitioners, partners and people with lived experience are keen to work together in new ways, to share what they have learned and to shape approaches that work for real people in real communities. That spirit of collaboration gives me enormous confidence in what we can achieve together.

I was pleased to hear the Minister of State for Care, Stephen Kinnock, confirm the Government’s commitment to a future National Care Service underpinned with national standards of care.  To support this ambition, SCIE and The Access Group recently convened a series of policy roundtables to develop a framework for developing the standards. This work has highlighted that co-production with people who draw on care and support must be a core principle. Insights from the roundtables will be published in a report in January 2026 and shared with the Casey Commission to inform Phase One of its work.

Kathryn Marsden OBE

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

Across the conference, SCIE:

  • Launched our brand-new report, ‘Shaping change together: co-producing innovation in social care’—setting out a renewed vision for innovation built with the insight, experience and leadership of the people who live and work within the system every day.
  • Launched a strategic partnership with leader in lifestyle monitoring technology, Lilli, to work with local authorities and Integrated Care Boards, helping them to plan, implement and embed digital tools with confidence.
  • Hosted a series of events that explored how digital innovation, co-production and strengths-based practice can support better outcomes across children’s and adults’ services.
    • Our reception and panel discussion with Lilli explored how technology, particularly remote monitoring, can support people to live good lives by personalised, tailored support that promotes independence, dignity and safety and prevents escalation. Drawing on examples from Bromley and Medway Councils, the session highlighted how this can, in turn, help councils achieve meaningful cost savings. For example, SCIE’s work with Bromley Council targets £2 million savings, with the use of Assistive Technology already reducing care costs by nearly 30%.
    • Our workshop, ‘Getting the Mental Capacity Act and Deprivation of Liberty right for children and young people’, drew on attendees’ real experiences and the latest evidence to explore the rise in the number of children subject to deprivation of liberty orders. It revealed the need for sector-wide involvement and the end of siloed working—as well as the importance of keeping children and young people at the heart of decisions, empowering them to participate in solutions and ensuring that approaches are personalised.

Across the three days, our conversations with attendees reflected a shared sense of urgency. They spoke openly about the pressures facing services—workforce challenges, rising demand and constrained budgets, for example—but what was clear was the resilience and commitment to improving people’s lives.

Kathryn Marsden OBE

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

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 submission, please do not hesitate to contact Molly Pennington, Press and Media Relations Officer, at molly.pennington@scie.org.uk

Today, 25 November 2025, the Social Care Institute for Excellence (SCIE) has responded to the new Association of Directors of Adult Social Services (ADASS) 2025 Autumn Survey.

This is an annual survey conducted by ADASS, which is sent to every Director of Adult Social Services in the 153 English councils with social care responsibilities.

This year’s survey points towards adult social care pressures intensifying, putting at further risk the delivery of the government’s priorities on neighbourhood health and shifting activity from hospital to community.

Kathryn Marsden OBE, Chief Executive of SCIE, says:

“This report provides further evidence that rising demand, escalating needs, and intense financial pressures—including significant overspends and savings requirements—are forcing local authorities to prioritise crisis management over early intervention in social care. The effects of a crisis-led system are that fewer people benefit from available resources, and there are fewer opportunities for system reforms.

“The financially strapped social care system will likely compromise the delivery of the government’s three shifts. Early intervention in social care is especially critical to the success of neighbourhood health schemes, which rely on integrating health and social care services. Our evidence shows that early intervention schemes depend on having dedicated capacity, shared digital records, funding alignment, joined-up leadership and common purpose. These enablers are in short supply in crisis-driven systems.

“Another fallout of this mounting pressure is the care market becoming increasingly unstable. Continuing with ‘more of the same’ jeopardises the aim of personalised care by limiting people’s care choices so that they can live the lives they want. An increasing number of people are now being affected by care providers closing, ceasing trading or handing back contracts.

“The ADASS survey also highlights a significant increase in high-cost social care for young adults. We know that young people moving from adolescence into adulthood are at risk of significant harm—especially those with complex needs. Urgent reform is needed to ensure they and their families are supported to manage continuity of care and support in a timely, compassionate and coordinated way.”

The Autumn Budget next week presents a crucial opportunity to act. SCIE is calling for investment in early intervention so that local authorities can intervene sooner and improve outcomes for people and communities. Meaningful investment now could strengthen the system for the long term and create a safer, more sustainable future for everyone who relies on social care.

Kathryn Marsden OBE

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

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 submission, please do not hesitate to contact Molly Pennington, Press and Media Relations Officer, at molly.pennington@scie.org.uk

The Social Care Institute for Excellence’s (SCIE’s) new report, titled ‘Shaping change together: co-producing innovation in social care’, examines how people receiving social care, carers and families are involved in shaping social care services. Drawing on the findings from a national survey, it explores how collaboration works in practice, what barriers persist and how innovation can be made to deliver genuine improvement for people’s lives.

The report found that:

  • When collaboration works well, it generates fresh thinking and solutions that are trusted, usable and ready to embed in everyday practice;
  • However, while 72% of professionals believe it is currently working well enough to drive meaningful change, only 53% of people who use social care—and just 28% of families—agree;
  • People who use social care highlighted that systemic or organisational barriers prevent collaboration from working, and families highlighted that they felt left out of fast-paced decision-making.

SCIE will join other sector leaders at the National Children and Adult Services Conference (NCASC) 2025 this week to share insights from the report. We are calling for:

  • Innovation must be built on collaboration from the start—helping identify what matters most and ensuring that new ideas are actually used and trusted. This will help to break down existing barriers which hinder genuine collaboration—from limited funding, unequal power dynamics, and co-production being treated as a ‘tick-box’ exercise—which helps shape solutions that are fair and practical. 
  • Long-term investment in people and partnerships, not just projects or technology—with funding for time, infrastructure and skills to make co-production standard practice.
  • Stronger accountability for inclusion, ensuring that people’s input is visible, acted on and reported back.
  • Capacity-building for local systems, supporting shared leadership and consistent feedback loops between strategic and frontline levels.
  • National commitment to embed collaboration into future policy, ensuring that reform is designed with people, not imposed on them.
  • System reform depends on innovation that is shaped and led by those who receive and deliver care. Without their insight, new ideas risk repeating old mistakes.

As the Government pushes forward with national reform, the lesson is clear: innovation cannot be imposed from above. It must be built with the insight, experience and leadership of the people who live and work within the system every day.

The problems social care faces cannot be solved without the people who experience them daily. Yet our survey shows that many of those people feel their voices are not leading to action. Despite widespread agreement on the value of co-production, only half of people accessing care and just a quarter of family carers felt that it was making a meaningful difference. That perception gap, between process and impact, is not just a communications challenge; it’s a signal that the system still lacks the structures, culture and accountability needed to make co-production real.

Kathryn Marsden OBE

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

Ultimately, co-production and innovation are all about change for the better, such as testing new ideas, opening up different perspectives and generating solutions that would not otherwise be tried. It’s a cause for concern that only half of the people who access care and support and just a quarter of family carers who responded to the survey felt that co-production was making a difference.

Addressing the key recommendations contained in the report should help organisations and co-producers to maximise the radical potential and real-world impact of innovation through co-production, and I hope they will act as a spur for further conversations and activities that lead to change in practice

Patrick Wood

Chair of SCIE’s Co-production Steering Group

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 submission, please do not hesitate to contact Molly Pennington, Press and Media Relations Officer, at molly.pennington@scie.org.uk