We welcome the Government’s ambitions for the care workforce taking a first step forward, especially the investment in a new structured career path and support for training and new qualifications. However, training needs to be extended to all new staff; valuing care professionals in this way will help retain a skilled workforce.
Much more is urgently required to tackle the pay and working conditions of the care workforce. Unlike NHS colleagues, experienced care workers consistently face low wages that have not kept pace with the rising cost of living.
It is only through a properly funded and supported care workforce that we can truly transform social care for those who need it, overstretched care workers and providers. Evidence shows that addressing pay and working conditions, as well as investing in staff development, should remain a clear priority.
The Government has announced a long-awaited first career pathway for the social care workforce, with better training and improved job prospects. The Department of Health and Social Care has introduced a package of measures to help recruit and retain talent by providing new, accredited qualifications, digital training and funded apprenticeships.
Kathryn Smith, CEO of Social Care Institute for Excellence commented:
Tonight, the BBC is set to air a programme looking at issues facing the social care sector in a care home, covering social care workforce, quality and safety of care concerns. Undercover footage highlights exploitation and failings in care. The Social Care Institute of Excellence (SCIE), with extensive experience in supporting social care bodies to improve safeguarding in practice, advised BBC Panorama on safeguarding practice and its importance in care homes.
Kathryn Smith, Chief Executive Officer of the Social Care Institute of Excellence, said:
We are deeply concerned regarding reports shared in BBC Panorama’s investigation alleging that people experienced neglect and substandard care when at their most vulnerable. While there are many care homes providing care in a safe environment, sadly not all do, and the goal has to be that every care home resident is kept safe from harm, neglect and abuse as a bare minimum, and receives caring, compassionate treatment.
The ‘leaky bucket’ of the social care workforce, with supply insufficient to meet the demands of care, is widely recognised – overseas recruitment is an important consideration, but care homes must ensure they have safe and supportive recruitment practices. Actions such as improving pay and working conditions, as proposed in the recent Skills for Care report, need to be put into place swiftly. Evidence, including from the Care Quality Commission, shows that good leadership and a strong culture that values staff and gives them time to listen to residents are essential to deliver better and safer care.
It’s essential that all care homes ensure they have safe and supportive recruitment practices, both overseas and at home. Staff should be provided with ongoing skills training necessary for their caring roles. They should also have information about external support agencies to contact for advice and guidance.
Care settings need to have a safeguarding culture that is open and supportive so that employees feel confident in raising concerns and asking questions when unsure, without any repercussions for them. and residents feel safe in their home. Every care home needs to review their safeguarding practice on a regular basis, and we urge them to seek help when they need – we are here to support any care home or provider requiring support to improve in this area.
- Accelerating Reform Fund (ARF) to support innovation in local areas to boost quality and accessibility of adult social care in England
- They include new ways to support unpaid carers, new digital tools for recruitment and retention, and increased social prescribing
- Local authorities invited to register for a share of the £42.6 million in grant funding for projects in their area
The Department of Health and Social Care has appointed SCIE to provide hands-on support to local areas in developing local partnerships and delivering projects.
SCIE’s Chief Executive, Kathryn Smith, says:
SCIE looks forward to working with local authorities to deliver the Accelerating Reform Fund for Adult Social Care. This exciting programme focuses on scaling and spreading urgently needed social care innovation in key areas like supporting the UK’s incredible army of hardworking unpaid carers, and delivering new care models. SCIE’s hands-on support will ensure participating projects benefit from shared learning and expert insights. We will shortly be offering a series of information sessions about the fund, what’s expected from programme participants and how to apply for funding, including with local partnerships.
Unpaid carers and those requiring care are in line to benefit from innovative new projects backed by a £42.6 million fund announced by the Department for Health and Social Care today, as the government continues to deliver on its vision for social care reform. The Accelerating Reform Fund will focus on trialling and expanding new approaches to providing care and support and improving services to support unpaid carers and is part of the Department’s Innovation and Improvement Unit. This fund includes our commitment to invest up to an additional £25m to support unpaid carers. It is intended to fund projects which support our 10-year vision for adult social care, which focuses on three objectives: that people have choice, control and support to live independent lives, people can receive outstanding quality and tailored care and support, and that people find adult social care fair and accessible. Local authorities are invited to register their interest in partnership with others in their integrated care systems to fund local innovation projects, which will be evaluated for potential rollout across the country.
Minister for Care, Helen Whately, says:
I’m delighted to see the sector developing creative ways to move towards our ten-year vision for adult social care, and this funding is intended to help accelerate and grow these innovative approaches more widely.. Our selfless unpaid carers are often the unsung heroes of the care sector – which is why I’ve asked that they are at the heart of this funding, aimed at supporting locally-tailored projects that boost the quality, accessibility and independence of care.
An independent cost comparison of Shared Lives found that it has significantly lower costs for people with learning disabilities and people with mental ill health than other forms of regulated social care, such as residential care. Research by the Social Care Institute for Excellence found that Shared Lives can result in an average saving of £8,000 for people with mental health needs and £26,000 for people with learning disabilities.
Carers Trust’s CEO, Kirsty McHugh, says:
Carers Trust welcomes the focus in the Accelerating Reform Fund on the essential role that unpaid family carers play in our health and social care system. We know from our network of local carer organisations that innovation is already underway across the country. We’re therefore looking forward to some fruitful collaborations between local authorities, local carer organisations and unpaid family carers themselves in the development and scaling of support which provide unpaid family carers with the help they desperately need.
Helen Walker, chief executive of Carers UK, says:
We’re pleased that the £25 million committed to unpaid carers is now in play – it will be vital in helping to establish innovative and supportive local practices that support unpaid carers’ needs. With an estimated 12,000 people a day becoming unpaid carers, and a rise in the numbers providing more than 50 hours of care each week, this funding is really necessary. We hope it paves the way forward for longer-term innovation and support that is focused on unpaid carers’ unique needs.
The fund will support local authorities to take forward projects relevant to their local needs, working collaboratively with local partners in their Integrated Care System regions, including the NHS, care providers and voluntary and community sector groups. It will support at least two projects per region, with one of those having a particular focus on unpaid carers. All projects should consider the needs of people who receive care as well as with unpaid carers, and ensure they are inclusive of the diverse needs of local populations. The Social Care Institute for Excellence will be offering hands-on support to local authorities to develop local partnerships and deliver projects. The institute will also collect and share valuable learnings from projects across the country. Those projects that are funded will be evaluated to inform future decisions on embedding models of care in the community and overcome barriers around the lack of evidence on efficacy in the future. Local authorities in collaboration with partners in their integrated care system area are invited to submit their expression of interest to DHSC by 12 January 2024.
In response to the Skills for Care report, the State of Adult Social Care Sector and Workforce in England, Kathyrn Smith, Chief Executive of SCIE, comments:
For years we have talked about the social care workforce crisis – the “leaky bucket” – with the supply of care workers insufficient to meet the demand for care. We welcome the focus in today’s report on retaining a skilled workforce in social care. Skills for Care have found five actions, in combination, that lead to stabilising the workforce, including addressing pay and working conditions as well as investing in staff development through training and qualifications. Investing in these five factors produces dividends for care providers, care workers and especially people who draw on care.
SCIE’s Kathryn Smith continues:
We also welcome Skills for Care’s plans to produce a workforce strategy. Behind the workforce numbers is the growing demand for a highly skilled workforce — one capable of meeting the increasingly complex needs of people drawing on care. The numbers in the report suggest we will continue to fall short of meeting this demand without a cultural change in how and where care is provided. In addition to stabilising the workforce, we should invest in new ways to provide care that are both personalised and preventative.
Note
Five factors associated with better retention:
- Staff pay greater than the minimum wage
- Not using zero hours contracts
- Offering full-time work
- Providing accessible training, both induction and ongoing training
- Having relevant qualifications
The annual Skills for Care Size and Structure of the Adult Social Care Sector and Workforce in England report has found that the number of filled posts – roles with a person working in them – increased by around 1% (20,000) between April 2022 and March 2023. The previous year, the number of filled posts fell for the first time on record, by around 4% (60,000).
SCIE’s Chief Executive, Kathryn Smith, says:
Although the Skills for Care workforce report shows some positive in-year changes in workforce numbers and reduced vacancies, it is important to step back and consider the overall trends in recruitment and retention. These trends show a social care sector continuing to struggle with a recruitment and retention crisis, one that international recruitment cannot on its own fix. We still require a long-term workforce plan for the sector, one that addresses care workers’ pay, their working conditions and skills development.
New survey: 72% of staff and 56% of people with lived experience know about co-production
There’s good news today for those who want to see people who draw on services being put at the heart of decisions made about their lives. A major new survey looks at how co-production is perceived in the UK today. Co-production is about working in equal partnership with people using services, carers, families and citizens. Co-production offers the chance to transform social care and health provision to a model that offers people real choice and control.
The survey, funded by the Department of Health and Social Care, explores how the term co-production is defined by staff in the adult social care workforce and service users; looks at individual experiences and the lessons learnt from working in a co-productive way; and examines a potential lack of cohesion between various levels of the workforce hierarchy and people who draw on services. It comes at the start of the eighth annual National Co-production Week, organised by the Social Care Institute for Excellence (SCIE).
The survey reveals that 72% of the workforce and 56% of people with lived experience have heard about co-production. The results also reveal that leaders and managers have different views and experiences of co-production, compared to those on the frontline. Managers with the least exposure to frontline working appear to have a much better knowledge of co-production than those working in direct care delivery. A third of workers state that the organisational culture of their place of work can be a barrier to successful co-production.
Co-production and people who draw on services
The survey has found that 59% of people with lived experience report having had opportunities to be involved in co-producing their own care and support, whilst only 37% have been involved in co-producing services or policies. Many respondents – both in the workforce and those who draw on services – spoke of a sense of distrust and disillusionment with co-production, saying it can become diluted and lose its meaning. Key barriers experienced by social care staff, when implementing co-production, are time (reported by 47%), organisational culture (31%), cost (26%) and communication (25%). However, results suggest that when workers in the public sector have good opportunities for partnerships with people with lived experiences, then co-production is more likely to happen.
One respondent responded to the survey by saying: “At the moment people can throw the word [co-production] around without any real meaning”.
Findings
Here are some of the findings from the survey:
- 72% of staff working in adult social care reported previous familiarity with the term ‘co-production’, whilst this figure stood at 56% of individuals with lived experience
- It was found that senior leaders with the least exposure to frontline working had a much better knowledge of co-production (95% familiarity) than those working in direct care delivery (41%) at the time of taking the survey
- 59% of people with lived experience reported previous opportunities to be involved in co-producing their own care and support, whilst only 37% had been involved in co-producing services or policies
- Respondents voiced issues regarding the inclusiveness and representativeness of co-production, describing instances where we are not reaching out to all, and extending participation beyond the ‘familiar voices’.
Kathryn Smith, Chief Executive at the Social Care Institute for Excellence, says:
Co-production is a fundamental part of modern day social care and support and this survey is a fantastic opportunity to see what’s going on in the sector; both with the workforce and with people who draw on services. It is very encouraging that so many people working in adult social care know about co-production and why it is important. The challenge now is to see its impact more on the frontline and I hope that the recommendations in the survey report can be acted on quickly, so that people who draw on care and support services are put at the heart of the decisions made about their lives. Can I take this opportunity to thank everyone who completed the survey and who gave us such rich data on co-production in the UK in 2023.
Recommendations
Following analysis of the data and working in partnership with people who draw on services, a number of calls-to-action have been drafted, to see co-production more securely embedded in care services. Here are some of the recommendations following the survey:
1. It is crucial that sufficient resources are allocated towards co-production, ensuring staff have protected time to carry this out. Investment in such areas will equip staff working in adult social care with the necessary tools and resources to engage in co-production effectively and meaningfully, and ensure services are fit for purpose.
2. There is a need to prioritise comprehensive training and education for every staff member working in adult social care, empowering them with the knowledge of co-production, what it is and how to apply it across diverse roles in the sector.
3. To avoid instances of misinterpretation and misunderstanding, a consistent definition of co-production needs to be shared widely, with practical examples that bring the skills, values, and behaviours of co-production to life.
Notes to editors
1. The analysis of the data took place with members of the National Co-production Advisory Group (Who work with TLAP – Think Local Act Personal) and SCIE’s Co-production Steering Group. However, staff working in adult social care need the funding, time, tools and resources to do co-production effectively, and meaningfully. Other recommendations include developing and sharing a consistent definition of what co-production is, as well as sharing practical examples that bring the skills, values and behaviours of co-production to life. All of the ‘Calls to action’ feature throughout our report, aligning with their respective sections to emphasise their significance and relevance
2. In total, 997 people took part in this survey, with a completion rate of 84%. In terms of number of respondents per group, 640 identified as working in adult social care, with 195 completing the survey as a person with lived experience of adult social care. On average, survey respondents were aged between 55 – 64 years and were predominantly (58%) women. Among the survey respondents, there was a substantially higher proportion of responses (80%) from individuals who identified their ethnicity as White (English/Welsh/Scottish/Northern Irish/British).
The Social Care Institute for Excellence, Anthropos and the Dementia Services Development Centre are awarded £80k by Longitude Prize on Dementia for an innovative home-based technology that will enable early detection of changes in the symptoms of dementia for effective interventions in sundowning.
Longitude Prize on Dementia
The home-based technology will be designed to learn and understand a person’s daily routine and behaviour patterns in relation to the physiological and environmental factors thought to contribute to sundowning which approximately 20-30% of people living with dementia experience. The innovation aims to identify early signs of sundowning and to provide insights that support interventions in the home.
Twenty-four semi-finalists receive £80,000 grants as part of the overall £4m Longitude Prize on Dementia driving the co-creation of personalised technologies to help people living with dementia enjoy independent and fulfilled lives.
The Longitude Prize on Dementia is funded by Alzheimer’s Society and Innovate UK and delivered by Challenge Works.
The Social Care Institute for Excellence, Anthropos and the Dementia Services Development Centre have been named a semi-finalist in the Longitude Prize on Dementia for its home-based technology that aims to identify early signs of sundowning. They have been awarded one 24 Discovery Award grants worth £80k as part of the £4m Longitude Prize on Dementia.
A total of £1.9m has today been awarded to 24 pioneering teams of developers, researchers and innovators from across the globe in the international challenge competition funded by Alzheimer’s Society and Innovate UK, and designed and delivered by Challenge Works. The team will now work alongside people living with dementia and their carers to ensure technologies are intuitive, easy-to-use and able to adapt to their changing needs.
Sundowning
The home-based technology will be designed to learn about the lives of people with early-mid stage dementia and can detect environmental and behavioural changes associated with sundowning. Sundowning is characterised by restlessness, agitation, or confusion that can begin or worsen as daylight fades and is experienced by 20-30% of people living with dementia. and understand a person’s daily routine and behaviour patterns in relation to the physiological and environmental factors thought to contribute to sundowning which approximately 20-30% of people living with dementia experience. The innovation aims to identify early signs of sundowning and to provide easy-to understand insights that support interventions in the home. These insights could then be used to develop interventions to help people living with dementia who are experiencing symptoms of sundowning, remain independent in their homes.
The Longitude Prize on Dementia is driving the development of personalised, technology-based tools that are co-created with people living with the early stages of dementia, helping them live independent, more fulfilled lives and enable them to do the things they enjoy.
The competition itself has also been co-designed with people living with dementia. Judges were advised in their decision making by the prizes Lived Experience Advisory Panel (LEAP).
Trevor Salomon, whose wife Yvonne was diagnosed with young-onset Alzheimer’s disease in 2013, is Chair of the Longitude Prize on Dementia’s Lived Experience Advisory Panel. The group – which includes people living with dementia, carers and former carers – has steered the design of the prize, as well as the judging and assessment processes.
Trevor said:
Before her diagnosis, my wife astonished everyone with her ability to do anything she set her mind to. She was an amazing cook, gardener, and there was nothing she couldn’t make or repair on her sewing machine. If we could access technologies that help extend her independence and her enjoyment of those pastimes, it would be so worthwhile. So I’m really impressed by the innovative thinking and creativity of the Discovery Award winners. Advances in AI could lead to new technologies that would be transformative for people like my wife – but they need to be easy to use, intuitive and adapt to the unique needs of each person. Technologies shouldn’t be developed in a bubble; they need to be designed and tested by the people who will ultimately benefit from them.
In 2024, five finalists will progress with additional £1.5m in funding to build real-world prototypes. In total, more than £3 million will be awarded in seed funding and development grants with a £1 million first prize to be awarded in 2026.
In addition, wider expert non-financial support has been funded to provide innovators with crucial insight and expertise in the next three years, such as access to data, specialist facilities, collaborations with people living with dementia and expert advice on technical and business aspects of the innovation and to facilitate knowledge sharing between participants.
One of the Discovery Awards awarded today, the ‘Paul and Nick Harvey Discovery Award’, is sponsored by the Hunter Foundation, with further support coming from Heather Corrie and the Caretech Foundation.
Notes to Editors
For media enquiries, please contact Andrew McKay, Alice Jaffe and Sophia Houston at longitudeprize@seven-consultancy.com
About the Longitude Prize on Dementia
The Longitude Prize on Dementia is a £4 million prize to drive the creation of personalised, technology-based tools that are co-created with people living with the early stages of dementia, helping them live independent, more fulfilled lives and enabling them to do the things they enjoy.
Dementia is a progressive condition and there is no cure, but people can live well for years. As hospitalisations can increase the rate of decline, the hope is that assistive technology can help people stay safe and independent in their home for longer. The winning solution will use the latest advances in technology, artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning in combination with user data and testing to provide personalised support for people living with dementia.
The Longitude Prize on Dementia is funded by the UK’s Alzheimer’s Society and Innovate UK and delivered by Challenge Works.
- Alzheimer’s Society is the UK’s leading dementia charity. It is a vital source of support and a powerful force for change for everyone affected by dementia
- Innovate UK is the UK’s innovation agency, helping UK businesses to grow through the development and commercialisation of new products, processes and services, supported by an outstanding innovation ecosystem that is agile, inclusive and easy to navigate
- One of the Discovery Awards awarded, the ‘Paul and Nick Harvey Discovery Award’ is sponsored by the Hunter Foundation, with further support coming from Heather Corrie and the Caretech Foundation
- The prize has also received funding from the Medical Research Council. The MRC funds research at the forefront of science to prevent illness, develop therapies and improve human health
- Challenge Works is a global authority on the design and delivery of challenge prizes to unlock technological solutions focused on social good.
All Discovery Award winners are subject to due diligence and contracting which is being undertaken by Challenge Works.
Semi-finalists
About the Dementia Services Development Centre (DSDC), University of Stirling
DSDC is an international centre of knowledge and expertise dedicated to improving lives of people with dementia based at the University of Stirling. Drawing on research and practice from around the world, DSDC provides comprehensive resources to support people with dementia, informal carers and professionals both in the health and social care and design sectors.
About Anthropos
Anthropos has developed a Connected Care Platform that is transforming the care of older people in their homes by providing intelligence that supports the delivery of better-informed care decisions. The platform uses a combination of smart (IoT) sensors and Machine Learning to help care providers and families discover, understand, monitor and act upon changes in the daily routines of older people. The intelligence created is powering the shift towards proactive and preventative care models in health and social care.
Durham Safeguarding Adults Partnership has published its full report of the Safeguarding Adults Review into Whorlton Hall. The SAR, led by independent SCIE Associates, is now live on the Durham Safeguarding Adult Partnerships website (See May 2025).
SCIE’s Chief Executive Kathryn Smith says:
The outdated practice of sending adults with learning disabilities and autism to distant hospital placements has resulted in multiple safeguarding scandals, court cases, reviews and investigations. Following our work on the Whorlton Hall Safeguarding Adults Review, SCIE believes we need to prioritise investing in the delivery of meaningful housing and support options nearer home for adults with learning disabilities and autism.
SCIE’s Chief Executive, Kathryn Smith, concludes:
The Whorlton Hall SAR goes onto highlight seven findings exploring the systemic barriers that make good safeguarding outcomes more difficult to achieve. The findings offer potential tangible solutions that could lead to change. Amongst these, the SAR identified the importance of commissioning authorities providing a trusted professional keeping in regular contact with the person with a learning disability during the hospital placement, the continuing limited availability of advocacy for people with learning disabilities and autism in hospital settings, and the need to create clearer expectations and guidance to support more robust provider-led investigations into safeguarding incidents in these settings when they occur.
SCIE supports the position statement calling for change, from the authors of several key safeguarding reviews including:
- Dr Sheila Fish (SCIE Associate, Lead Reviewer of the Whorlton Hall SAR).
- Dr Margaret Flynn (Author of Winterbourne View Hospital SCR and Cawston Park Hospital SAR),
- Dame Christine Lenehan (Council for Disabled Children, Lead Reviewer of Hesley Group review – Safeguarding children with disabilities and complex health needs in residential settings).
You can read and endorse the statement, which is co-ordinated by The Coalition for Change and hosted on the Norfolk Safeguarding Adults Board website.
In addition, the British Association of Social Workers (BASW) has a range of resources to support better commissioning while Mencap provides updated information about progress to tackle this issue, including the progress against the Government’s commitment to reduce the number of people with a learning disability and autistic people in inpatient units by 50% by March 2024.
It’s been announced that a new taskforce will focus on ensuring the Government is offering a range of housing options for older people. This will help ensure that the housing market works for older people, now and in the future, and gives them greater choice in where they choose to live.
The Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, working with the Department for Health and Social Care, has brought together a team of experts to lead this crucial work, that will report back to Government on how it can improve housing for older people. It’s been announced that SCIE’s Chief Executive, Kathryn Smith, is now a panel member and will be leading on one of the workstreams.
Kathryn Smith says:
I’m honoured to be appointed to the Taskforce. It will be great to be working with the other panel members, including the Chair, Professor Julienne Meyer. I look forward to delivering a roadmap of changes to improve choices in housing as people age. No decision about care and support should be made without considering where people live.
Kathryn Smith continues:
For the ‘People’ workstream, which I am co-leading, we will ensure the products and recommendations are co-produced with older people, building on their lived experience with the challenges of making choices about housing with care and support. Putting people at the heart of things will be central to our work.
SCIE Chief Executive Kathryn Smith concludes:
The work of the Task Force follows on from SCIE’s Commission on the Role of Housing in the Future of Care and Support in 2021. At the heart of the Commission’s vision has been the idea that, as far as is possible, people should be supported to live in their own homes.
The Taskforce began its inaugural meeting this week in London.
James Bullion has been appointed interim chief inspector of adult social care and integrated care at the Care Quality Commission (CQC).
SCIE’s Chief Executive Kathryn Smith says:
We welcome James’s appointment. He brings a wealth of knowledge to the role from his decades as a national leader, along with a deep understanding the challenges facing the care sector, its providers and especially the workforce. We look forward to working with him on improving people’s experiences of social care and the quality of their care and support.
It’s been announced that Kate Terroni will become the Care Quality Commission’s Deputy Chief Executive.
SCIE’s Chief Executive, Kathryn Smith, says
We are pleased that the CQC’s new Deputy CEO has a firm grounding and passion in social care. We expect she will ensure the values from social care influence the whole of the CQC’s remit.
Kathryn Smith continues:
We are pleased that the CQC’s new Deputy CEO has a firm grounding and passion in social care. We expect she will ensure the values from social care influence the whole of the CQC’s remit. “In her previous role as Chief Inspector, Kate championed improving social care through co-production, strengths-based services and housing with care and support. She focussed on the sector achieving the best outcomes for people who draw on care and support services. We look forward to continuing to work with Kate in her new role as Deputy Chief Executive.
On 13th April 2023, the BBC reported on its investigation into abuse and safeguarding at services in Doncaster. The BBC investigation identified serious issues spanning several years, in services for children and adults with learning disabilities run by the Hesley Group. Since little or no learning had taken place, children and adults were at serious risk of harm.
Here’s a joint statement in response to a BBC investigation, from:
- Dr Margaret Flynn – author of Winterbourne View Hospital SCR and Cawston Park Hospital SAR
- Dame Christine Lenehan – Director of the Council for Disabled Children, Lead Reviewer of Hesley Group Safeguarding children with disabilities and complex health needs in residential settings
- Dr Sheila Fish – SCIE Associate, Learning Together Audits and Reviews, Lead Reviewer of the Whorlton Hall SAR
- Read the joint statement