Our position on social care
Social care is different from NHS healthcare. It offers more practical support to enable people to live independently.
These services are usually provided in people's homes, care homes or elsewhere in the community, such as a supported living community or local leisure centre.
Our most recent research has revealed that as many as 1.5 million working age disabled people in England may have some level of unmet or under-met need and could be missing out on social care and other support.
People have also told us that the social care system can be difficult to understand and navigate. Complex assessment and funding processes and a lack of personalised information and support mean people often need help finding the right support for themselves or someone they know.
Our recommendations
- We support comprehensive social care reform, including increased investment in services and a shift to a more preventative system.
- The Government should develop and publish an official calculation of adult social care needs and inequality in care access.
- The Government should implement and fund recommendations from the Skills for Care’s social care workforce strategy.
- The Government should provide Councils with the resources to start implement the Partners in Care and Health information and advice toolkit.
- Councils and independent organisations must be given the resources and support to provide proactive information and advice services to their communities, particularly those who may be eligible for social care or other support but are not receiving it.
- We support calls for care home residents to have a legal right to care support workers and visitors (such as family and friends).
- People’s access to Care Act advocates should be extended to ensure everyone receiving a Care Act assessment is proactively offered advocacy support to understand the process.
Our evidence
- In 2024, we commissioned a poll of 2000 working-age disabled adults to estimate this group’s unmet need for social care. We found that as many as 1.5 million disabled people don’t receive care they could be eligible for. Many of these people said they don’t know whether support is available for them or where to find it.
- In 2022, we worked with local Healthwatch to understand people’s experiences of accessing social care and how their needs often go unmet. People who use social care told us they need better information, clearer advice, fairer assessments, and more quality and personalised care.
- In 2019, to better understand what the public wants from social care funding reforms and how well any proposal might be received, we commissioned a poll of 2,000 adults. This research shows a clear level of support (42%) across all groups for general taxation to pay for social care, with mixed views across age groups for compulsory or optional insurance models.
- Earlier in 2019, we published research that looked at people with dementia’s experiences in accessing and using social care services. We found that only 45% of people with dementia received annual care plan reviews, which are required as a minimum under the Care Act. In total, only eight per cent of the feedback we received was positive, with many struggling to access reliable information and advice in a dementia-friendly, jargon‑free way.
Our action
We work closely with social care organisations and policymakers to share our social care research and push for much-needed fundamental social care reform.
We are engaging with a coalition of charities and other bodies to share our research and engage with the Government. We also look forward to supporting the Casey Review and ensuring people’s voices are front and centre in upcoming decisions on reform.
We are also working with the Healthwatch Adult social care network to explore a wider work on social care reform.
Get in touch
We welcome conversations with policymakers and professionals about our work, so get in touch to find out more about our work.
