Andy became a social worker in 2019 to better understand the social care system, after facing challenges with his direct payment budget. He is also a convenor at Social Care Future, a grass roots movement which advocates for a more inclusive care system. Here he discusses moving beyond task-focused processes to a co-produced model.
Social care is currently failing many people who draw on support. While there are examples of where it works well, there are too many instances where the law hasn’t been followed, funding has been inadequate, or the person is denied control over their own life.
But what if we view this not as a crisis but as an opportunity for transformation? A chance to think creatively, achieve better outcomes, and use resources more effectively. While additional funding is part of the solution and will be of paramount importance to mitigate the upcoming National Insurance rise, much more can be achieved now with what we already have.
Meaningful change requires us to shift our mindset: to embrace a collective, progressive vision, to fully utilise existing legislation, and to commit to genuine collaboration and co-production with people who draw on support.
By truly listening to and collaborating with those who draw on support, we can make better use of the resources we already have and enable more people to live gloriously ordinary lives. Many of these improvements can be achieved within current funding realities, though we must recognise the need for additional resources to make a broader, long-lasting, systemic transformation.
Fundamental to this change lies a radically different vision that prioritises listening to what people actually want from social care.
A vision for everyone
What if social care’s prime purpose wasn’t just ‘meeting needs’ but enabling people to live meaningful and fulfilling lives?
The Social Care Future vision helps us to reimagine the purpose of social care from this perspective:
“We all want to live in the place we call home, with the people and things we love, in communities where we look out for each other, doing the things that matter to us.”
This vision focuses not on processes but on outcomes that matter. It lays out what makes a gloriously ordinary life: home, choice, relationships, and community. It asks us to reframe the purpose of social care and invites the question, “Is this something I’d want for myself or someone I love?”
I know social care means different things to different people. As both a social worker and someone who draws on support, I’ve often seen and experienced conflicting ideas about its purpose. Adopting this vision helped transform my thinking from one of limitation to one of possibility. It recognises that everyone has hopes and aspirations, placing the person, their autonomy, and their knowledge of their own life at the centre.
Through years of learning and, more importantly, listening to others who draw on support, three fundamental truths about social care have become apparent.
- Social care must shift from focusing on process to focusing on outcomes.
- It must move from being task-driven to being value-driven.
- It will never work effectively without genuine co-production
Co-Production: How to turn the vision into something real
Many people with lived experience of drawing on support have deep policy and legal knowledge, along with a wealth of creative and valuable ideas for improving the system. Having a strong personal investment in having a better social care can be a big motivator to want to assist with positive change!
Co-production is too often treated as a superficial exercise, to tick a box to say ‘Yes, we did talk to X group’. Genuine co-production, however, is about meaningful collaboration that recognises mutual value in the voices and experiences of people who draw on support, treating it as an essential part of the process rather than optional.
Some local authorities are already working in a way that is closer to genuine co-production, such as integrating lived experience into areas like commissioning. But this approach must go deeper and be more widely embedded. It must evolve and be valued at all levels, from basic things like shaping job descriptions for social workers (what people who draw on support would like to see on a job description is quite different to what councils would write!) to council strategies and government policies.
To truly recognise the value of lived experience, local authorities and governments must go beyond creating opportunities for co-production. They must actively enable and encourage people who draw on support to take on paid, formal roles. This ensures their voices and power are represented throughout the formal hierarchy, creating a more equitable distribution of influence and power.
How many social workers, managers or commissioners in your local authority have lived experience of drawing on support?
By incorporating lived experience into leadership and decision-making, we can unlock creative, impactful solutions, many of which can drive positive change quickly and with little to no additional funding. While these improvements can be achieved within current budgets, imminent challenges such as the upcoming NI increase will require additional funding to mitigate any negative impact.
Social care should not be led by process or meeting minimum standards. It should be a system that enables people to live well, to participate fully in their communities, and to achieve their aspirations. A phrase I’ve come across that illustrates this is that it should be a system that enables someone to ‘live a life, not just be kept alive’.
To achieve this, we must shift to a truly co-produced system that is driven by a vision built on values centred on people’s hopes and aspirations for their lives. By listening to and involving those who draw on support, working collaboratively, and focusing on outcomes that truly matter, we can reimagine social care as the vehicle for living, not just surviving, and begin transformative change today.
@socfuture
socialcarefuture.org.uk
