The Care Workers’ Charity today publishes an updated edition of Centring Care Workers: A Guide, a practical resource for employers, local authorities, technology and other sector suppliers, and policymakers. The charity is clear that care workers are too often informed about decisions, or consulted only after the fact, when they should be co-producing the policies, systems and tools that shape their work from the outset.
The guide is designed to be used. It sets out the difference between informing, consulting and co-producing, and gives decision-makers concrete, ready-to-apply steps for involving care workers well: from recognising them as the subject experts they are, to paying for their time, to planning around shift patterns, to creating spaces where care workers can speak honestly without fear of repercussions. It also offers practical guidance on running events both online and in person so that participation is genuinely open to everyone.
The guide is built on more than two years of work with CWC’s Care Worker Advisory Board and Champions Project, now 40 members across all four nations. That depth of collaboration is what makes it useful: every principle in it has been tested with care workers themselves.
The case for putting it into practice is borne out by the charity’s own evidence. In a survey of 25 Advisory Board and Champions members, every respondent said they felt valued within the project, 96% reported a stronger sense of belonging in the care worker community, and 92% said that being listened to and valued had improved their morale and led to them delivering better care. One member said that without the project, they would no longer be a care worker at all. Co-production does not only produce better policies and tools, it strengthens the workforce that delivers care, and with it the experience of the people who draw on that care.
CWC is ready to help the sector act on this. Through the Care Worker Advisory Board and Champions Project, the charity can connect organisations with care workers, support meaningful engagement and help make co-production work in practice.
Karolina Gerlich, Chief Executive of The Care Workers’ Charity, said:
“Care workers hold knowledge that cannot be found in a boardroom or a government consultation. It is found in the day-to-day reality of the work itself, and for too long that knowledge has been overlooked. This guide is an invitation. To employers, local authorities, suppliers and policymakers, we are asking you to bring care workers in at the start, not at the end, and to treat their time and expertise as the professional contribution it is. Pick up the guide, use it, and come and work with us to do this well. Come ready to listen and learn. Care workers have been asking to be heard for a long time, and we would welcome the chance to help you hear them.”
What needs to change
The Care Workers’ Charity is calling on employers, local authorities, suppliers and policymakers to:
· Involve care workers from the outset, co-producing decisions rather than informing or consulting after the fact.
· Pay care workers for their time, expertise and preparation, following NIHR payment guidance.
· Create both care worker only spaces and mixed stakeholder spaces, so honest feedback and sector-wide influence are both possible.
· Always report back on what was taken forward and why, and credit care workers’ contributions with their consent.
The updated guide, Centring Care Workers: A Guide, is available now. The Care Worker Advisory Board and Champions Project is funded by The Rayne Foundation. To put the guide into practice or to engage with care workers through the project, contact olivia@thecwc.org.uk.
