The tenth annual Co-Production Week, hosted by the Social Care Institute for Excellence (SCIE), has revealed compelling new insights into how co-production is reshaping adult social care. With the theme ‘Innovation through co-production’, the week, which ran from 30 June – 4 July 2025, served not just as a celebration, but as a turning point and call to action.
At the heart of the week’s activities was the launch of SCIE’s new report, Embracing change: scaling innovation in care in practice, setting out how urgent action is needed to scale up innovation in adult social care and meet the growing demands on services, particularly for unpaid carers. The report draws on England-wide evidence from a rare, extensive practice-based testbed for social care innovation, sharing invaluable learnings for the social care sector from SCIE’s hands-on support provided to local authorities via the Department of Health and Social Care’s Accelerating Reform Fund (ARF). The Fund has supported over 120 projects requesting co-production from the start, aiming to improve adult social care through innovation and scaling, with a particular emphasis on supporting unpaid carers.
A key learning from the week has been that co-production is no longer a ‘nice to have’ but is a necessary means for innovation. Local and national leaders should be looking to build innovation into policy reform, starting with co-production with people and communities; people with lived experience want genuine, transparent co-production that includes their voices at the start in the planning stages of projects, in delivery and throughout, leading to visible change. People seeing the impact and the difference co-production is making means including ongoing feedback about how their insights and expertise are being used to improve services.
Kathryn Marsden OBE (formerly Kathryn Smith OBE), SCIE Chief Executive, said:
“This week has shown us that innovation and co-production go hand in hand. While huge strides have been made up and down the country, there is much more work to do in embedding co-production in policy and practice and creating equal partnerships to develop better ways of doing things in social care. Co-production offers the chance to transform health and social care into a model that offers people real choice and control.
“The strength and creativity that comes from genuine collaboration is clear from our report, webinars and online conference sessions. We’ve seen bold ideas emerge, grounded in the real experiences of people drawing on care and support, unpaid carers and professionals alike. What’s been most powerful is the shared willingness to challenge assumptions and rethink how we work together. That spirit of curiosity and openness is what will drive real, lasting change.
“Now is the time to act. Together, we can reshape social care into a system that is fairer, more inclusive, and fit for the future.”
Kevin Minier, Co-production Network Member at SCIE, said:
“National Co-production Week is where we celebrate what has been achieved and recognise what still needs to happen. Co-producing the week ensures that the things which matter to people who draw on services, including carers, are kept front and centre. The projects we have seen are innovative because they have been co-produced and have changed culture. Co-produced projects not only provide better outcomes, they are scalable and spreadable, reach more people and the lessons learnt can be applied to other projects.”
Key moments from the week included:
· Our Co-production Week online conference with Think Local Act Personal (TLAP). Through six high-impact and diverse workshops, we highlighted tools measuring the impact of co-production, shared innovative commissioning practice through the development of lived experience commissioner roles, stimulated debate around the use of Generative Artificial Intelligence in social care, explored complex issues and uncovered new insights around supporting unpaid carers in assessing their own needs by spotlighting ARF projects in Brent and Worcestershire Association of Carers.
· The parliamentary reception in Westminster attended by over 100 leaders, decision makers and changemakers, marking a step forward in bridging innovation and co-production.
· The announcement of the winners of SCIE’s Social Care Impact Awards, celebrating small and micro organisations that are driving practical, meaningful change, with a strong emphasis on community leadership and co-production.
· A webinar with Lincolnshire County Council on its SCIE-supported Accelerating Reform Fund project, which uses arts, heritage and nature-based activities to improve unpaid carer wellbeing and resilience.
· A webinar run by and for people with lived experience to discuss how people with lived experience can play a meaningful role in shaping innovation and what it means to them.
The week’s packed programme of activity was co-produced with people with lived experience and SCIE staff. To find out more about what went on during the week, please visit the SCIE website.
SCIE supports a range of organisations with co-production, so any organisation wanting advice or help with their co-production approach should contact us sciebusinessdevelopment@org.uk, to hear more about how we can support you.
