Social care is in crisis

How come so few of us know how adult social care is funded?

Can we find out enough to decide how we want to fund adult social care?

Are we prepared to pay more?

Social care is in crisis. Funding is a critical part of that crisis. We have collectively to agree what level of social care to fund, and how to raise the money. We invite you to take part in the conversation.

Background

In the last 20 years there have been 12 green and white papers from government and five independent commissions on the reform of social care. But successive governments have found it Too Difficult and have, as the expression goes, kicked it into the long grass – they’ve done nothing.

In these circumstances, it really matters that as many citizens as possible inform themselves on this topic, come to their own conclusions, and convey those conclusions to policymakers. Our discussion kit enables anyone who wishes to do this. Our material focuses on Social Care for older adults.

You can watch our 5 minute report on this event here, and also read our report to Parliament.

Holding an Event

This kit is designed for you to run a stimulating discussion in a small group of up to 6 people in a couple of hours. You will be able to order a set of cards for free, and download the rest of the material too. In return for providing this kit for free, we ask that you spend about 20 minutes after the event giving us feedback on how the event went.

You can also organise larger conversations by grouping people around tables, or in circles, of up to 6 – with each table having their own kit. We will help you put on events like this, and support you whilst you are organising and promoting it.

To order kits, or get in touch about any other aspect of this topic, use our Tell Us What You Need page..

You and your friends will gain much from joining in this discussion. They will learn more about the complexities of the situation and have oppotunities to listen, to question and be questioned themselves. Research shows that by talking about issues, participants not only increase their understanding, but also reinforce their memory of the issues. We have now collated the feedback from our events up to November 2019, and made a report to the RSA. You can watch a video showing more about these discussions.

And if you’d just like to think through the issues by yourself, take a look at our companion site Open Up on this same topic.

Here’s what the card set looks like (click on them to expand):
The whole set

and the data graphic

We are grateful to the RSA who are supporting this work through a Catalyst Grant, our advisers Lillie Wenzel and Richard Humphries, both of the Kings Fund, and Natasha Curry at the Health Foundation.