The future we want to see for social care
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Care and support can mean a variety of different things for different people who require social care.
It can reflect the personal care that helps to maintain our dignity when in our own home, it might also mean community support that enables us to access our local areas and live a fulfilling life, or it might relate to the residential support that someone requires to be safe and well throughout the day and night.
Social care is not a singular form of support. Anyone might need social care; older people, working age disabled adults and unpaid carers all access it in different ways to achieve different outcomes.
When we talk about social care, we mean for it to represent the full range of support available across the diverse spectrum of needs, ages, and demographics.
The following are the 8 outcomes we will collectively aim to achieve regarding adult social care in England, through the work of the Care and Support Alliance:
1. Everyone, no matter who they are, gets the care and support they need, when they need it, so they can have the best quality of life possible and lead independent and fulfilling lives.
2. People who need care, and their unpaid carers, should have genuine choice and control about their care so that it best meets their needs and aspirations. Social care should be person-centred.
3. National legislation (Care Act 2014) and guidance is properly adhered to, implemented and promoted throughout England, compliance is robustly monitored, people’s existing rights are upheld, and an effective system of recourse is in place for service users when the system fails to meet their needs.
4. Working in social care is a valued career. People accessing care are supported by well-trained, compassionate and well-paid care staff whose skill and dedication is properly recognised and valued.
5. Funding for social care is sufficient, sustainable, and well planned to ensure all people – including older and working-age disabled adults – can access the support they need.
6. Those caring for a family member or friend are properly supported to undertake their unpaid caring responsibilities, ensuring they can access the breaks, assessments and support they need to live a life beyond caring, and juggle caring alongside paid employment.
7. Social care is viewed as a valued part of the national infrastructure and has parity of esteem with the NHS to help deliver integrated care, including equal involvement in local funding decisions and priority-setting.
8. All people who use social care have access to quality, accessible and clear information and barrier-free advocacy support that helps and empowers them to navigate the social care system.
Easy-read version:
Social care means different things for different people.
• For some, it’s personal care that helps to maintain our dignity in our own home.
• For some, it’s community support so we can access our local areas, work, see our loved ones and do the things we love.
• For some, it’s residential support to help us be safe and well throughout the day and night.
Older people, working age disabled adults and unpaid carers all access social care. With good quality social care we can have independence, choice, and control over our lives.
The following outcomes are the future we want to see for social care. This is what Care & Support Alliance (CSA) members will collectively be campaigning for:
1. Everyone has equal access to the social care they need, when they need it. Social care supports people to live the life they want as independently as they choose.
2. People who need care and their carers have choice and control. Person centred care meets their needs and aspirations.
3. People get the social care support they are legally entitled to and their rights are upheld. People who draw on care are supported when the system fails to meet their needs.
4. Working in social care is a valued career. Care staff are paid well and offered quality training to provide the best care.
5. Funding for social care is enough, sustainable, and well planned to make sure everyone can access the support they need.
6. Unpaid carers are supported. They can access the breaks, and assessments they need to live a life beyond caring, and juggle caring alongside paid employment.
7. Social care is viewed equally to the NHS. Social care and NHS care is joined-up. Social care, and the NHS are both a priority for funding and planning.
8. People who use social care have access to quality, accessible information. Advocacy support helps and empowers people to navigate the social care system.
Our Campaigns
The Real Figures That Matter, Autumn Budget, November 2025
On 24 November, CSA campaigners made their way to No.11 Downing Street to hand-deliver our symbolic red box, filled with the stories of the real figures that matter – the older people, disabled people and unpaid carers across the country whose lives are shaped by the care and support they can access.
Our delegation delivered the red box to Chancellor Rachel Reeves at No. 11 Downing Street, reminding her that with the Budget only days away, the most important “figures” she must consider aren’t numbers in spreadsheets, but the millions of people struggling without the care and support they urgently need.
After the hand-in at No.11, the delegation joined a larger group of CSA campaigners and supporters. Together we made our way to the Treasury, carrying the voices of millions who need a social care system that really works.
Pen Portraits, September 2025
Our Pen Portraits project was created to assist the Independent Commission on Adult Social Care, chaired by Baroness Louise Casey, to understand the real-life experiences of people who need, use, or provide care and support.
The portraits, submitted by our members, reflect the diversity of individuals across England – including older people, disabled people, and unpaid carers – whose lives are directly shaped by the social care system. Each story shines a light on what it truly means to live with, and to rely on, care and support.
Baroness Casey’s team used these case studies to help focus their work and the initial evidence sessions.
Show Us You Care Parliamentary event, July 2025
On 3 July 2025, the Care and Support Alliance hosted a drop-in reception for MPs called Show Us You Care.
Policy experts from the Alliance’s 60 member organisations, as well as a range of older and disabled people with experience of drawing on care, plus their unpaid carers and care professionals met with MPs to discuss the current state of social care. They discussed the transformative impact good, reliable care can have, and the issues many people face trying to get the care they need. The Care and Support Alliance also encouraged MPs to engage with the independent commission on social care, and to keep the pressure on Government to support the 3.5 million people unable to get the support they need right now.
Autumn Budget, October 2024
A group of campaigners gathered in Westminster before the 2024 Autumn Budget to remind the Chancellor not to forget about social care in the Budget. Everyone agreed: we can’t wait any longer for proper funding and reform.
This campaign was featured in the Big Issue.
Show Us You Care Phase 2, July 2024
CSA commissioned the build of an interactive tool where people could enter their postcode and see local social care statistics, before sending them on to their local MP, asking them to prioritise social care in the new parliament.
All English MPs were contacted by over 6000 supporters sending emails with local care summaries.
This campaign was covered in 194 publications with a combined reach of 473k.
Show Us You Care Phase 1 – General Election, June 2024
When the election was called early, CSA worked quickly to put out an open letter to the next Government, asking for action on social care in the next parliament, not just words.
The open letter, signed by over 50 leading charities and 24,000 members of the public, was featured in 26 media publications with a reach of 26 million.
#DontBacktrackRishiSunak, July 2023
The CSA called on Prime Minister Rishi Sunak not to backtrack on the Government’s promise to fix the crisis in social care after four years and no real progress.
On 24th July 2019, the new Conservative Prime Minister Boris Johnson stood on the steps of Downing Street and pledged to “fix the crisis in social care once and for all”.
In his first speech as Prime Minister, his successor Rishi Sunak emphasized that the “mandate his party earned in 2019” under the leadership of Boris Johnson was also his mandate and vowed to “deliver on its [manifesto] promise.”
The Care and Support Alliance raised concerns that four years later, social care reform had stalled once again, leaving millions of older and disabled people, and their families struggling to access the care they need.
We heard reports that the Prime Minister and No.10 were aware of this campaign.
NHS 75, July 2023
On the NHS’s 75th birthday, we called on political leaders to give the NHS the gift of a functioning social care system.
We sent birthday cards to the Government from all our members to remind them not to keep ignoring social care, and to ask them to finally make an honest commitment to fix it once and for all.
