Social Care Institute for Excellence

02/10/2026

There’s less than one week to go📅

The Care Show Birmingham, the UK’s leading event for the social care sector, will return to the NEC Birmingham on 7 and 8 October.

SCIE will be at Exhibition Stand N43, providing trusted expertise on social care issues and sharing insights and evidence from the several hundred safeguarding projects we have successfully delivered over the last three years.



On 8 October at 13:30, you will also find us on the Keynote Stage for ‘Policy and practice: building the future of adult social care together’.

The Care Show Birmingham is free for all care professionals, and it’s not too late to register👉 https://www.careshow.co.uk/

30/09/2026

“The skill and dedication shown every day by carers, both paid and unpaid, hold our sector together, enabling people up and down the country to live fulfilling and independent lives.”

Today, 30 September 2026, the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, Yvette Cooper, has announced plans to better support and value the social care workforce, including a new collective pension scheme for care workers, in a speech to the Labour Party Conference.

Read our full statement, authored by our Interim Chief Executive, Gerard Crofton-Martin, on our website.

SCIE welcomes government plans to support the social care workforce, including a new collective pension scheme for care workers.

29/09/2026

The Prime Minister delivered a speech to the Labour Party Conference today, outlining his vision for social care reform. Baroness Glenys Thornton, Chair of the Board for SCIE, said:

“This is an exciting moment for social care. I welcome the Prime Minister’s commitment to ending the political “capitulation in the face of the social care crisis”, as well as his ambition for a person-centred, high-quality and home-first National Care Service.

“As plans develop, it is essential that the National Care Service is built on the core values of a caring society: equity and fairness, independence, and wellbeing. It must enable people of all ages, not just older people, to live with dignity, choice and control. Working-age adults account for around half of all local authority spending on adult social care; their needs, aspirations and rights must be at the heart of reform alongside those of older people.

“The foundations for reform have already been laid through decades of hard work from people with lived experience, professionals and organisations, and it is vital that this experience and expertise shape the Casey Commission’s recommendations.”

28/09/2026

Last night, SCIE and the Centre for Care co-hosted a panel session, ‘Placing care equity at the centre of adult social care reform’, at the Labour Party Conference in Liverpool.

Baroness Glenys Thornton, Chair of the Board for SCIE, joined Professor Kate Hamblin, Centre for Care; Phil Holmes, ADASS; Anna Dixon, Labour MP for Shipley; and Sojan Joseph, Labour MP for Ashford, to examine the inequities that continue to shape people’s experiences of social care in England.

Discussions explored the impact of unmet, under-met, and inappropriately met need on individuals, families and unpaid carers; the role of prevention and early intervention in improving outcomes; and the importance of ensuring people have genuine choice and control over their care and support. Panellists also reflected on what the development of a National Care Service could mean in practice, and how equity can be embedded as a guiding principle from the outset.

The conversation highlighted the need to learn from what works, spread good practice more consistently, and ensure that reforms respond to the different needs and circumstances of communities across the country.

A huge thank you to the panellists for sharing their expertise and insights, the Centre for Care, and to everyone who joined us for the discussion.

Please visit our website to find out more and to read statements from Baroness Glenys Thornton, Professor Kate Hamblin, and Phil Holmes: https://www.scie.org.uk/news/detail/care-equity-must-be-at-heart-of-social-care-reform-labour-conference-panel-hears/

25/09/2026

At SCIE, we recognise the crucial role commissioners play in driving improvements in social care, and supporting commissioners to deliver better outcomes for people who draw on care and support is a core part of what we do.

That's why we were so pleased to work in partnership with EY and the West Midlands Association of Directors of Adult Social Services, and in collaboration with the Department of Health and Social Care, on Ignite, the first national training programme for senior local authority commissioners of adult social care. The programme brought together expertise from across the sector to strengthen capability and drive innovation in social care commissioning.

Yesterday, SCIE attended the CIPD People Management Awards, celebrating excellence and innovation in human resources, learning and development and organisational design, where the Ignite programme was shortlisted in the Best Supplier category.

Congratulations to all the award winners and short-listed programmes⭐.

If you want to know more about SCIE's support and insights on commissioning, complete our enquiry form on our website: https://www.scie.org.uk/consultancy/transforming-care/system-commissioning/

24/09/2026

Access to appropriate social care support, the quality of care received, and people’s choice, control and dignity can vary significantly depending on personal circumstances, location, resources, health needs and how services are designed and delivered.

SCIE’s ‘How care inequities shape social care experiences’ report presents a rare, in-depth qualitative study of how people drawing on care and support, and unpaid carers, experience these inequities. Commissioned by SCIE and conducted by Thinks Insight & Strategy, it builds on SCIE’s wider work on care equity.

In the latest episode of Centre for Care’s Care Matters Podcast, Dr Matthew Ford, PhD, Senior Research Analyst at SCIE, and Isaac Samuels OBE, SCIE Trustee and Co-chair of the National Co-production Advisory Group and the Think Local Act Personal (TLAP) Board, join Professor Kate Hamblin to discuss the research in depth👉 https://centreforcare.ac.uk/updates/2026/09/podcast-coproduction-with-scie/

23/09/2026

“Lasting transformation will depend on translating ambition into practice, with decisions grounded in evidence, informed by learning and focused on what makes the greatest difference to people’s lives.”



The Supreme Court’s deprivation of liberty judgment, and the Government’s subsequent response, have brought renewed attention to how people’s rights and freedoms are protected in practice, while the establishment of the National Adult Safeguarding Board signals a wider focus on strengthening safeguarding across the country.



SCIE will join other sector leaders at the Care Show Birmingham to outline how we can support care providers through the rapidly changing social care landscape.

Alongside our focus on safeguarding, we will also be providing trusted expertise on wider social care issues.

Read our full statement, authored by our Head of Safeguarding, Vijay Patel, and our Head of Social Care Transformation and Improvement, Eleanor Haworth, on our website🔗 https://scie.info/Care-Show-Birmingham-Facebook

21/09/2026

SCIE is working with Partners in Care and Health to develop practice guidance for newly qualified social workers around using AI.

We will be facilitating an engagement session for newly qualified social workers to share what they feel they would want included in the guidance:

📅⏰30 September 2026, 11am until 12:30pm

There's no need to register in advance. Simply click the link at the time of the meeting to join🔗 https://mailing.scie.org.uk/t/c/AQilLxC5kroHGN-W4Y8CINmeg7ABPmhux9jF8bH77n0-tuPH0XfVWFPVdeBscTE5Th_8lfA

We will also be facilitating an engagement session for principal social workers:

📅⏰1 October 2026, 2pm until 3pm

🔗 https://mailing.scie.org.uk/t/c/AQilLxDqlLoHGN-W4Y8CIKvpg7AB56kDJn1PRfWartKYlmPoRBh5bfXztAQ2SuKUrLyrKdg

📣Please share this opportunity with your network!

10/09/2026

We are excited to announce that SCIE will be exhibiting at the Care Show Birmingham in October⭐.

We will be joining thousands of fellow care professionals to share practical examples of SCIE’s impact and outline how we can work with care providers to anticipate and manage safeguarding risks through tailored, co-produced solutions.

📅7 and 8 October 2026

📌 NEC Birmingham, Exhibition Stand N43

The Care Show Birmingham is free for all care professionals across the sector. Find out more and register👉 https://www.careshow.co.uk/

09/09/2026

CQC Inspections Digital Conference

📅Thursday 24 September 2026, 09:30 AM until 15:00 PM

📍Online

The Care Quality Commission (CQC) is moving away from the Single Assessment Framework and introducing sector-specific assessment frameworks. This conference will address what organisations need to do now, and what the shift to sector-specific frameworks will mean.

Eleanor Haworth, Head of Social Care Transformation and Innovation at SCIE, will be taking part in a live Q&A with Jon Wilks, CEO and Director at Institute of Health & Social Care Management 💚💙🏳️‍🌈, that will explore:

💡What is changing across adult social care, mental health, hospitals, and primary and community care

💡What inspectors will expect to see in practice

💡How judgements will be made

💡How cross-sector working will be assessed

💡And leadership, governance and workforce engagement

Book now🔗 https://www.westminsterinsight.com/conferences-and-events/cqc-inspections-digital-conference/