Report published on inequities in social care experiences
The Social Care Institute for Excellence (SCIE) has published a report entitled ‘How care inequities shape social care experiences’.
The report documents inequities in the amount of work people must do to access, secure, coordinate, and sustain social care, showing that factors like disability, income, where people live, ethnicity, age and gender all affect the care people get. The report also highlights how inequities interact and accumulate to make each stage of finding, accessing and sustaining social care harder.
The report draws on lived experiences, includes references to dementia, and details priorities for policymakers, commissioners, providers and system leaders as they consider a future National Care Service.
Gerard Crofton-Martin, Interim Chief Executive of SCIE, says:
“Our new research demonstrates that when it comes to care, choice and control are not experienced equally. This means that good quality care remains out of reach for many people, leaving them with unmet needs.
People told us what would make a real difference to their lives: a named point of contact, greater continuity and consistency of carers, clearer information, better coordination between services, more consistent provision between areas, investment in the workforce, and greater use of trusted community organisations and culturally and linguistically appropriate support.
Their experiences should help shape the policy solutions needed to build a fairer National Care Service.”
Read the report here: https://www.scie.org.uk/app/uploads/2026/07/SCIE_Inequity-in-social-care-report_Jul-2026_digital2FINAL.pdf