News
September 3, 2026
There is a lot of talking about social care.
Reports. Reviews. Commissions. Consultations. Policies. Promises.
But right now, there is something you can actually do.
The Independent Commission on Adult Social Care, chaired by Baroness Louise Casey, has launched The Big Conversation on Care — a national conversation asking people across England what they want and expect from the future of adult social care.
And they want to hear from you.
Whether you receive care, provide care, work in care, arrange care for somebody you love, run a care organisation — or have never had to think about social care before — this conversation matters.
Because one day, social care is likely to touch most of our lives.
So, do something.
The Big Conversation is asking a deceptively simple question:
When we are old or disabled, or have a serious illness, who should support us and how?
You can submit your own idea.
You can read what other people think.
You can agree, disagree or say that you’re neutral.
You can share your own experience of adult social care.
You can encourage somebody else to participate.
You don’t need to be an expert.
Your experience is expertise.
1. Take part in The Big Conversation
This is the main place to start.
The Big Conversation is exploring some of the biggest questions facing social care: what care should provide, who should receive support, what families can reasonably be expected to do and how we create a system that is fair and sustainable.
Take part in The Big Conversation on Care
2. Submit your idea
The online conversation allows people to put forward their own proposals beginning with:
“We should…”
What would you change?
What have policymakers missed?
What would make life better for somebody receiving care?
What would make the system work better for families, unpaid carers or the people working in it?
New proposals can currently be submitted until 9 September 2026.
Go to The Big Conversation and submit your idea
3. Vote on other people’s ideas
You don’t have to write anything yourself.
You can look at proposals made by other people and say whether you agree, disagree or feel neutral.
More than 350,000 votes had already been cast by the end of August, alongside more than 6,000 proposals.
Voting in this first online phase continues until 23 September 2026.
Read the latest Big Conversation update and deadlines
4. Tell the Casey Commission what happened to you
There is another important way to participate.
The Commission has a dedicated portal where individuals can share their personal experience of adult social care.
That experience might be good.
It might be bad.
It might reveal something that needs fixing.
You can write up to 1,000 words or upload a document.
Please don’t include sensitive personal information such as NHS numbers or copies of health records.
Share your personal experience with the Casey Commission
5. Organisations can submit evidence too
If you’re a care provider, community organisation, campaign, charity, research organisation, university, local group or another organisation working around social care, the Commission also accepts organisational submissions.
You can share information, research and evidence through its submission portal.
Submit evidence or research to the Casey Commission
6. Understand what the Commission is actually doing
Before responding, you may want to understand the Commission’s remit.
Its work includes developing recommendations for reforming adult social care and considering how a future National Care Service could be implemented.
Read the Casey Commission’s Terms of Reference
7. Follow what happens next
Having your say shouldn’t mean pressing submit and forgetting about it.
Watch what happens to the conversation.
Read the Commission’s announcements.
Look at the evidence.
Ask whether the voices of people who draw on care, families, unpaid carers and the workforce are reflected in what eventually gets recommended.
Follow Casey Commission news and announcements
Visit the main Casey Commission website
And then bring the conversation back here.
At One Social Care, we don’t want people simply consuming information about a system that affects their lives.
We want people participating in it.
So once you’ve visited the Big Conversation, come back and talk to us.
Who is social care for?
What should we be able to expect from it?
Why does the system work the way it does?
Where should responsibility sit — with individuals, families, communities, providers or the state?
And we wonder…
What could social care become if millions of ordinary people genuinely understood it and participated in designing what comes next?
You don’t need permission to have an opinion about social care.
You don’t need a job title.
You don’t need to understand every piece of legislation.
You don’t need to wait until the system affects your own family.
Read something.
Question something.
Vote on something.
Share something.
Talk to somebody.
Do something.
Because social care isn’t somebody else’s system.
It’s ours.