Close up image of a smiling young man doing the washing up in a kitchen — Image courtesy of Shared Lives

A group of five older men and women in rickshaws on a jetty by the sea — Image courtesy of Agincare

Two women laughing happily — Image courtesy of Community Catalysts

A close up image of a smiling older woman wearing a yellow jumper who is being supported by Agincare — Image courtesy of Agincare

Glimpses of the Future

Our favourite Glimpses of the Future, showcasing the excellent things people and organisations are doing up and down the country.

‘The future is already here, just unevenly distributed’
– William Gibson

Up and down the country, people, communities, and organisations are doing amazing things that show the seeds of the future that we want to grow.

Here you’ll find examples of the practices and initiatives that exemplify the social care future we aim to bring about. What do these have in common?

They are about people living a good life, not ‘beds’, ‘cases’ or ‘visits’.
They start not by asking what’s wrong, but what matters to people.
They exist to support people to live the life they have reason to value, walking alongside them on that journey, or placing power directly into people’s hands to do so.
They look beyond traditional services, by drawing on and stitching together different resources, creativity, relationships and opportunities.
They are about harnessing the contributions that everyone has to make to their communities, recognising everyone’s gifts and talents at every age and stage of life.
They recognise that our greatest resource is each other.

We will grow these examples over time.

Images of people from the Social Care Future animation - on a multicoloured background. People are gardening, dancing, reading, cooking, singing, playing music

Commissioning is dead. Long live commissioning?

Martin Routledge offers new ways to think about commissioning to begin to grow a brighter #SocialCareFuture...

Family and Group Conferencing (FGC)

Family and group conferencing offers an inclusive process in which people can plan for their support and/or recovery on ...

Self-Directed Support

Self-directed support empowers people with cause to draw on support to exercise choice and control over support and how they ...

KeyRing Support Networks

KeyRing recognises that life is about more than a support provider and values mutual support and community involvement....

Community Micro-Enterprises

Community micro-enterprises are small local ventures offering personalised care or support to promote social inclusion and wellbeing in their communities....

Local Area Coordination

Local Area Coordination nurtures stronger, healthier, better-connected people and places. It prevents issues from escalating, reducing need for services and ...

People sat on couches in an outdoor living room, having a chat in a suburban street

Public Living Rooms

‘Public living rooms’ are ‘bumping spaces’, set up by Camarados for their community, for strangers to meet, be together and ...

Circles of Support

Circles of support are supportive networks, intentionally convened to support people with cause to draw on care or support to ...

Gig and Sports Buddies

Gig and Sports Buddies promote social inclusion by pairing people with learning disabilities and/or autistic people (participants) with volunteers, ...

Shared Lives

Shared Lives is a form of regulated social care where trained individuals or families (Shared Lives carers) open their homes ...

We’re here to change the story of social care

We want to fire people’s imagination about a brighter future for social care. These stories show how we can get there and building public support for change.

Changing the Story

Glimpses of the Future

‘The future is already here, just unevenly distributed’
– William Gibson

Up and down the country, people, communities, and organisations are doing amazing things that show the seeds of the future that we want to grow.