ABOUT US

The Campaign for Real Care was born in Barnet North London, through the work of Barnet Forum for Independent Living, a group of residents whose lives have been affected by social care. It has since expanded to involve others from across the UK.

Our Beliefs

Just as the NHS aims to provide the best possible health care for all, social care should aim to provide the best possible quality of life for all to achieve wellbeing and Independent Living.
Politicians have a responsibility to set this vision and progressively realise the nation’s finances to achieve it.
Professionals have a duty to use available resources to serve the most people and to inform policymakers of the funding needed to meet everyone’s needs.
The Care Act 2014 defines nine areas of wellbeing, which set a clear vision for quality of life. When someone achieves this wellbeing, they experience “Independent Living,” meaning they can make choices equal to others about how, where and with whom they live their lives.
Individuals and professionals should work together to identify all needs and use resources effectively, rather than letting funding limits define needs. Eligibility should focus on budget, not restricting needs.
The Care Act 2014 has the right tools to support quality social care, but it isn’t being fully implemented—not only due to a lack of funds, but first and foremost because of poor national and local policy choices.

Our Campaign

There are two arms to our campaign.

1. The Real Care Toolkit, freely available to all, to empower people to hold their Council to account. This includes;

developing their own self-assessment to Care Act requirements
asserting their self-assessment with the social worker
challenging the council if the person believes the council’s offer falls short of Care Act 2014 requirements

2. The political campaign and our Charter for the Right to Wellbeing:

We will seek every opportunity to inform and persuade of the need for systemic change according to our beliefs (listed above)
We will share our evidence of existing malpractice widely. This takes the form of a dossier and a growing number of case-studies.
We will campaign alongside others for a national service akin to the NHS. We believe our Charter offers the mechanism for it's creation.

We know change locally will only happen with change nationally. We will therefore seek every opportunity to share our local experiences in order to engage in national debates.