Accessible summary
- The School for Social Care Research hosted the first in-person away day for the National Care Forum (NCF) Learning Disability Community of Practice Forum.
- The morning focused on Individual Service Funds (ISFs), with presentations from Dr Liz Croot, Dr Alice Dunning, and ISF experts.
- Attendees discussed how ISFs are used, challenges faced, and ways to expand their use across the country.
- After lunch, Tom Ryan and Dr Alice Dunning shared updates on new and ongoing research projects that have been funded by the School for Social Care Research.
- The NCF will keep members informed about project updates and opportunities, showing the benefits of working closely with the Forum.
- In the afternoon, the group talked about changes to law that may affect adult social care, and how the NCF can support these changes.
- Finally, the NCF members talked about what things they would like to focus on in 2026.
SSCR host National Care Forum Away Day
Through the NCF, the away day brought together an inspiring group of leaders of not-for-profit providers of adult social care who are supporting people with learning disabilities. This was the first in-person away day for the NCF Learning Disability Community of Practice Forum, with the packed agenda including an update from SSCR on two recently funded research projects.
The first half of the day was dedicated to scaling the use of individual service funds to promote the person-centred care of people with learning disabilities. Dr Liz Croot and Dr Alice Dunning gave an excellent presentation of the findings from the EQUALD project, which looked to establish what makes an ISF effective. The presentation included sharing the co-produced toolkits that can support commissioners, providers and users of Individual Service Fund. Experts in ISFs, Chris Watson from Self Directed Futures, and Adam Burley from Burley Inclusive, followed the presentation with further detail and examples of best practice. The presentations were very well received by attendees, naturally leading into a thought-provoking discussion of how providers are currently using ISFs, any challenges they are facing and what needs to happen next to further scale up the use across the country.
After a well-earned lunch, the afternoon session opened with an overview of the School for Social Care Research delivered by Dr Liz Croot, followed by behind-the-scenes insight from Tom Ryan, Principal Investigator for a new research project launching in January 2026. The study will explore transitions in family care arrangements for individuals with learning disabilities, beginning to address an essential yet often overlooked topic. Dr Alice Dunning then presented details about an ongoing research project, TEC-LD, which garnered interest from NCF members that were in attendance. As a project partner, the NCF will communicate project updates and opportunities for involvement to its members, illustrating the reciprocal benefits of fostering a relationship with the National Care Forum.
Following updates from the SSCR, lawyers from Anthony Collins Solicitors provided an update on changes to legislations that may affect the Health and Social Care Sector, with a focus on the Adult Social Care providers. This included an informative runthrough of the draft statutory guidance issued for consultation by the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care under section 1 of the Down Syndrome Act 2022.
Before concluding the day, Liz Jones provided a policy update before leading a discussion to summarise the key points that the NCF would like to take to the Casey Commission. The NCF members then agreed on their key priorities for 2026, one of which will be feeding into the 2026 government consultation on Liberty Protection Safeguards to improve safeguarding for vulnerable people. The packed and varied agenda was complemented by plenty of time for networking, sharing best practice, and generating ideas on how to better support adults with learning disabilities. It also gave the School for Social Care Research team a valuable chance to hear which research areas practitioners feel are most needed, and we look forward to continuing this mutually beneficial partnership.