Strategy

2023-2026

Our strategic priorities

We will:

  • Inform, advise and empower more people about care rights

  • Campaign for essential change so that people’s rights are respected and they receive high quality care from a system which is appropriately funded, staffed and valued

  • Grow to meet the challenge as a financially sustainable, effective organisation

Read more about how will achieve this below.

We will inform, advise and empower more people about care rights

When people need care services they can find themselves bemused, trying to navigate through a complex system at an emotional time. They can be faced with difficult decisions whilst dealing with a mix of feelings, including guilt and fear. People often tell us that supporting a relative to move into care is the most difficult decision of their life and they feel they are grieving for someone who is still alive.

Experiencing problems with care services can leave people feeling powerless and afraid to speak out for fear of reprisals. We need to reach more worried decision-makers earlier in their journey, before problems become much more serious and relationships break down.

We are here for everyone who experiences problems with care;

  • older people using services – including those without friends and family

  • relatives and friends – whatever level of involvement they want in their loved one’s life, we know this will be different for everyone

  • worried professionals

We will:

  • Provide information to people needing care, and those who support them, about their rights and entitlements through our website and publications, provide one-to-one advice through our helpline, and facilitate peer support via social media

  • Provide information to help redress the power imbalance in care; support people facing reprisals for speaking out about poor quality care, including evictions and visiting restrictions

  • Work with care providers to roll out a policy on what good quality care looks like

  • Collaborate with others and develop our marketing to help more worried decision-makers earlier

We will campaign for essential change so that people’s rights are respected and they receive high quality care from a system which is appropriately funded, staffed and valued

The next three years will be critical for social care; there is a huge task to deliver care and support people can rely on. Years of underfunding left the care sector stretched and vulnerable. Now, years of pandemic have left the sector in crisis. Urgent and substantial reform is needed to ensure the system is fit for purpose, for the hundreds of thousands of older and disabled people who rely on it today, and for the future.

We must create a care system where people’s basic rights are met and the care they receive is appropriately funded and staffed. Care staff must be properly rewarded, trained, qualified and supported. This will help to break the cycle of vacancies and reliance on agency staff, assisting financially as well as with quality.

We will:

  • Raise awareness of quality care and rights; campaign for new rights to protect people needing care, including a legal right to the support of relatives/friends when using care and health services

  • Call for reform of the sector so that the rights of people needing care are respected

  • Hold the government and regulator to account in protecting the rights of people needing care

  • Press for the professionalisation of the sector, including mandatory training and qualifications, and improved pay for care staff

  • Call for improved standards and better regulation

We will grow to meet the challenge as a financially sustainable, effective organisation

Over the past three years the profile and status of the charity have been transformed. Rebranding (from the Relatives & Residents Association) has given the charity a fresh new look and clarity of purpose. A new website will help us improve our supporter engagement, and grow and diversify our reach. It will also help us help more people earlier in their journey via a suite of new information resources and improved access to support services.

During the pandemic the demand for our service grew substantially, as did demand to represent the voice of older people needing care and their families. Our small, but passionate and dedicated team stepped up to meet these challenges. We are eternally grateful for the invaluable support of our volunteers, and our members and supporters.

We will:

  • Support and grow our team of staff, volunteers, supporters and ambassadors, building our expertise and influence across the UK

  • Develop sustainable income through expanding our fundraising

  • Use outcomes to demonstrate our impact and credibility, including sharing the voices of people we support and who support us

  • Seek collaboration and alliances

  • Improve our systems to make more effective use of the information we gather

  • Increase our reach to provide advice and support across the UK