SCIE’s New Report Reveals Diverging Experiences of Co-Production in Social Care and Calls for Care Worker-Led Innovation
The Social Care Institute for Excellence (SCIE) has published its 2025 report, Shaping Change Together: Co-producing Innovation in Social Care, providing a detailed examination of how co-production is being understood and used across the sector.
Drawing on insights from more than eight hundred people, including those with lived experience, unpaid carers, families, care workers and system leaders, the report highlights significant differences in how co-production is experienced and where it is most effective.
The findings reveal that different groups view the impact of co-production differently:
- Care workers were far less likely than system leaders to say co-production improves outcomes, highlighting weak feedback loops and a disconnect between strategic and frontline perspectives. Their focus was primarily on structure, person-centred practice, and collaboration.
- People with lived experience prioritised fairness and real insight, with 63% valuing fresh ideas from people with experience and 41% emphasising inclusive, fair collaboration.
- Family members and friends focused on tangible outcomes, with 66% believing co-production helps focus on what matters most and 42% stating that it leads to better results and services that save money.
While all groups agreed that co-production brings fresh ideas and strengthens person-centred practice, they differed on why it matters and how it should be implemented.
Amongst the recommendations, it was stated that care workers must be supported to lead co-production. Their insight, practical experience and connection to everyday realities make them central to meaningful innovation. To achieve this, the report calls for protected time, practical support, and stronger decision-making power.
This aligns closely with The Care Workers’ Charity’s publication, ‘Centring Care Workers: A Guide’, co-produced with members of our Advisory Board and Champions Project. This guide provides practical tools and frameworks for embedding genuine co-production with care workers across policy, service design and research. It reinforces the very principles highlighted in SCIE’s report: that sustainable improvement in social care must start with listening to, valuing, and empowering those who deliver care every day. You can read this guide here: Centring Care Workers: A Guide – The Care Workers Charity trading as Care Workers Support
Karolina Gerlich, CEO of The Care Workers’ Charity, said:
“This report makes one thing unmistakably clear: co-production cannot be meaningful without care workers at its heart. At The Care Workers’ Charity, we champion co-production with care workers every day because we recognise their value, their expertise, and the insight they bring to creating services that genuinely work. Care workers hold the practical knowledge and creativity needed for meaningful innovation, yet they are still too often excluded from planning and decision-making. We need models that share power fairly, elevate care workers’ voices and ensure that change is built from the ground up.”
SCIE’s findings show that co-production is both an ethical obligation and a practical necessity. By recognising and elevating the expertise of care workers, alongside people with lived experience and families, the sector has a real opportunity to build more effective, resilient, and person-centred care.
The full report, Shaping Change Together: Co-producing Innovation in Social Care, is available now on the SCIE website: Shaping change together: co-producing innovation in social care – SCIE.
For further information, please contact Sophie Henry at The Care Workers’ Charity on sophie@thecwc.org.uk.