Social Care in the UK's Four Nations, 2017-2021

Our programme focused on the care needs of adults living at home with chronic health problems or disabilities, and seeks sustainable solutions to the UK's contemporary 'crisis of care'. It was distinctive in investigating sustainability and well-being in care holistically across care systems, work and relationships; addresses disconnection between theorisations of care in different disciplines; and locates all its research in the context of international scholarship, actively engaging with policy partners. It will fill knowledge gaps, contribute new theoretical ideas and data analyses, and provide useful, accurate evidence to inform care planning, provision and experience. To better understand the factors that support sustainable care, this team’s work compares the care systems that have emerged over the past twenty years in the UK’s four nations (England, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales). The record consists of metadata from qualitative interviews with policymakers in England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland about social care policy, undertaken in 2019-2021. The data could not be archived due to ethical constraints.