Growing a Brighter Social Care Future

By Julie Stansfield, Neil Crowther, Anna Severwright

What if social care helped people truly live, not just survive? People describe existing rather than coping in today's system, one built around getting by rather than supporting dignity, freedom or joy. But it doesn't have to stay this way.

Growing a Brighter Social Care Future focuses on proposition rather than protest, imagining and putting forward solutions to pursue the future we want to create. Through powerful stories and hopeful alternatives, it shows what becomes possible when we start with people's dreams, not just their needs. The book also includes a striking graphic novel section depicting our ideal future for social care and what happens when we ask what a good life looks like and design support around that answer. Challenging low expectations, disempowering systems, and transactional thinking, the book shares concrete ideas and real examples of how things can work differently.

This hopeful, practical book sets out a vision that puts people and communities in the driving seat. For practitioners, policymakers, campaigners and anyone affected by social care, it's both a manifesto and a guide to transformation. It's not about fixing a broken service. It's about imagining and building something better.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1805010506
• ISBN13: 9781805010500
• Release Date: January 2027
• Publisher: Jessica Kingsley Publishers
• Length: 160 Pages