We are excited to announce two events at the Labour and Liberal Democrats party conferences this month!
SCIE and Centre for Care to Co-Host Labour Party Conference Panel on Care Equity
Leading social care organisations will bring together parliamentarians and sector experts to discuss how evidence can help tackle inequity and drive fairer reform across adult social care.
The panel will take place from 6:30 – 7:30pm on Sunday 27 September 2026, at the Hilton Liverpool City Centre, Albert Suite 4, during the Labour Party Conference. This is outside the secure zone, so a conference pass is not required. Full buffet and refreshments are provided.
During the 2026 Labour Party Conference in Liverpool, the Social Care Institute for Excellence (SCIE) and the Centre for Care will jointly host a panel exploring why care equity should be a core component of a National Care Service.
The panel, ‘Placing care equity at the centre of adult social care reform’, will examine the inequities that continue to shape people’s experiences of social care in England and consider how stronger use of evidence can support fairer policy, practice and reform.
Social care in England is marked by stark variation. People with similar needs can have very different experiences depending on where they live, from timely, personalised support that enables independence and dignity, to long waiting lists, high eligibility thresholds and unmet needs.
But geography is only part of the picture. People’s experiences of social care can also be shaped by income, age, ethnicity, gender, disability, health conditions, digital access, informal support and wider structural pressures. These factors can interact and compound over time, creating unequal experiences of finding, accessing and sustaining care.
The panel will bring together political voices, researchers and sector leaders to consider where these inequities exist, how they affect people drawing on care and support and unpaid carers, and what needs to change.
Chaired by Baroness Thornton, Chair of SCIE, the panel will include Kate Hamblin, Professor of Social Policy at the University of Sheffield and Director of the Centre for Care; Phil Holmes, President of the Association of Directors of Adult Social Services (ADASS); Sojan Joseph MP; and Anna Dixon MP. Alison McGovern MP, Minister for Care, has also been invited to join the discussion.
The discussion comes at an important point for adult social care reform. As work continues towards a National Care Service, questions of fairness, consistency and equity are increasingly important. The panel will explore how evidence, including the experiences of people who draw on care and support, can help policymakers identify and address unjustified variation while protecting the personal and local nature of good social care.
It will also consider how reform can move beyond unequal access alone. Recent research commissioned by SCIE found that inequity can be experienced through the amount of work people have to do to secure support, from repeatedly explaining their circumstances and chasing information to coordinating services, proving need and challenging decisions.
The event will explore what government, local authorities, providers and the wider sector can do to reduce those unequal burdens, strengthen choice and control, and ensure that good care is available more consistently to everyone who needs it.
Baroness Thornton, Chair of SCIE, said:
The evidence shows us that inequity is rarely caused by one thing. Different barriers interact and build over time, and too often the burden falls on people drawing on care and unpaid carers to chase, coordinate and fight for the support they need.
As we reform the adult social care system, we have an opportunity to tackle these inequities. We will be tinkering at the edges unless there’s a clear focus on reducing unjustified variation and ensuring that everyone can access good quality care, wherever they live and whatever their circumstances.
I am delighted to be chairing this discussion with the Centre for Care and such an experienced panel. I look forward to exploring how we can put equity at the heart of reform and turn the evidence we already have into practical improvements in people’s lives.
Kate Hamblin, Director of the Centre for Care, said:
Social care is essential civic infrastructure: it enables people to live the lives they value and sustains families and communities. Yet gaps, complexity and local variation too often shift costs and responsibility onto people who draw on care and unpaid carers, deepening existing inequalities.
Centre for Care research consistently shows that inequity is built into the system – not only in who gets support, but in what people pay, who is expected to provide care and whether services reflect the lives people actually lead. These disadvantages intersect and accumulate over time.
A National Care Service offers a vital opportunity to tackle these connected inequalities. That requires sustainable investment and greater national consistency, alongside personalised, locally responsive support shaped by robust evidence and the lived expertise of those who draw on and provide care.
Centre for Care fringe event at the Liberal Democrats party conference in Brighton
Supporting carers: the future of Carer’s Allowance and the case for reform
This panel event will take place in Meeting Room 1C in the Brighton Centre (inside the secure zone) from 13:45 – 14:45, Sunday 20th September 2026 (please arrive no later than 13:30). Refreshments provided.
Join the Centre for Care to explore vital new evidence uncovering the barriers and harm unpaid carers experience in accessing their welfare rights. Discover how you can support change to the design and administration of Carer’s Allowance. This session will be chaired by Centre for Care Director, Professor Kate Hamblin, with research presented by Becky Driscoll.
On the panel
Alison Bennett MP
Alison is the Liberal Democrat MP for Mid Sussex since 2024, where she has lived for the last 12 years. Alison, the Lib Dem spokesperson for Care and Carers and Member of Parliament for Mid Sussex was recently the Parliamentary Champion for Carers Week 2025. Alison also recently announced a Bill in parliament to address challenges faced by unpaid carers. Alison’s Unpaid Carers (Respite and Support) Bill, supported by the Party Leader Sir Ed Davey MP and other Liberal Democrat MPs.
John Milne MP
John Laurence Milne is a British Liberal Democrat politician who has been Member of Parliament for Horsham since 2024. He has also served as a member of West Sussex County Council since 2021 and Horsham District Council since 2019.
Andy McGowan: Carers Trust
Andy is the Policy and Practice Manager at Carers Trust. Andy leads on Carers Trust’s UK policy and public affairs activity relating to young carers and young adult carers, including providing the secretariat to the All Party Parliamentary Group for Young Carers and Young Adult Carers. He was the author of the APPG’s report from its recent inquiry into the barriers to higher education, employment and training for young adult carers, which included a focus on the impact of the 21 hour study rule for Carers Allowance.
He has over 20 years’ experience of seeking to improve identification and support for carers on a local, national and international level. In 2022, Andy founded the Young Carers Alliance, a growing network of over 250 organisations and 1100 individuals, all looking to improve support for young carers and young adult carers.
Katy Styles: Unpaid carer
Katy Styles is a carer, campaigner and founder of We Care Campaign, a volunteer-led grassroots movement working to ensure unpaid carers are recognised, valued and heard by decision-makers.
A carer herself, Katy brings lived experience of the realities of caring alongside years of community organising and national campaigning. Since launching We Care in 2018, she has campaigned on issues including carer poverty, Carer’s Allowance, employment and the lack of meaningful support for unpaid carers, putting carers’ voices directly into policy and political conversations.
Katy is a National Campaign Award winner (2020) and co-host of the “Care Fully Considered” podcast, where she explores the realities of caring and the changes needed to build a fairer care system. She is passionate about turning lived experience into action, bringing carers together to challenge systems that affect our lives and pushing for meaningful political change.
