‘We all know that we need to do more to respond to climate change – but what should social care be thinking about and doing?’

In the UK, climate change is leading to more extreme weather events such as heatwaves, an increasing likelihood of wildfires, and increased/sudden rainfall leading to flooding. All of these can negatively impact the health and well-being of the general population – but some groups of people who draw on care and support and their families might be particularly badly affected by these changes and adverse events.

As Inclusion Scotland (2021) sets out:

Around the world, disabled people are being hit hard by extreme weather events. Bigger wildfires, longer droughts, and more intense storms and floods can be catastrophic for some disabled people, who are more likely to be marginalised by poverty and other social barriers that make them less likely to be evacuated safely, more prone to health risks and less likely to have insurance that protects their assets and homes.

As the Covid-19 pandemic has shown, disabled people are often among those most adversely affected in an emergency, sustaining disproportionately higher rates of morbidity and mortality, and are among those least able to access emergency support.

Around the world, sudden-onset natural disasters and extreme weather events such as heatwaves and floods can seriously affect disabled people’s access to food and nutrition, safe drinking water and sanitation, health-care services and medicines, education and training, adequate housing and access to decent work.

This is not just an issue for disabled people in the developing world. We saw in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina in America that federal and community evacuation warnings, shelters and emergency transport were not accessible to disabled people, and as a result, significant numbers of disabled people drowned in their own homes or in nursing homes.

Although much of this guide is about ‘systems’, ‘services’ and policy and practice guides, this all matters because of the sheer human cost and impact of these issues.

Above all:

• Lots of care and support already feels fragile, and climate change could make this worse.

• If it does, then it is disabled and older people who will suffer more than most.

• Any potential solutions have to focus on the real-world impact on people’s lives and have to be co-designed with people who draw on care and support and carers, otherwise they simply won’t work.

Unfortunately, social care does not seem to be starting from a good position.

In April 2025, the Climate Change Committee (p.14-15) report to Parliament graded the progress in preparing for climate change in the ‘Health and Wellbeing’ area to be “insufficient” for delivery and implementation, and “limited” for policies and planning.

Ferguson and Giddings (2025) undertook a small-scale study of UK social work professional practice and standards to see if they mention the climate emergency. They found that whilst there is an increased awareness of climate change and its implications, there is still relatively little literature. They also found that the climate emergency is not well represented in relevant professional and regulatory standards, and most workers gain their knowledge of climate change from other areas of their lives rather than from social work education. 

Given that social work and social care focus on groups of people who face particular disadvantages and inequalities, a growing number of people think that social care should have a role to play in tackling the implications of climate change and amplifying the voices of the seldom heard groups who could be most affected.

However, some local Councils might be starting from a fairly low base. As an example, an online review carried out as part of an IMPACT internship found that very few Councils in England seemed to have detailed, easily accessible and publicly available strategies and action plans around adult social care and climate change.

Many disabled people already feel forgotten in crisis situations, and there is a risk that this lack of preparation could make them feel like even more of an afterthought.

Failing to prepare means that it will be left to individuals and families to cope as best they can – but we need to plan how best to respond at a system level.

As with the COVID-19 pandemic, climate change is a ‘system stressor’ which impacts people who draw on care and support, carers, staff and the sector as a whole. There may be lessons from how public services responded to the pandemic – especially around prolonged periods of disruption to planned services:

          “The COVID-19 pandemic may have long term implications for the resilience

of the health and social care sector. The pandemic has caused an additional stress on the health and social care system due to increased demand… and additional pressures on local finances (likely to last longer term).

More positively, the impacts of COVID-19 may have raised awareness of the importance of understanding major threats that can disrupt lives and livelihoods, including low probability, high impact flood events.” (UK Climate Risk, 2021, p.2)

IMPACT has already published a guide to lessons learned during the pandemic about how to manage change – some of which may be helpful here.

A similar point has been made by LSE’s Adelina Comas-Herrera, who has drawn out lessons from COVID that may also be relevant to debates about climate change.

We also need to be really honest about what COVID was actually like for disabled and older people, so many of whom had to deal with cancelled care packages, staff shortages and feeling like an afterthought. While some people saw innovative support, others felt that their needs had been overlooked. Climate change could disrupt and affect people’s lives – and widen inequalities – in just the same way.

The sources reviewed for this guide identify a series of key challenges, including (to name but a few):

• The impact of higher temperatures on the health and well-being of people who draw on care and support and people with long-term health conditions, coupled with poor building design (which can make it harder to manage more extreme heat, whether in people’s own homes or in social care services). While people are often aware of the dangers associated with very cold weather, they might be less familiar with the risks of very hot weather.

• The risk of flooding, whether to people’s homes or to service settings such as care homes, hospitals and GP surgeries.

• The possible disruption to social care delivery caused by extreme weather, a lack of planning in advance for adverse weather events, and the organisational impact of having to respond to emergencies.

• Reduced access to healthy, safe and affordable food.

• Potential periods of water scarcity.

• Threats to air and water quality.

All these really, really matter, and are likely to have a particular impact on people who draw on care and support. As a member of the IMPACT Co-production Advisory Group reviewing this guide, pointed out (just on the example of heat waves):

For many disabled people a heatwave is not just uncomfortable, it can be dangerous and it can make everyday support fall apart. Many disabled people already struggle to regulate temperature or cope with fatigue, so a spell of extreme heat can knock someone sideways. Poorly designed buildings turn into ovens, and people end up trapped in their own homes because it is simply too hot to move about or because their equipment will not run safely. These are not rare or dramatic moments; they are becoming yearly occurrences for some of us.

Other reviewers highlighted the impact that climate crises can have on connectivity – both people being stranded without support in floods or other emergencies, as well as the isolation that can result from electricity and IT/internet connections going down.

Despite this, all the evidence suggests that other, more short-term priorities and pressures are at the forefront of social care and people’s minds – planning ahead to mitigate and adapt to the impacts of climate change has traditionally been less of a priority.

In response, the sources reviewed here suggest a number of possible practical actions, including:

In response, the sources reviewed here suggest a number of possible practical actions, including:

1. Prioritisation: none of this will happen unless tackling climate change is seen as a priority (now and not just in the future).
2. Integration: making sure that attempts to promote a more sustainable future are joined up across different policy agendas, sectors and organisations.
3. Empowerment and co-production: while national action that is beyond the control of individuals is required, there is also scope for a more bottom-up approach which engages, harnesses and builds on the contribution, passion and commitment of individuals and communities. Given that those who may be most affected are often the most seldom heard, this may involve sectors such as social care working to make sure that people who draw on care and support, their families and local communities are able to be actively involved in these debates and in creating a better future together. As with all change in social care, co-design is crucial – otherwise we won’t properly understand the issues or impacts, we won’t design good solutions that actually work in practice, and we run the risk of making changes that themselves could disproportionately affect disabled and older people.