Enhancing voice, choice and control

At the heart of good adult social care is the fundamental belief that every individual should have a voice, choice, and control over their life and care. Some people refer to this as ‘person-centred care’. People who draw on care and support need to have a much greater voice, and have more choice and control over the care and support they receive. This includes what services they receive and how, and when and where support is provided.

For the person

Having more voice, choice, and control in life can mean:

Increased satisfaction with care and support
Increased wellbeing
People have better lives and more creative support
More people exercise their right to personalised funding
More people are actively part of their community (including volunteering and employment)

Co-production supports people’s voices to be heard, to make choices, and to stay in control. At IMPACT, we work closely with people with lived experience to make sure we put this into practice.

In policy

Our work influences national and local policy so people can have more say in their care. Recent policy developments in Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland and England also talk about personalisation in adult social care in terms of ‘voice’, ‘choice’, and ‘control.’

In England, ‘giving adults choice and control in adult social care to live independent lives’

In Scotland, ‘putting people in control of the support they need to live the life they choose’

In Wales, ‘people being allowed control to reach outcomes that matter to them’

In Northern Ireland, ‘a duty to provide information, choice, and control of service provision’

Social Care in the UK’s Four Nations (Needham and Hall, 2023: 82-85) talks about how social care is different, and the same, in England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland and suggest all four countries want people to: