The Department for Health and Social Care (DHSC) has launched a £42.6 million Accelerating Reform Fund (ARF) to boost the quality and accessibility of adult social care by supporting innovation and scaling, and kickstarting a change in services to support unpaid carers.

The Accelerating Reform Fund will focus on embedding and scaling approaches to transform care and support including for unpaid carers, who play such a vital, selfless role in our society. This will accelerate progress towards the government’s social care vision where people have choice, control and support to live independent lives, and where care and support is of outstanding quality and is provided in a fair, accessible way.

Local authorities are invited to register their interest with the DHSC by 12 January 2024, in partnership with others in their integrated care systems, to fund local innovation projects. Local authorities will be guided by a list of priorities, and are expected to work collaboratively with others such as the NHS, care providers, voluntary and community sector groups, including unpaid carers.

DHSC has appointed SCIE to provide hands-on support to local areas in developing local partnerships and delivering projects, ensuring participants benefit from valuable shared learnings, peer support and expert insights across the country. With a wealth of trusted expertise in working collaboratively to help local areas transform care, SCIE will help identify issues and challenges, galvanising co-production and ensuring people who need care and unpaid carers are at the heart of the programme.

Find out more:
https://www.scie.org.uk/innovation/ac...