Our Voice Groups are a place where people we support can feedback on their care and support, as being instigators for change within our charity and across society. During May, we launched a series of special sessions, focussed on the General Election and giving people the knowledge and confidence to make decisions around voting. It was also an opportunity to learn more about the barriers preventing people from voting.
Some of our Voice Groups attendees also got the opportunity to represent in the National Care Forum’s ‘Speak Up for Care’ campaign, outlining what they would like to see from our new government.
In the build up to the Election, we updated our Promoting Our Voting campaign, developed by our expert Quality Advisors. This accessible webpage, along with a range of resources, featured the latest deadlines, links to easy-read resources as well as our own guides, co-produced alongside experts by experience.
Following the General Election announcement, we revisited the asks of our trailblazing Unfair to Care campaign, calling on the future Government to:
The General Election provided a crucial opportunity to engage with political leaders and highlight the importance of social care, emphasising the urgent need for it to receive proper attention and be reflected in party manifestos.
As such, our people promoted the campaign with their local MPs, we shared an open invite to parliamentary candidates of all parties to visit our services and see first-hand the value of social care, and we attracted media attention for the campaign.
Our press coverage across BBC Radio Manchester, BBC Radio Merseyside and Times Radio highlighted our call out to MP's. This was discussed live on-air by our CEO, Managing Director, along with Tauseef Iqbal, a person we support in the North West, and Sharon Paul, Service Leader in Stockport.
Two prospective parliamentary candidates visited our Angus Court, Atholl Rd and Basildon Grove services, meeting our people and finding out about the asks of our Unfair to Care campaign.
Further MP visits have been arranged post General Election to ensure we continue to showcase the life-changing impact of social care.
Share our Unfair to Care report with your local MP - Make sure you’re representing the best interests of social care.