Thousands of households across England are being invited to register for a new public panel to help inform the work of the independent commission on adult social care, chaired by Baroness Louise Casey.
Letters are being sent this week to randomly selected addresses inviting people aged 18 and over to register their interest in joining the panel, which forms part of the commission’s wider ‘Big Conversation on Care’ engagement programme.
Around 125 people will be selected from different backgrounds, communities and experiences through a lottery process to form a group designed to broadly reflect the population of England, according to the Commission.
It said panel members will examine some of the key questions facing adult social care reform, including what care is, who should receive it and who should pay for it. Participants do not need previous experience or knowledge of the sector to take part.
Baroness Casey said the panel aimed to ensure members of the public have a direct role in shaping the commission’s recommendations on the future of adult social care.
Deliberations to run through 2027
The panel will meet in person over several weekends between November 2026 and April 2027, with sessions planned in Birmingham and London alongside shorter online meetings, the commission said.
It added participants will hear evidence from a range of perspectives, learn about the challenges facing adult social care and consider the trade-offs associated with potential reforms before working together to identify areas of common ground.
The recruitment exercise is one element of the commission’s broader engagement programme, which aims to gather views from people who draw on care and support, unpaid carers, providers, staff and members of the public.
Speaking at the launch of the Big Conversation in July, Baroness Casey described it as “the most ambitious public conversation in a generation” on adult social care, with a target to engage one million people across England.
The first online phase of the consultation closed this week.
The independent commission on adult social care was established to make recommendations on the future of England’s care system and towards establishing a National Care service, and is expected to deliver its first report next summer after its timetable was brought forward by the Prime Minister Andy Burnham shortly after he took office in the summer.
