Co-operative care: retaining public value, sharing power and investing in existing expertise Submission from Co-operatives Wales to the Independent Commission into Adult Social Care

In response to the Prime Ministers statement this week we’ve asked the Casey Commission to make democratic ownership, prevention and retention of public value central to social care reform. cw:Casey Review Submission- Co-operatives UK Although its remit concerns adult social care in England, Welsh experience offers important lessons. Reform must respect devolution while learning across borders and addressing relationships between adult care, children’s services, family support and transitions into adulthood. People aged over eighty must be explicitly included in evidence gathering and decision-making, rather than subsumed into a single older-person category.

In Wales, the disconnect between social policy & practice is astonishing. Extraction weakens an already underfunded system. CLES’s Welsh learning disability research estimated £106 million profit associated with £1.1 billion public expenditure during 2020–2024. Approximately £44 million, 42% of estimated profit, was attributable to providers linked to private equity, tax-haven ownership, or both.

About David Smith

A lifelong co-operative and community activist, including the Co-op Group Main Board. Public service includes Government Food Adviser; UK Healthcare Regulator. David founded the first Community Law Centre in Wales and directed the first EC funded Wales Anti-Poverty Programme: pioneering co-operative & place making community initiatives. https://www.svcymru.org/files/2021-03/david-smith-a-founders-tale.pdf Robert Owen Memorial Museum Trustee. Director, Sheffield Co-op Development Group. Graduate Ruskin College, Oxford and UC Cardiff + PGCE, MA (European Human Resource Management) Keele; Professional Food & Management qualifications. Former Lecturer, Gwent Tertiary College.
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