About the Conference

The theme for this year’s conference is ‘Fifty Years Forward for Carers’ in recognition that 2023 marks the anniversary of the birth of the first local carer organisations in the UK. Join colleagues from across the UK wide Carers Trust movement to share good practice across and between nations, exchange practical solutions, explore new ideas and engage in debate around the future support needed by unpaid carers in our communities. The conference will be an opportunity to champion the vital work of local carer organisations with a view to exploring what this means for the service innovation and policy asks of the future to continue to meet and support the needs of unpaid carers.

We look forward to coming together to help build, shape and influence this future together.  

This year we are going ‘back to the future’, using the opportunity of this special 50th anniversary conference to look towards the transformation needed in society’s approach to care moving forward.

The first day of the conference will focus on the asks unpaid carers have of future support and the changing needs faced by our future health and social care system. The second day will then explore the practical steps needed to realise and anticipate this future with a focus on key organisational development priorities and current commissioning and funding practice.

Join us at this years special 50 years anniversary conference to:

• Hear from our key note speaker Beverley Tarka, President of ADASS, on how her own lived experience of being an unpaid carer has directly informed her leadership journey within social care.
• Contribute to interactive plenaries focused on system change, the future social care workforce and the evolving commissioning environment.
• Hear from a range of guest speakers across the wider social care landscape bringing different nation and sector perspectives, including Anna Dixon, Chair of the Re-imagining Care Commission and Advisor to the Scottish Government and Jane Townson, CEO of the UK Homecare Association.
•  Explore good practice and exchange learning with peers from across the Network through Network led break out sessions.
• Access support from the Cranfield Trust, through a range of interactive organisational development sessions.
• Participate in workshops exploring key topics from carer benefits to carer breaks building on recent evidence and learning from Carers Trust programmes and the latest in social care innovation from partners such as the Joseph Rowntree Foundation.
• Celebrate our collective Network achievements and tackle our shared challenges through the chance to connect with colleagues face to face.e.

Further details on workshops and additional speakers to follow soon.