How NHS Gloucestershire and Access Social Care are supporting unpaid carers
Through our partnership with NHS Gloucestershire, Jacky Martel, our community hubs manager and Keith Sexton, our local Peer Navigator work to ensure carers and Trust colleagues have access to information and practical guidance about social care law and carer’s rights.
Treasury Is Budgeting for Social Care Without Knowing What the Law Requires
Writing in PoliticsHome, Kari Gerstheimer argues that the government cannot accurately calculate how much social care needs without first understanding what councils are legally required to provide. Despite years of acknowledged underfunding, the Treasury’s approach continues to use previous spending as the starting point, risking the continuation of existing shortfalls.
Challenging unexpected social care charges
We resolved a case involving a client who received an invoice for over £7,000 in unpaid social care charges — 18 months after she first started receiving support.
From surviving to thriving: the key themes from Series 4 of State of Our Nation
What does it really mean to live a good life? And what would social care look like if it were designed around people, rather than the systems they have to navigate?
These questions sit at the heart of Series 4 of State of Our Nation, our podcast exploring the future of social care and the changes needed to help everyone live with dignity, choice and control.
Tech 4 Good: Embedding tech to scale a charity’s impact.
Technology has enormous potential to improve people’s lives. But how do we make sure that potential translates into meaningful, lasting change - particularly in social care and the voluntary sector?
State of the Nation: Penny Pepper
In this episode of State of Our Nation, Andy McCabe is joined by award-winning writer, poet, performer and disability rights activist Penny Pepper. Penny has spent more than 30 years campaigning for disability rights and using storytelling and creativity to challenge how disabled people are represented and understood.
Fighting the Paper Formula: Lizzie’s Journey for True Social Care
This is the story of Lizzie, a woman in her late 30s with a rare chromosome disorder, and her family’s decades-long battle against a rigid, uncaring bureaucracy. It is a journey marked by systemic barriers, paper formulas that ignore human lives, and the turning point that finally brought them hope.
State of the Nation: Will Pike
Will Pike joins Kari to discuss disability, autonomy, and the systems that shape access to support. Drawing on his experience of spinal injury and his work as a disability rights campaigner, Will explains how bureaucracy, inaccessible environments, and decisions made without disabled people can undermine dignity and inclusion.
They explore why lived experience matters, how universal design can benefit everyone, and what it takes to build care and support systems that work for the people who rely on them.
Watch Will’s short film, Yes I Can, If: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bjvYZ2jvvp8
Finding the right support after prolonged delay
Our client had significant eligible care and support needs and required 1:1 support with daily living and continuous supervision to maintain their safety and wellbeing.
State of the Nation: Sonia Sodha
In the latest episode of State of Our Nation, Kari Gerstheimer is joined by columnist and author Sonia Sodha to explore what needs to change in social care — from how we describe it, to how we fund it, and how we value the people who provide it.
State of the Nation: Ria Lina
In the first episode of State of the Nation: Personal Perspectives, Kari Gerstheimer is joined by Comedian Ria Lina, who challenges outdated approaches to education, social care and ageing, making the case for more accessible, visible and human-centred communities. The conversation also examines unpaid care, the value of humour in serious campaigns, and why we must design systems around real lives rather than forcing people to fit the system.
Blanket policy challenged: education placement agreed
We supported a person who has profound and multiple learning disability and whose Education, Health and Care Plan had ended without sufficient support agreed, including education as well as care and support.
David’s story: why the right to live well matters
David’s story highlights a wider issue within adult social care: what happens when people who need care and support are unable to access the right housing and support to live the lives they choose?
Full BBC Article https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cy731xpjmrdo
No One Should Be Left Alone In A Room Full Of Care.
Writing in The Carer, Kari Gerstheimer argues that social care cannot be reduced to systems, paperwork and processes while losing sight of the person at the centre of every decision.
State of the Nation: The National Conversation Podcast Special
With a new Prime Minister pledging to invest political capital in social care reform and the Casey Commission's National Conversation closer, there is growing optimism that England has a genuine opportunity to rethink its approach to social care.
Keep Up with the Latest Developments on AccessAva.
To help our partners, supporters and the wider social care community stay informed, we've launched the AccessAva newsletter. It will provide regular updates on new product features, user stories, research, partnerships and the impact AccessAva is having across England.
What Should The New Prime Minister Do To Support Social Care?
Writing in The Carer (Issue 293), Kari Gerstheimer argues that social care reform has been treated like an architect's plan that's all blueprint and no building — endlessly discussed while people who need care right now are left waiting at the door.
Building Confidence in Social Care
Join Courtney as she shares what it’s like to work as an Advice Coordinator on secondment at Inclusion Gloucestershire. Drawing on both her professional background and life as an autistic person, Courtney explains how she supports people to understand their social care rights and access the support they need through AccessAva.
From researching the Care Act and delivering autism-focused training to responding to social care enquiries and working alongside advocacy colleagues, Courtney reflects on the variety of her role and the satisfaction of helping people build confidence in navigating the social care system.
Navigating the 2026 Supreme Court Deprivation of Liberty Judgment: A Guide for Social Care Providers
The legal framework for determining whether someone is deprived of their liberty has recently undergone a major transformation. On 2 June 2026, a landmark Supreme Court judgment overturned the long-standing 2014 "Cheshire West" ruling, which developed the well-known ‘acid test’ practitioners previously needed to work to.
‘The people told they are not welcome may be the people the UK needs most’
In her recent article for LabourList, Access Social Care CEO Kari Gerstheimer argues that the debate around immigration and social care cannot ignore the reality of the workforce crisis facing the sector.