Why Somerset needs to help drive the Big Conversation on Care
Adult social care is already in the headlines — because we’re in a crisis. But behind the statistics are real situations, playing out in homes across Somerset right now.
A parent who can no longer manage alone. A partner recovering from a stroke. A friend quietly exhausted from caring for someone else, with nowhere to turn for support of their own. Sound familiar?
For too long, successive governments have promised to fix social care and failed to deliver. That’s about to change — or at least, we finally have a real chance to make it change. And this time, the people asking the questions actually want to hear from us, not just from Westminster.
What is the Big Conversation on Care?
In July 2026, Baroness Casey — the crossbench peer chairing the Independent Commission on Adult Social Care — launched “the Big Conversation on Care”. It’s a genuinely open invitation to the public to help shape what a National Care Service in England could look like: who it should be for, how we support families, and how we pay for it fairly.
This isn’t a box-ticking consultation buried on a government website. It’s a proper, sustained conversation running right through to April 2027, with the Commission’s final recommendations due in summer 2027. Baroness Casey has been visiting councils, carers’ organisations, and communities across the country to make sure this reform — unlike every attempt before it — is built on what people actually need.
Why Somerset can’t afford not to be part of the big conversation on care!
I say this as someone who sees the pressure on our care system up close, every week, as a Somerset councillor. Somerset has one of the fastest-ageing populations in the country, with close to a third of residents expected to be 65 or over within the next few years. Adult social care already swallows 38% of our council budget — and it was rising care costs that pushed Somerset into declaring a financial emergency, needing government support to close a funding gap that stood at over £100 million at its worst.
That’s not sustainable, and it’s not fair — not to the people who need care, not to families holding things together, and not to the carers themselves, many of whom are doing skilled, demanding work.
If Somerset wants a say in how this gets fixed, we need to actually say something — not wait and hope someone else does it for us. And you have a chance to get involved.
How to get involved — it takes five minutes
You don’t need to be an expert, and you don’t need to write an essay. The Big Conversation on Care is designed to be quick and open to everyone:
- Visit caseycommission.co.uk/bigconversation
- Share your own view on what matters most, in your own words
- Vote on ideas other people have already put forward — agree, disagree, or just have your say
- If you use care, provide care for someone else, work in the sector, or simply have an opinion on how care should work in the future, your voice belongs in this conversation
It genuinely takes a few minutes, and every voice from Somerset that takes part makes it harder for the Commission’s final recommendations to overlook what places like ours actually need.
A bit about why this matters to me
I’ve spent decades working in communities that have carried more than their fair share of hardship, and I’ve seen what it costs — financially and personally — when support isn’t there when people need it. As Somerset Council’s Associate Lead Member for Community Resilience, and Chair of the Liberal Democrat group that runs the council, fixing this isn’t a box on my list of responsibilities. It’s the reason I do this job.
Alongside my council work, I also founded an initiative called One Front Door for Care, drawing on what we’ve learned working with partners in Bristol. It connects people needing support with vetted, properly registered self-employed carers — built specifically to answer the kind of gaps in training, recognition and fair pay that the Commission is now looking at nationally. I’ve submitted evidence about what we’ve learned to the Commission directly.
It’s about whether Somerset’s voice — with everything we know about what’s broken and what actually works — gets heard before the big decisions are made. That only happens if enough of us show up.
So please, take five minutes. Have your say. And if you know someone who cares for a parent, a partner, or a neighbour — send them the link too.
Have your say at caseycommission.co.uk/bigconversation
Claire Sully is a Somerset councillor for Mendip South and Associate Lead Member for Community Resilience on the Somerset Council Executive.
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Help spread the word locally — download and print for noticeboards, waiting rooms, or community venues: