Care Commons
Equal Care Co-op’s pilot in commons-based care in Hackney built on five years of developing and delivering our Teams Model of home care in Calderdale, Yorkshire. Together, these two phases have tackled two persistent challenges in traditional care models:
The disconnection between the care worker, the person receiving care, and their wider support networks.
The disconnection between care providers and the community networks in the neighbourhoods they serve.
From 2019 to 2021, our Teams Model addressed the first challenge by enabling deeper, more relational care between care workers, recipients, and families. In 2023, the Hackney pilot shifted focus to the second: activating the untapped potential of local community networks.
Reconnecting Care
In most conventional care systems, there’s a sharp divide between formal care (delivered by paid workers or organisations) and the informal networks that quietly sustain people day-to-day: friends, neighbours, family, volunteers.
These informal networks are often rich in trust and understanding. Yet they are rarely recognised in care planning and cannot easily connect with formal care providers. The result is fragmented, task-based care that misses the bigger picture: the relationships, environments and activities that make life feel meaningful.
A commons approach seeks to close that gap. It treats care as something to be shared and stewarded by communities; not just delivered to people, but shaped with them.
See also: The Role of Teams in the Community Care Networks
Beyond Public and Private Ownership
Care is often framed as either:
a public service (run by the state), or
a private commodity (delivered for profit).
The commons offers a third path: care as a shared resource, held in trust by the people who give and receive it. Nobody owns it outright. Instead, the community works together to ensure it is sustainable, fair and responsive.
This approach aligns closely with Equal Care’s co-operative model, where decision-making and ownership are shared. A commons view of care supports more local control, stronger relationships and more space for care to reflect people’s lives and values.
For more on this principle in practice, see: Co-production
Commoning is a Verb
Commoning isn’t just a concept - it’s something people do. It’s the daily work of managing shared resources, responsibilities and relationships.
A useful way to think about this is the Triad of Commoning, developed by Silke Helfrich and David Bollier. It describes three interlinked dimensions:
Social Life: building trust, cooperation and shared responsibility
Peer Governance: making decisions together about how care is given and received
Provisioning: sharing what we have: time, skills, knowledge, meals, even physical spaces — in ways that meet people’s needs and care for the whole
Together, these practices help shift care from a service model to a shared way of life - one built on connection, mutuality and belonging.
You can see examples of this in action in: Experiences & Learnings from the Clapton Circle – Commons Outputs
The Concept of The Care Commons
The Care Commons reframes care as a shared, community-governed resource — one that brings together both formal and informal caregivers into a more connected, relational system of support.
Rather than seeing care as something delivered to individuals, the Care Commons recognises the everyday work of care that already happens in communities: among neighbours, friends, volunteers, and families. It values this work as community care wealth: something to be nurtured, shared, and protected.
See also: Mapping Care Wealth
What is Community Care Wealth?
Community Care Wealth is the value created in relationships: in the trust, mutual support and acts of kindness that people offer one another. It is generated through everyday caregiving - from checking in on someone to cooking meals, giving lifts, or simply being present.
This kind of wealth doesn’t show up in budgets or spreadsheets. But it is foundational to healthy, resilient communities. It grows when people:
Spend time with each other
Share skills, spaces or resources
Look out for one another
Build trust and connection
By treating care wealth as a commons resource - something shared and stewarded by the community - the Care Commons supports a more sustainable, relational and distributed approach to care.
The Role of Community Care Networks
A core feature of the Care Commons is the integration of formal and informal care. This includes:
Paid care workers and professionals
Family and chosen family
Peer supporters and volunteers
Neighbours and local groups
When these networks are connected, care becomes more than just meeting physical needs — it includes emotional, cultural and social support too. The quality of care is shaped not just by tasks, but by relationships: between those giving and receiving care, and the community around them.
Mapping these relationships makes hidden care wealth more visible, helping us understand where support already exists and where it could grow.
To explore this mapping in detail, visit: Community Network Map
The Commons in Equal Care’s Model
The Care Commons is not separate from Equal Care’s work — it is part of how the co-op is structured. As a dimension of our model of care, it has its own outputs, activities and outcomes, reflected in our interactive Theory of Change.
Commons Theory of Change
Commons resource circles bring volunteers together to gift time, care and skills
Local partnerships connect Circles to community spaces and anchor organisations
People co-produce their care, shaping it around what matters to them
Trust and reciprocity are built across teams, families, neighbours and peer groups
Evaluation tools measure the strength of cooperative and community connections
Gifting and sharing become part of everyday care (meals, support, knowledge)
Social experiences increase — from shared meals to group gatherings
Less paid care may be needed over time, as informal networks grow stronger
🌱 Why it Matters
Incorporating the commons into co-operative care addresses a gap in conventional systems where efficiency and compliance often come at the expense of relationships and wellbeing.
A commons-based approach makes care:
More flexible and relational
Grounded in community trust
Co-governed and participatory
Focused on abundance rather than scarcity
It’s not a utopia, but it offers a way forward. One where care is everyone’s business, and where communities have the power to shape and sustain the support they need.
To explore how we measure this impact, see: Equal Care’s Social Climate Framework
Challenges and Considerations: Insights from our pilot in Commons-based Care.
For a comprehensive account of the experiences, insights and recommendations on implementing the Commons Outputs and building a care commons see the following pages in the evaluation framework below:
Community Care Network Analysis
Commons Outputs: Experiences, learning and recommendations.
Key Recommendation: Strategic Partnerships for Commons-based Care
Assessing Capacity for Co-production
Scaling Commons-based Care: A Care Commons Service Specification
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