# Our Purpose Equal Care exists to do social care differently. We're a co-operative with three big reasons for being: ## Power We are a platform co-operative society that places power where it belongs: with those who give, and those who receive, social care and support. Too often, decisions in care are made behind closed doors. Only managers have access to the data needed to make good choices. They can see how much care is being given, what it costs, and how good it is, whilst the people giving and receiving care are kept out of the loop. This creates a huge barrier to good outcomes. If you don’t have the full picture, how can you make the right decisions, like who supports who, and when? That’s not how we work. We're a platform co-op that uses technology and sociocratic methods to empower care givers and receivers. Our Circles and Teams model ensures that important information is shared, not hoarded. The person receiving support leads their Team, choosing who is involved - whether that's care workers, friends, family or volunteers. Our Circles exist to help Teams start, flourish and when the time comes, finish. ## Relationships At the heart of great care is great relationships. That might sound obvious, but it’s surprisingly rare in traditional care systems, which often rely on short visits and distant decision-making. In Equal Care Teams, people choose each other. This gives everyone involved the best chance of creating lasting, respectful, quality care and support relationships. When care workers are supported to build meaningful relationships, something powerful happens. They develop a deep understanding of the person they support, spot small changes in health or mood early, and feel confident making decisions together with the person and others involved. Building a connection with someone you are supporting or are being supported by doesn’t just feel better - it leads to better support. ## Care in abundance Care shouldn’t feel scarce, but right now, the care sector is in crisis: too little funding, too few workers, low pay, poor conditions and rising need. This is due to the economic model being fundamentally broken. The huge power imbalance between the workers providing care and the distant, value-extracting businesses that employ them has led to an ever-increasing number of care workers leaving the sector. We believe in flipping that script. We seek to redefine care as something we can all contribute to and benefit from, allowing it to exist in abundance. Our model supports care workers better, with higher pay and more choice over how they work. When people giving support can thrive, more people will be able get the support they need.
--- # Agent Instructions: Querying This Documentation If you need additional information that is not directly available in this page, you can query the documentation dynamically by asking a question. Perform an HTTP GET request on the current page URL with the `ask` query parameter: ``` GET https://play.equal.care/equal-cares-model/our-purpose.md?ask= ``` The question should be specific, self-contained, and written in natural language. The response will contain a direct answer to the question and relevant excerpts and sources from the documentation. Use this mechanism when the answer is not explicitly present in the current page, you need clarification or additional context, or you want to retrieve related documentation sections.