Glossary

A, B, C

Acronym

A favourite of all legislators and policy-writers and bureaucrats and specialised disciplines everywhere. Tend to have excluding effects on anyone not in the know. We don't use them. Exceptions are when we're 'translating' from external documentation or speech and we include them in this glossary for reference.

Aim

The effect we want to have. The specific remit and a purpose of a circle. Its reason for being.

Capital

Forms of power in social life.

Types of Capital are:

Cultural Capital

This encompasses three dimensions

1. Personal Educational Credentials and experiences that facilitates the accumulation of cultural tastes

2. Social background whereby cultural tastes are passed down through socialisation from parents' own educational experiences

3. Cultural tastes and dispositions themselves

Social Capital

The collective actual or potential resources which are linked to the membership of a group.

Economic/Financial Capital

The command individuals have over economic resources. Commonly understood as exchange values such as income, assets that can easily transferred into cash like property etc.

Capital Heavy

An individual, group or organisation who individually or collectively possess large proportions of social, cultural and financial Capital

Capital Light

An individual, group or organisation who individually or collectively possess a small proportion of social, cultural and financial Capital.

Care Quality Commission (CQC)

The independent regulator of health and social care in England. They make sure health and social care services provide people with safe, effective, compassionate, high-quality care and encourage care services to improve.

Care Worker or Care and Support Worker

When not concerning employment agreements, this is a term interchangeable with Independent Care and Support Worker, Self Employed Care and Support Worker or Directly Employed Care Worker.

Circle

A group of people with a shared aim making decisions together within the context of the wider co-operative.

Coach

At Equal Care Coaches are there to support Teams and their members in delivering care. Problem solvers, supporters, shoulders to cry on, resources of knowledge - in other words the go to person for aiding the members in their day to day work.

This is Equal Care's version of what is defined by the Care Quality Commission as a 'Registered Manager', a role required by Equal Care Co-op's registration with the CQC.

The registered manager, along with the registered provider, is legally responsible and accountable for upholding the requirements of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 and regulations related to this, including the Health and Social Care Act 2008 (Regulated Activities) Regulations 2010 and the Care Quality Commission (Registration) Regulations 2009.

At Equal Care Coaches are there to support Teams and their members in delivering care. Problem solvers, supporters,

Community care and support circle or Equal Care Circle

A group of people within the community with a shared aim making decisions together. Supported by Equal Care Co-op and linked with other circles in Equal Care Co-op. Responsible for a range of activities within the co-operative, with the exception of making decisions about individuals' care and support. Not the same as Teams. A place to meet prospective volunteers and independent care workers, offer experience to others and get involved in the community work of the co-operative. Circles are a key area for decision-making in the wider co-op and a good route to directly exercise membership roles.

Concern-holder

The person leading on responding to and co-ordinating a safeguarding concern. The role may change to a different person through the development of and investigation into the concern, but the first concern-holder is always the person raising it in initially.

Community volunteer

Can fulfil any care and support tasks with the exception of regulated activities (personal care, medication etc). These might include: a listening ear, grocery shopping, writing 'the news' to send to friends, family and other professionals, DIY tasks, teaching someone how to use the internet or social media, connecting them with services and community activities, accompanying to appointments, the cinema, the library, playing board games, reading poetry, giving a lift into town and back... Anything!

D, E, F

Data Processing

This is a wide term which covers most things which can be done with personal data (information), including collecting it, storing it and using it.

Data subject

A data subject is any person whose personal data is being collected, held or processed.

Equal Care employee giving care and support

Employees have all the same training opportunities as independent care and support workers (the only difference is that some of these are mandatory). All employees have a Link - someone they spend time with at least quarterly - to share their experiences and to help them navigate their roles in Equal Care Co-op.

Facilitator

Someone nominated to be the facilitator or a circle or large team. This person is responsible for helping everyone in the meetings to be heard and to support the meetings to run effectively. It is a sociocratic role (one of four).

Family members and involved friends (unpaid carers)

Family members and people close to the team owner are often the first and last ports of call for their support. They are the people who know the team owner best and usually occupy co-ordinating and caregiving roles, giving the majority of the support in many cases. They are often under stress themselves and need help and support to help them carry out their roles without taking away their agency in the process.

G, H, I

Gig Workers

Term widely used to describe self-employed workers getting pieces of work ('gigs') through a digital platform. Our independent care and support workers fall into this category.

Health and social care professionals

Other professionals may be closely involved in someone's care and support. Again with consent of the team owner, professionals may join the person's team on the platform, which will help to co-ordinate any associated support or visits they need to carry out as part of their role.

Independent Care and Support Workers

Some of the care and support workers we match with people receiving care are self employed, responsible for their own tax arrangements, working patterns, choices about who they offer support to, where they work and all other rights of self employment.

Independent care and support workers may access peer mentoring (monthly), formal training opportunities from the platform and an optional monthly meeting with the community circle. They can also choose to take on responsibilities from the community circle (for example, being nominated into a circle role or arranging events). Every independent care worker has a named Facilitator who they can call upon for advice and support.

Introductory visit

A facilitated introduction before a trial session, between a person seeking care, anybody else they choose to be there and a prospective care and support worker. This is a visit which is not paid for usually lasting around half an hour to an hour. It isn't a requirement. The facilitated introduction may be accompanied by an Equal Care Facilitator or by a care and support worker you are already receiving support from through Equal Care Co-op.

J, K, L

Journey

This is the modern version of a procedure. Generally involves a step by step process or experience but where you're actually doing the task instead of reading about it first and then doing it. Generally involves digital.

Legal Grounds

These are the reasons (legal basis) that allow an organisation to process personal and sensitive personal data.

To record person information (the same as 'PID') we need one of these grounds (see ICO page):

(a) Consent: the individual has given clear consent for you to process their personal data for a specific purpose.

(b) Contract: the processing is necessary for a contract you have with the individual, or because they have asked you to take specific steps before entering into a contract.

(c) Legal obligation: the processing is necessary for you to comply with the law (not including contractual obligations).

(d) Vital interests: the processing is necessary to protect someone’s life.

(e) Public task: the processing is necessary for you to perform a task in the public interest or for your official functions, and the task or function has a clear basis in law.

(f) Legitimate interests: the processing is necessary for your legitimate interests or the legitimate interests of a third party, unless there is a good reason to protect the individual’s personal data which overrides those legitimate interests. (This cannot apply if you are a public authority processing data to perform your official tasks.)

To record sensitive personal information (the same as 'SPID') we also need one of these grounds (see ICO page):

(a) Explicit consent (b) Employment, social security and social protection (if authorised by law) (c) Vital interests (d) Not-for-profit bodies (e) Made public by the data subject (f) Legal claims or judicial acts (g) Reasons of substantial public interest (with a basis in law) (h) Health or social care (with a basis in law) (i) Public health (with a basis in law) (j) Archiving, research and statistics (with a basis in law)

Local Circle

This is the geographical circle you do most or all of your work in. It may or may not be the circle which recruited you and it will be specified in your contract or agreement with Equal Care Co-op. The Local Circle is responsible for enabling teams in its area to start, flourish and finish and is also free to set its own development agenda.

M, N ,O

Mismanagement

This is to do with the Care Quality Commission's Regulation 5. Hence the focus on 'management' - it relates to the actions of the Purpose Circle and the regulated roles or Registered Manager and Nominated Individual. We're including it here because it's relevant to the fit and proper persons policy.

It means being involved in the management of an organisation or part of an organisation in such a way that the quality of decision making and actions of the managers falls below any reasonable standard of competent management.

For example:

• Transmitting to a public authority, or any other person, inaccurate information without taking reasonably competent steps to ensure it was correct.

• Failing to interpret data in an appropriate way.

• Suppressing reports where the findings may be compromising for the organisation.

• Failing to have an effective system in place to protect staff who have raised concerns.

• Failing to learn from incidents, complaints and when things go wrong.

• Failing to model and promote standards of behaviour expected of those in public life, including protecting personal reputation, or the interests of another individual, over the interests of people who use a service, staff or the public.

• Failing to implement quality, safety and/or process improvements in a timely way, where there are recommendations or where the need is obvious

Mutual Support

Mutual support is any emotional and wellbeing support offered by someone from a similar group, working in a similar role, facing a similar problem. It is distinct from Peer Support, which has a unique meaning in social care (which we are following). Support is reciprocal, given and received in the same space and at the same time.

Neighbours

Neighbours giving regular support may be team members and can act as crucial community-based back-up. At the least they will be given key contact details to get in touch with a nominated team member if they spot something concerning.

Neuro-Diversity

The term used to describe individuals who are not Neuro-Typical such as people who have: Autism Spectrum Disorder, Dyspraxia, Dyslexia, Dyscalculia, Irlems, Aspergers Syndrome.

Notes

These are on-going notes made by the person or their Team. They are shared with the paid care and support workers in your team and may also be shared with any volunteers or family members at your discretion.

Objective

Business-y word designed to try and get human beings to focus on doing one thing at a time.

Open Tendering

Bringing the usually secretive practices of tendering and commissioning out into the open, sharing the contents of specifications, method statements and pricing either publicly or with the stakeholders of the service itself. Also characterised by continuity in representative evaluation practice, with the same caregivers and receivers staying in decision making positions for contract development, tender and ongoing evaluation and assessment of the service.

P, Q, R

Peer Support

Peer Support may be defined as the help and support that people with lived experience of a particular condition (which could be mental illness, a physical health condition, neurodiversity, a physical or a learning disability or something else) are able to give to one another.

It may be social, emotional or practical support but importantly this support is mutually offered and frequently reciprocal, allowing peers to benefit from the support whether they are giving or receiving it.

Personal Care

This has a legal definition of:

physical assistance given to a person in connection with—

• eating or drinking (including the maintenance of established parenteral nutrition),

• toileting (including in relation to the process of menstruation),

• washing or bathing,

• dressing,

• oral care, or

• the care of skin, hair and nails (with the exception of nail care provided by a person registered with the Health and Care Professions Council as a chiropodist or podiatrist pursuant to article 5 of the 2001 Order), or

• the prompting, together with supervision, of a person, in relation to the performance of any of the activities listed above, where that person is unable to make a decision for themselves in relation to performing such an activity without such prompting and supervision

Personally identifiable data

Sometimes known as 'PID', Personal data is any information that relates to an individual who is identified or who is identifiable. It is not necessary for the individual to be named in the data to be considered identifiable. Personal data includes information which describes an individual’s physical or mental condition, economic situation, or an individual’s cultural or social identity. (See Sensitive Personal Data definition, which is a sub-category of personal data)

Policy

Boundary setting: says what's okay and what's not okay. Generally also the place where we acknowledge various bits of legislation and regulation.

Procedure

Step by step instructions which generally tell people how to comply with policies. Should be incorporated into design, not written out. We want to make all our procedures obsolete and transformed into (self-explanatory) journeys!

Recruiters

People responsible for welcoming new workers and volunteers to the co-op.

Recruiting Circle

Circles create the roles they need to join them. They are then known as the recruiting Circle. They may be recruiting volunteers, independent workers or employees from their own budget. This Circle has final say over who they recruit.

S, T, U

Self-employed care and support workers

Some of the care and support workers we match with people receiving care are self employed, responsible for their own tax arrangements, working patterns, choices about who they offer support to, where they work and all other rights of self employment. We also refer to them as independent care and support workers.

Sensitive Personally Identifiable Data (SPID)

This is information concerning:

• Racial or ethnic origin

• Political opinions

• Religious belief or similar including philosophical belief

• Trade union membership

• Physical/mental health or condition

• Sexual life or sexual orientation

• Commission or allegation of an offence

• Proceedings of any offence, disposal of proceedings, sentences

• Genetic data

• Biometric data

Sensitive personal data is subject to stricter controls and there are much narrower permitted reasons for processing such data.

Special Categories

Data as 'SPID' above but excluding data relating to offences.

Supportive Conversation, Trust Assessment

Information gathered about a person through a conversation between a person seeking care and an Equal Care Facilitator or through online sign up to the eccoo platform. This information helps Equal Care Co-op to make the best possible match with care workers.

Systemic

Relating to a whole system rather than parts and often used to recognise effects of these collective processes and parts.

Team

The group of people created - paid and unpaid, within our without Equal Care - who is involved in a person's support. Team members are selected by the person receiving support and include the person themselves.

Team Starter

The person who starts the team off, meets the team owner and family for the first time, curates the team members joining the team and ensures that hats are fairly distributed through the hat nomination process. And then leaves the team to run itself.

Team Owner / Team Leader

This is always the person receiving support.

Trial session

A full care and support session given by the prospective care and support worker which is paid for. A person seeking care can have up to three of these before being asked to make a decision whether or not to continue the support.

V, W ,X ,Y ,Z

Vision

Anything finishing the sentence "Wouldn't it be amazing if....?" Realism and practical steps entirely optional.

Whistleblower

Someone who exposes any kind of information or activity that is deemed illegal, unethical, or not correct within an organisation that is either private or public.

Workers giving support from another agency

Often (and especially where people have lots of care and support hours over the course of the week) our independent workers and employees will work alongside other agencies. The interactions and record-keeping in these situations can be very complex. At the least, agency workers will get a dedicated, secure email for the person's team that they can share information with.

As Equal Care develops, we will be able to offer more information sharing routes, going both ways (but always shared with the consent of the person getting support) and including logins to the platform.

Your team

Everyone - paid and unpaid - involved in your support. Team members are selected by you and the team includes you as the team leader / team owner.