Purpose

This playbook is a roadmap - developed to support local authorities, health services, grassroots groups and individuals who want to bring about a step change in social care.

Although it is available for anyone to read, it is primarily aimed at three groups of people and in the following order:

1. Directors, commissioners or policymakers for social care services wanting to commission differently and achieve transformative impact for the same cost.

2. Community groups and collectives wishing to start their own co-operatives in care (find an created by and focussed solely on this audience).

3. Homecare and residential organisations wanting to shift to a relationship-centred, co-operative model of support (and ownership).

We are sharing the model we have developed in order to expand its use, keep innovating and ultimately contribute to a big, positive shift in people's experience of social care: for people getting support, families and workers alike.

What's covered

This playbook sets out the unique co-operative model of support developed by Equal Care Co-op since 2018 in Yorkshire and in London via a 2024 pilot exploring the creation of a Care Commons.

• Commissioning support: An evaluation framework, sample service specification and cost model to assist in commissioning new service models like this one, together with a discussion on what constitutes 'fertile ground' for co-operative initiatives in your borough.

• Technology: This model doesn't play well with existing tech solutions, most of which are driven by management hierarchy and designed with that in mind. Here, you can learn about Equal Care's platform, which is developed to match the ethics, governance and day-to-day ways of working this model needs.

• Tools and resources: Templates, checklists, and other tools to help you start, manage, and grow or to help you help others.

About

This playbook was created by , an innovative social care founded to put power back in the hands of the people who matter most: those who give and receive care and support.

The work was funded by a grant provided by , the London Office of Technology and Innovation. Equal Care worked in close collaboration with Hackney and Southwark Councils to explore new approaches to meeting the increasing social care needs of the UK.

"LOTI funded this project as part of its Innovation Fund, which sought to test radical new service delivery models for care. This project was particularly interesting because it involved a completely different organisational structure through a co-operative model. This strength based, “Care Commons” approach combines the strengths of formal care provision with the power of community networks, unlocking a more relational and personalised service that meets the needs of people needing care. It is also better for those delivering care, focusing on their strengths and granting them the autonomy to provide high-quality, flexible support."

Genta Hajri, Digital Innovation Delivery Lead, LOTI

Share and Share Alike

This playbook is licensed under the . This means that you are free to remix and adapt the content of this playbook and to use it for commercial purposes. However, uses must attribute the creator and must not impose more restrictive licensing arrangements than this one.

You can use the following citation:

CC BY-SA 4.0 Equal Care Co-op Playbook: play.equal.care

Get in touch

We want to actively support and incubate new circles. If you want to collaborate with us on a project in your area you can contact us at [email protected].

This playbook is the culmination of a lot of hard work by a wide range of people from Equal Care, Clapton Commons, LOTI, Southwark, and Hackney Councils.

We recognise this and are grateful, and so on the following pages you will find our partner's thoughts on the journey we've been on together.

Equal Care was launched in 2018 by Emma Back and Kate Hammon in Calderdale, West Yorkshire, as an innovative not-for-profit platform co-operative designed to tackle fundamental flaws in social care.

The principles of the model have three core objectives: to put the relationship between giver and receiver above all else, to share power, and to allow care and support to flourish.

This produces resilient, trusting, long-term relationships built upon mutual consent that deliver higher wages to workers, economic rates to people getting support, and much better quality care than traditional care agencies.

Equal Care is a multi-stakeholder co-op, owned by four different classes of members: Supported Members, Advocate Members (friends and family), Worker Members and Investor Members (the latter with a 10% limitation on the vote share).

Starting from the co-op governance structure all the way through to the day to day caregiving, Equal Care is designed to put power in the hands of those who matter most - the people who give and receive care and support.

Technology

Equal Care's unique approach has required an equally unique technology platform to support our members and services.

Despite care and support technology developing rapidly, we found that many of the products available don't remove intrinsic biases that negatively affect those involved in the front line of care. They prioritise the manager's perspective and surveillance, producing a 'regulation-first' environment. As opposed to our co-operative not-for-profit approach, the companies selling this "care tech" are also mainly subject to the high-growth, profit-driven, fast-exit rules of venture capital culture.

We think that co-operatively owned technology that is co-created by and accountable to members goes a long way towards tackling these problems—this is why we continue to build our own technology platform.

Equal Care in London

While Equal Care was founded in the north of England, we have always had a national outlook, with the desire to collaborate with local communities to create new circles of our co-operative across the country.

In 2021, we founded Equal Care’s London Circle, supporting local communities in forming ‘Community Care Circles’ capable of using our digital platform to build self-managing within their neighbourhoods.

Our work in London has delivered workshops and learning groups in relationship-centred care, commissioning innovation, sociocracy, peer support/supervision, Atlas CareMaps, asset-based community development and collaborative work platforms.

The London Circle partnered with and local residents to form The Clapton Care Circle, which has:

• Engaged in social listening and care mapping with local stakeholders/community groups.

• Worked with residents to co-produce activities at a local sheltered housing linking local people, places and care assets.

• Built equal care teams, enabling a local elder to run his own art group, a family carer to support his mother as part of a team and frail elders to access local community meals.

• Assisted in setting up a Warm Welcome Space at St Thomas Church, addressing people’s heating and eating needs.

LOTI Pilot Project

In 2023, the (LOTI) recognised that innovation was needed in the social care sector to address the twin pressures of reducing budgets and increasing demand.

To address this, they created the fund to "incentivise, select and pilot the most promising ideas for new service models." Equal Care, in collaboration with Clapton Commons and Hackney and Southwark Councils, applied and was awarded the grant to deliver a year-long pilot in the Clapton neighbourhood of Hackney to:

"Launch a home care co-operative piloting a new service model and digital platform for a community-owned and governed care service which will integrate home care, community networks, digital tools and health and social care services at a hyper-local level into a “Care Commons” so that people giving and receiving formal and informal care can have more power and control over the resources they rely upon and a better quality of life, thus preventing “down the line” care issues."

The primary deliverables of this project were:

• To build and resource five self-managing equal care teams with the local community.

• To bring together individuals and organisations to create a “commons” to help support care through the Clapton neighbourhood.

• To develop an evaluation framework with researchers, team members, and community members to measure service outcomes and social impact.

• To enhance our digital platform to help other community groups in the UK set up their own co-operative care services.

And finally to:

• Co-create a "playbook" for starting and growing co-operative care providers, a guide for local authorities and community groups.

This is that Playbook, and we hope you find it useful in your social care journey.

Ambition to begin a social care co-op does not necessarily mean that what you want to create is feasible. Thorough research into your market, specifically the Local Authority you wish to start providing care within, will mean you can confirm you have the right circumstances to launch, grow and become sustainable. If it's not feasible, then the plan needs to change or the project should stop.

Developing an adequately complex financial and revenue model is an essential process. It enables the organisation to understand how it will earn money, how it will be used, and, crucially, what the cash requirements are to allow it to flourish.

At this stage, the choice of type of care organisation will make a big difference to this process. As an introductory agency, simply creating care teams by introducing those who need care to those who need it where you take a fee, is not regulated and requires little or no starting capital. You can get started, bearing in mind the time and effort you will need to spend creating your organisation.

However, if you are aiming to provide regulated care, that is, personal care that includes assistance with personal hygiene and grooming, help with dressing, support with eating and drinking, and administration of medication and medical treatments, then the capital requirement is much more significant.

The sources of , but in the early phases, we recommend raising money through donation(s), grant(s), or a community share offer.

Do not underestimate the amount of time and effort this process will take: it will require patience, a deep understanding of your business economics, and some luck. Social care is not well funded at the point of delivery, but perhaps even more so when founding a new company.

Team Owner, Clapton

“I really do believe that it takes a village to raise a child. And there are some areas of London where this is still possible. Keeping care workers local makes sense.

I never understood why a council would try to employ a care worker from another council area. Think about it, if its bad traffic they are gong to be a week late! So not only did I believe in the idea of keeping thing local and building community. I also believed, on a practical level, that this would work.

Being a part of the village means that you are no longer an outsider. Instead of ‘Here I am to run that service!’ it becomes ‘Here we are together!' The more of us together, the merrier we will be!"

Elvis Menez

Family Member of Equal Care Team & Co-founder of The Clapton Care Circle

"I have experienced the challenges of Social Care firsthand. I live in Manchester and support my mum, Hazel, who resides in the Stamford Hill/Clapton Common area and was receiving very poor care. I found myself traveling back and forth every week to sort things out and keep her company.

When I heard about Equal Care Cooperative's vision of involving the local community more in Social Care, it was like music to my ears—it felt exactly right for my mum. Throughout her life in both Jamaica and London, she has been dedicated to supporting her local community through the church and organizations like the African Caribbean Leadership Company.

Equal Care wanted to help her receive something back from the community she helped build."

Agnieszka Rolkiewicz

Commons Organiser & Co-founder of The Clapton Circle

“Being outdoors with others can be someone’s experience of receiving ‘home care.’ There have been wonderful moments where we have been able to bring people together, dancing, eating, and chatting. People are animated, alive, and full of joy.

But it took us two years to create a regular group. It takes time to get to know each other, to trust that change is possible. The only way you can build this trust and hope is by physically bringing people together. Never underestimate the value of a small gathering, team owners with just one or two care workers, family members and local residents, it doesn't have to be anything fancy, just spending some time together."

Luke Tanner

Project Lead & Co-founder of The Clapton Circle

"Having experienced both the best and worst of social care, I’ve come to understand that when care is rooted in the people, places, and things that matter most to the people receiving care, it fosters a greater sense of well-being and belonging. Cooperative care services like Equal Care make this possible by removing some of the institutional features that often prioritize the running of the service over the people in it.

From my own experience, I’ve seen how services like our local primary school foster community and well-being. Care providers could do the same if they were designed differently. At Equal Care, we empower those receiving care to lead their own teams, making decisions alongside their carers and families. By sharing responsibilities clearly and involving everyone, we build stronger, more meaningful connections. This cooperative approach, where decisions are made together, helps create the sense of belonging that care should provide."

At Equal Care, the way we make decisions and organise our work is based on interconnected Circles.

Each Circle is a small group of people who come together for a shared purpose. We call that their aim.

They’re responsible for making decisions and taking action within a specific area, known as their domain.

Within their domain, Circles make both policy (the rules and ways of working) and operational (the practical, day-to-day) decisions. These decisions are made using consent, meaning a decision goes ahead as long as no one has a strong, reasoned objection.

Circles are linked together so that information and decision-making can flow between them: from Teams and Local Circles, to the Members’ and Purpose Circles. This helps ensure decisions are made by the people best placed to make them, without leaving others out of the loop.

There are a few ground rules:

• No Circle can make a policy that goes against the law.

• Circles must stick to the principles of sociocratic governance (as outlined in our Rules).

• Circles shouldn’t make policies that conflict with other Circles or the overall aims of the co-op.

This way of working might sound a little different, but it means everyday decisions at Equal Care are shared, transparent, and made by the people doing the work — not just passed down from the top.

Even in well-functioning teams, conflict is a normal part of working closely together. It doesn’t always mean something’s gone wrong - it might just be that needs have shifted, communication styles are clashing, or something important hasn’t yet been said.

First things first: Talk

The first and most important step is to create space for conversation. This can be between the people involved directly or with a third person present to support — a Coach, a trusted team member, or someone with facilitation experience.

At Equal Care, you don’t need to go through the office or get permission to have this kind of conversation, although help is always available if needed.

What helps:

• Creating a calm space (not in the middle of a support visit)

• Being honest about your own experience without assuming the other person’s intent

• Listening carefully and aiming to understand, not to win

• Checking for shared agreements and expectations (were roles or boundaries unclear?)

When support is needed

Sometimes things feel too tricky to tackle alone. The Coach is there for this. They can support with:

• Setting up a safe, structured conversation

• Helping the team revisit agreements and clarify boundaries

• Supporting reflective conversations where there's emotional strain or long-running issues

• Identifying whether something more formal is needed

Other options include asking for help in your Local Circle, reaching out to someone you trust, or raising a concern via the Sharing Stuff form if you’re not sure who to speak to directly.

If it’s serious or unresolved

If a conversation doesn’t lead to resolution, or if something serious has happened (such as a safeguarding concern or ongoing breakdown in trust), Equal Care may bring in our problem-solving process or take formal steps as required by our policies.

This might include:

• A facilitated resolution process involving more than two people

• Involvement of the Coach, Safeguarding Officer or HR support

• A temporary pause or change in the team setup while things are worked through

These steps aren’t about punishment: they’re about making sure everyone’s voice is heard and that safety, fairness and trust are upheld.

Introducing someone new into a support team is a big step. That’s why Equal Care uses trial periods: short, paid support sessions that help everyone get a feel for whether the match works, without pressure or long-term commitment.

What is a trial session?

A trial is a one-off or short series of support visits, arranged so that the Team Owner and the prospective new team member can meet and work together. These sessions:

• Are paid at the agreed hourly rate

• Are time-limited (usually 1–3 sessions)

• Take place with the informed consent of the Team Owner and the new worker

• May be observed or co-supported by an existing team member, where appropriate

The purpose is to explore whether the relationship feels right and whether the support meets the person’s needs.

What happens during a trial period?

That depends on the type of support and the preferences of those involved. It might include:

• A first meeting and chat, often facilitated by the Team Starter or another team member

• A walk or home visit

• Support with everyday tasks (with guidance from the person receiving support)

• A review conversation afterwards (sometimes called a check-in or debrief)

Where a Team Owner is less able to express preferences directly, a trusted family member, advocate or existing team member may take a more active role in observing and sharing feedback.

After the trial period

Following a trial period, both the Team Owner and the prospective team member are invited to share how it went. They can do this by:

• Speaking directly with each other

• Talking with the Team Starter or an existing team member

• Writing a message in the Team Chat

• Simply choosing not to continue (silence can also be informative, but we encourage open conversations where possible)

If both parties feel positive, the new team member is invited to join the team and support planning can continue. If one or both don’t wish to continue, that’s absolutely fine: no explanation is required, although learning is welcomed.

What if it’s a ‘maybe’?

Sometimes, it’s not a clear yes or no. That’s okay. In these cases, the team might:

• Try a second session

• Suggest a different type of support (e.g. companionship rather than personal care)

• Pair the new person with a different team member or activity

• Decide to wait until the team’s circumstances change

Flexibility and communication are key and support should never feel forced.

The findings that follow draw on the mixed-methods evaluation framework outlined above. Each tool aims to offer a different perspective: from platform usage data to personal testimonies, from maps of care networks to surveys of team culture. Together, they were designed to help us build a deeper picture of what’s working, what’s changing, and where we can grow.

However, it’s important to acknowledge that we were not able to fully implement all of the tools we developed. Changes within the platform team led to a lack of sustained technical input, limiting our ability to extract passive usage data or build new features to support active data collection. Similarly, while the Social Climate Survey was co-produced with stakeholders and designed as a key tool for assessing the lived experience of care, it was not successfully embedded into routine practice—either across Equal Care Co-op more broadly or within the small number of teams launched by the Clapton Circle.

A significant portion of our energy and resources went into the thoughtful design and development of evaluation tools, but less into their delivery and integration. In the later stages of the pilot, we turned our focus to automating social climate profiles for teams based on survey data—an ambition that, in retrospect, exceeded the capacity and context of the project at that time.

The true value of the Social Climate Survey, therefore, remains to be tested. Equal Care Co-op is committed to sharing this tool with other care providers and exploring future funding opportunities to build on this work. Our hope is that, over time, we can create a sustainable process for using survey results and platform data to regularly assess cooperative performance, support team development, and ensure that the lived experience of care truly reflects the values we hold.

This section covers three areas:

Interviews Outcome Domains

These pages explore how the work of the Clapton Care Circle contributed to three core domains of change, drawing on in-depth interviews with project leads:

• Growth – Fostering personal development, autonomy, and a sense of security.

• Well-being, Relationships & Belonging – Deepening emotional support, social connection, and community rootedness.

• Systems Maintenance & Co-Production – Strengthening the shared structures, practices, and relationships that sustain care over time.

This section connects lived experience with strategic outcomes, offering grounded insight into what the model made possible.

Community Network Map: Analysis & Overview

Here we zoom in on the everyday reality of care in Clapton, using data from our Community Network Map – visualising the relationships and resources that make up the local care ecosystem. Analysis helps identify strengths, gaps, and opportunities to better connect informal community efforts with formal services, laying the groundwork for a more integrated, relationship-based model of care.

Reflections from the Ground: Insights from Key Circle Leads

This section draws on six hours of in-depth interviews with Luke (Team Starter & Pilot Project Lead) and Aga (Commons Organiser), who stewarded the Clapton Circle throughout the pilot. Their reflections offer a systems-level view of how the model’s core components—Circles, Teams, Platform, and Commons—were implemented in practice. Organised by output type, their insights illuminate what was done, what was learned, and what’s recommended for the future.

This is a non-exhaustive list of social care digital platform vendors that are available in the UK. While many of these services are towards the "one-stop shop" end of the market, some only offer very specific functionality such as care worker financial management.

• CareLineLive

We help people looking for care and support to build their own Teams. This person is always the Team Owner or Leader.

Team members may include trusted friends, family, paid or voluntary care workers, peer supporters-in fact, anyone who the Team Owner wants to be a member.

Membership of a team goes two ways: the team member and the team owner must both consent.

With the help of a Team Starter the Team Owner can build their Team. The Team Starter may also work with family members or friends that the Team Owner has nominated to advocate for them. If the Team Owner is not receiving personal care they can start their team by themselves or with the support of friends or family*.

The Team’s aim is to support the team owner to reach the outcomes and experiences they want for themselves and their support. Team Owners may choose to be very involved in their team and how it works or they may be less involved.

Every Equal Care Team is unique.

Each Circle at Equal Care keeps a logbook: a shared record of everything that helps the Circle run well and stay connected to the co-op’s bigger picture.

The logbook is there to help everyone stay on the same page. It’s not just about paperwork - it’s a living document that supports clarity, transparency, and learning across the co-op.

Here’s what you’ll usually find in a Circle’s logbook:

• The Circle’s Aim — what it exists to do

• How the Circle links to Equal Care’s overall mission, values, bylaws and strategic plan

• A diagram showing how this Circle fits into the wider structure

• The Circle’s budget, and how that relates to the budget of the Circle above it

• Notes from meetings and any decisions or policies the Circle has made

• Plans for how the Circle wants to grow or improve its work

• Each member’s role, aims, responsibilities, and any development goals they’re working on

• And anything else that helps record the work and direction of the Circle

All Circle members should have easy access to their Circle’s logbook as it belongs to the group, not just one person.

Members should also keep a personal logbook. This is where you track your own aims, responsibilities, learning goals, and anything else connected to your role in the Circle. It helps you stay focused on your purpose and how you’re growing in the role.

Templates that offer a starting point for the above can be found on Sociocracy for All's website here:

There are many communities in Equal Care, and they’re dotted all around the place.

However, we have a space on the internet that we have built ourselves. We collectively own it, and it’s shared across computers and mobile phones so we can all come together. We call it...

The platform is a tool (or a set of tools) that helps us all coordinate and collaborate.

It’s where we store details of each support visit and keep everyone’s profiles for giving and receiving support.

It tells us who is in whose team and what responsibilities they hold.

It’s also the place where we can talk to each other more efficiently, allowing everyone involved in Equal Care to work together, whether that’s within their Teams, Circles or across the co-op.

Community-owned tech

The platform is important not just because it helps everyone work together but also because it’s ours.

Nearly all technology we use in our daily lives is built and owned by enormous private companies. These companies are controlled by their investors and have an obligation to put profits above all else.

It’s different at Equal Care: we own our technology.

We’re responsible for its quality (and also for if it breaks!). Our members can decide what’s important to build and what needs to change. It can’t be sold to the highest bidder.

Our technology exists to serve the interests of people getting support, families and people giving support, not the interests of investors looking for high return or people who just want to extract data.

This is pretty unusual and pretty special!

We are a platform co-op

This fairly unique approach means that we have the honour of being the world’s first social care platform co-operative.

This means more or less what we have said above: our work is supported by an online platform which is collectively owned and managed by its users.

If you’re interested in finding out about the wider global movement that we’re a part of just head on over to

The concept of "hats" comes from an understanding of the different roles we hold in life, sometimes only at certain points. In a single day, we may transition between roles like a mother, colleague, recipient of support, giver of support, daughter, and friend.

We embody these roles depending on the people we’re with and the relationships we have with them—whether as a doctor, son, father, friend, or support worker. The roles we adopt influence our behaviour, and the hat we wear is contingent on the dynamics of the relationships.

When we ‘put on’ a hat, we actively portray a role, and we ‘take it off’ when we don’t. At Equal Care, we consider giving and receiving support as types of hats - representing what you do in the moment rather than defining who you are.

It’s crucial to acknowledge that individuals, including recruiters, may not consistently wear specific hats in all contexts. They might juggle other responsibilities in different teams, or they may not hold any responsibilities at certain times.

Importantly, individuals, including recruiters, are not your supervisors.

Team Hats

At Equal Care, we wear our “” with pride; each one is as unique as the team it belongs to. Imagine these hats as personalised roles, shaped and defined by the needs of the team and, most importantly, the team owner.

In our co-op and teams, hats aren’t static; they evolve. Some are essential and form the backbone of all our teams, while others might be uniquely created and adapted to the team's ever-changing needs.

Hats are key to Equal Care Teams managing themselves and helping members distribute responsibilities among themselves, allowing everyone to identify who is responsible for what on the Equal Care Platform. They’re our way of ensuring everyone in the team plays a crucial role, providing the best possible care and support for and with the team owner.

Co-operation

Co-operative social care refers to a model of social care service delivery that is owned and managed by the people who use the services and/or the workers who provide them. They come in different flavours of co-op, which you can read about .

This approach is grounded in the principles of co-operation, mutual aid, and democratic governance, aiming to empower both care recipients and caregivers. Find the seven principles and the ten values .

A word of caution

Given that Equal Care was founded with the intention of restoring healthy power dynamics to the most important groups in social care, being a co-operative society was an obvious choice to make. However, although co-operation is an essential foundation for Equal Care's model of support, that is all it is.

Equal Care was founded as a platform co-operative: a form of co-op with a democratically owned and governed digital business model. Platform co-ops typically operate through digital tools such as websites, mobile apps or other online services.

In Equal Care’s case, this takes the shape of our platform: a unified set of services, designed and built largely in-house, that works across desktop and mobile. The platform underpins much of our care model and includes the following key features:

Core Features

This playbook is a structured guide that outlines the strategies, protocols, and best practices for delivering social care services using co-operative methods.

It is intended to serve as a reference manual for social care professionals, local authority officers and community organisations, providing the necessary tools and guidelines to ensure consistent, high-quality social care.

It is also meant to provide context by highlighting Equal Care's experiences in creating, launching, and running a sustainable co-operative social care service.

How to use it

The playbook is a resource designed to be easy to use and modular. Its content is easily searchable, allowing you to find the information you are looking for quickly.

The beginning of any team starts with someone reaching out, whether that’s a person looking for support, someone on their behalf, or a professional making a referral. This first step is short and simple: gather a few details, check what’s possible, and begin to form a picture of what’s needed.

This page explains what happens after first contact and how we decide whether we can offer support.

What we ask at this stage

The first conversation or form asks just a few key things:

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.

Every person offering support through a team has a profile. It’s where others - especially the person getting support - go to learn more about who they are, how they work, and what kind of support they offer.

These profiles are designed to support real, mutual choice. Team Owners can browse through them on the Equal Care Platform and start conversations with people they feel drawn to. And team members can also see information about the person they might be supporting (with their consent), helping to build the team with clarity and care.

The Giving Support Profile

This is the core profile for anyone giving support: whether as a paid worker, volunteer, peer supporter or family member. It mirrors the Getting Support Profile in many ways, offering a shared structure across the team.

It includes:

Overview

Once you’ve laid the groundwork - engaging partners, setting your values, and planning your offer - it’s time to begin forming care teams. This stage puts your cooperative model into practice: matching people who need care with the workers and supporters who will be part of their Team.

The diagrams below show how team formation and care delivery begin. This process relies on clear communications, collaborative planning, and – above all – relationships built on trust.

Kate Hammon

Founder Equal Care

Don’t underestimate the time it takes - time to find your people, time to have difficult conversations about power and money - or the sheer will and commitment to the values and principles to lay the foundation for the culture you want to see.

The Getting Support Promise sets out the mutual responsibilities and expectations between someone receiving care and support through Equal Care Co-op and the co-operative as a whole. It’s a legal agreement, but also a shared commitment to how support will be approached, managed, and sustained in a relationship-centred way.

This promise must be in place before any team-based support begins. It ensures that everyone involved - whether giving or receiving care - is clear about what is expected, what rights are held, and how Equal Care operates.

Every Equal Care team is different, but all teams share a need for some coordination to make sure things run smoothly. We use '' to represent these organising roles. A hat isn’t a job title or a fixed label - it’s simply a role that someone agrees to take on for a while, in service of the team.

🧢 What is a “hat”?

A hat is a clearly defined responsibility that supports the running of the team. Hats are:

The Getting Support Profile is the heart of a person’s care and support team. It describes who they are, what matters to them, what kind of support they want, and how they want it delivered. It’s written with the person, not about them, and evolves as their needs or preferences change.

It’s built during the Supportive Conversation with a Team Starter, usually before any support begins. If someone isn’t receiving personal care, they can complete this on their own or with help from someone they trust.

At Equal Care, the profile is hosted securely on our online Platform and made available only to people the Team Owner has agreed can see it. That might include paid support workers, volunteers, family members or others who play a role in the team.

What's in a Support Profile?

Our Evaluation Framework is underpinned by an interactive , co-created by care workers, people receiving support, family members, volunteers, and community members. This participatory process (described in detail on the page) ensures the ToC reflects a diversity of experiences and aspirations—and that it remains a living tool we revisit and refine. The LOTI pilot in particular helped us sharpen our understanding of the outputs, outcomes, and indicators associated with a commons-based approach.

The ToC guides us to:

1. Clarify what we intend to achieve;

2. Map how our activities will get us there; and

Once it’s clear that someone wants to move forward, and we have at least one potential team member in mind, we arrange a face-to-face visit.

This isn’t a formal assessment, it’s a supportive conversation.

This is a chance to get to know the person properly, and to start building something that feels safe, clear and tailored.

This is also the point where we complete the Trust Assessment, which helps us understand what kind of risks or responsibilities need to be considered, and where trust needs to be built.

Who this is for

Quereshi's Work on Outcome Domains provides a useful framework to understand some of our ToC outcomes. This framework categorizes outcomes into three distinct domains: process outcomes, change outcomes, and maintenance outcomes. Each domain addresses different aspects of care delivery and user experience, ensuring a holistic assessment of service quality and impact.

Each of these outcome domains plays a critical role in evaluating and improving the effectiveness of care services, ensuring that they meet the diverse needs of users and enhance their overall well-being. Among these three, Change Outcomes are by far the most commonly measured. Health and social care evaluations tend to prioritize quantifiable improvements—such as gains in mobility, reductions in pain or anxiety, and extended independent living—because they can be tracked with validated scales (e.g. ADL measures, mobility tests, wellbeing questionnaires) and tied directly to service impact.

While Process and Maintenance outcomes are critically important for understanding experience and sustaining independence, they are inherently more qualitative or long-term and thus less frequently captured in routine reporting. Change outcomes, in contrast, lend themselves to standardized assessment tools and clear before-and-after comparisons, making them the domain most often measured.

Peer supervision is one of the ways Equal Care Co-op builds a culture of care, connection and accountability. Every person contributing to the co-op’s work - whether a Member or not - is linked with a Peer Supervisor.

A Peer Supervisor is a bit of a mentor, a bit of a coach, and often a cheerleader too. They’re someone to check in with, reflect alongside, and problem-solve with. They also help the co-op spot when someone needs extra support, and make sure no one is working in isolation.

What does a Peer Supervisor do?

Co-production is essentially deciding together: something that fits naturally with Equal Care’s cooperative and sociocratic foundations.

It’s about designing, delivering and reviewing support and services with people, not for them. It recognises the value of lived experience and brings together the knowledge of people who give and receive care and support, enabling better decisions and better outcomes.

Rather than assuming professionals know best, co-production says: everyone has insight to offer and the best solutions come when we build them together.

Support needs change, lives shift, and people move on. One of the strengths of the Teams model is its flexibility: it allows for new team members to be welcomed in when needed: always by consent, and always with the team’s values and dynamics at heart.

This stage builds on the trust and clarity already established. Adding someone new to the team isn’t just a logistical step, it’s a relationship-building one. The way that person is found, introduced and welcomed can make all the difference to how well the team continues to work together.

In this section, we explore how new members are identified and brought in, including:

• How teams search for new members through the platform or their networks

Equal Care has adopted a “Commons Contribution” model: a shared approach where part of the fee paid for care goes towards maintaining the cooperative itself and supporting the resources we all rely on.

In practical terms, the Commons Contribution is everything in the hourly rate that doesn’t go directly to the worker. At Equal Care, this typically amounts to around 25% of the total hourly fee. This percentage reflects what the co-operative needs to function but may vary depending on the needs of the organisation and what members agree is fair and sustainable.

What does the Commons Contribution pay for?

The contribution helps cover the costs of:

Unlike most care agencies, we believe the people most affected by decisions - those giving and receiving support - should also be those who make them.

That’s why we use a system called . It helps us share power fairly and make sure the right people are involved in decisions that matter.

In typical care organisations, visits are arranged in a far-flung office by someone who has had little or potentially no contact with the person receiving care. Workers who attend the visits are not given the opportunity to get to know the person they are giving care to or build relationships with any of the other workers, family or others involved.

This disconnect can lead to important things being missed, or information getting lost somewhere along a management chain. This can lead to a great deal of harm.

However, where care workers can develop a relationship with the person they support, as well as other individuals and organisations involved in that person’s care, a few things happen:

At Equal Care, we’ve chosen a multi-stakeholder co-operative model: one where the people who give and receive support, as well as family members, volunteers and workers, can all become members and co-owners.

This isn’t just a nice idea. It’s a structural commitment to co-production.

When ownership is shared, so is decision-making. And when people who receive support help to shape the organisation - not just through feedback, but through governance and participation - co-production becomes part of the foundation, not an add-on.

🗳 Inclusive governance

Each member of a multi-stakeholder co-op has a voice and, crucially, a vote. That means people receiving care and support are not only listened to, but are part of the decisions that shape the organisation and the services it provides.

Our ToC outlines the sequence of and activities required to achieve all three key outcome domains. These outputs are also grouped, under four key dimensions of our service:

• Circles

• Platform

• Teams

Because we believe the way care is delivered is as important as its concrete results, our Theory of Change is process-outcome focused: Success is measured by people’s experiences—feeling empowered, trusting one another, and building belonging—rather than only by completed tasks.

Other key features of our ToC outcomes include :

• Relational well-being: Individual health is inseparable from the quality of relationships between care receivers, workers, families, friends and volunteers. The co-op seeks environments where everyone feels secure, supported, and free to grow.

• Co-production of care: Care is designed and delivered jointly by all members of the co-op. Evaluation asks: how well do people collaborate, speak up, and share responsibility?

Teams form through trust and shared purpose and like all relationships, they change over time. People leave for many reasons, and while the departure can feel significant, it doesn’t have to be difficult. When handled with openness and care, endings can reinforce the strength of the team rather than disrupt it.

Common reasons for leaving a team

These roles focus on how Circles operate, ensuring effective governance and inclusive participation.

🎡 Circle Facilitator

Guides the Circle's meetings and decision-making processes. Ensures that meetings are conducted efficiently, inclusively, and in alignment with sociocratic principles. Facilitates rounds, manages the agenda, and supports the Circle in reaching consent-based decisions.

To understand the impact of our work, we need to look at both the big picture and the fine details: the data points and the stories behind them.

This evaluation framework uses a mixed-methods approach, combining qualitative and quantitative tools to explore outcomes across the different domains of our Theory of Change. This means using:

• ✍️ to explore lived experience

• 🧮 to track activity, trends, and system usage

In social care, co-production means working with people rather than for them. It’s a shift away from traditional models where care is delivered by professionals to passive recipients, and towards a partnership approach, that is, one that recognises the insight and experience of people receiving support as essential to getting things right.

Co-production invites people giving and receiving support to shape care services together: from the way a single team works, to how a whole organisation or system is run. At its heart, it’s about relationships, shared ownership and mutual respect.

Key Principles in Practice

These principles guide how co-production shows up in social care - not just as theory, but in how people treat one another:

Sociocracy - sometimes called dynamic self-governance - is the foundation of Equal Care’s structure and one of the key ways we embed co-production in how we work. It offers a practical way to share decision-making, ensure everyone’s voice is heard, and build organisations where power is distributed, not hoarded.

Rather than top-down command or majority rule, sociocracy is built around consent and collaboration. It’s a model of governance that fits naturally with co-production, especially in the context of social care, where listening to and acting on the experiences of those giving and receiving support is essential.

🌀 Circle Structure

Work is organised into semi-autonomous circles, each responsible for a specific domain. These circles are made up of people closest to the work, including those receiving support. This allows decisions to be made by the people directly affected by them.

Once we’ve confirmed that Equal Care is likely to be a good fit, we arrange a longer conversation. This is usually with a Team Starter and may involve the person themselves, a family member, or someone acting on their behalf.

This early stage is about understanding the person’s situation, starting to build trust, and working out whether we have enough to begin forming a team.

What we cover in the first call

The aim here is to get a clearer picture; not just of the support someone needs, but of who they are and what matters to them. The Team Starter might ask about:

Once we’ve understood what someone is looking for - through initial conversations and, where needed, a face-to-face visit - the next step is to begin identifying potential members of their team. At this stage, the focus is on connection, compatibility, and consent.

The aim isn’t to match based on availability alone, but to bring together people who are a good fit: both for the person needing support and for those offering it.

Sharing what’s needed

The Team Starter prepares a short summary of the support opportunity. This includes:

• The person’s key needs and preferences

• Where the support is based and when it’s needed

• Any particular qualities or experience that would be important

• The type of relationship the person is hoping to build with their team

This summary might be shared:

• Internally, with known co-op members who may be a good fit

• On Equal Care’s platform, in the form of a call-out

• In collaboration with a local Recruiter, if needed

These steps are taken with the person’s consent, and only the information they’ve agreed to share is passed on.

Following up with potential matches

The Team Starter follows up with people who express interest - or who seem like a good fit - to explore whether the opportunity might work for them. This might involve:

• A short conversation by phone or video

• Sharing more detail about the support arrangement

• Clarifying availability, skills and interest

• Answering questions and identifying any concerns

If things feel positive on both sides, a meeting or trial session is arranged.

Trying things out

Support always begins with mutual agreement. When a potential team member is identified, the next step is to try things out in practice:

• A paid trial session is arranged, often for one shift

• Both people decide whether to continue

• Either person can say no at any point

This is a low-risk, low-pressure way to find out whether there’s a good fit. Where appropriate (e.g. for longer or more complex support), an introduction may take place before the trial.

When it doesn’t work out

Not every match will be right, and that’s expected.

If the person giving or receiving support doesn’t feel it’s the right fit, they’re supported to say so. The Team Starter helps hold this process, offering alternatives or exploring different next steps.

What matters is that everyone involved feels respected and heard.

From match to team

If the trial goes well and both people want to continue, they become the first members of the team. From here, the Team Starter continues to support the building of the team, often helping to identify a second or third member, assign early hats, and start shaping how the team will work together.

Each match is a building block, not a quick fix. Taking the time to get it right gives the team a much better chance of growing into something sustainable, respectful and resilient.

Bringing a new person into a team is about more than filling a gap - it’s about strengthening the relationships, skills and care the team offers. This section covers how teams at Equal Care go about identifying, selecting and welcoming new members in a way that supports continuity, trust and choice.

How new team members are found

There are two main routes:

• Via the Equal Care platform The platform includes searchable Giving Support Profiles so that teams can explore potential matches based on skills, location, availability, rate, personality and more. Team Owners and other team members can browse profiles and suggest potential introductions.

• Via the team’s own networks Sometimes, people already known to the team - friends, neighbours, volunteers - may be a good fit. As long as everyone involved consents and the necessary checks and training are in place, teams are free to bring these people into the process.

In either case, any prospective new member must have a Giving Support Profile and agree to the terms of support through Equal Care, including the expectations set out in our onboarding process.

Who decides?

The team always decides together. That means:

• The Team Owner has the final say, but other team members may be involved in making suggestions, introductions or holding the 'Hat Holder' role for team membership.

• The Team Starter may facilitate the early introductions and help coordinate the steps - especially for new teams or in regulated support.

• Consent is required on both sides: the prospective member must also feel comfortable and want to join.

The welcoming process

Once a match looks likely, the team makes space for introductions. This can include:

• Chat and messages - Starting a conversation through Rocketchat or another platform

• Phone or video call - A chance to say hello, ask questions and build rapport

• Shadowing or trial visit - Observing a session or joining a walk/talk-through (more in the next section)

Some teams find it useful to have a simple checklist for new introductions - for example, key routines to explain, who’s who in the team, any accessibility needs or house rules. Others may take a more informal route.

What matters is that people feel welcomed, informed and that expectations are clear from the start.

Sharing responsibility

Welcoming new members isn’t just the job of the Team Owner or the Team Starter. Often the best welcomes come from those already giving support. People might:

• Show someone around the home

• Help explain team routines or access to Notes

• Be on hand to answer questions and give encouragement

• Offer feedback after the first few sessions

This is relationship-based support: how the team welcomes new members can set the tone for everything that follows.

Care relationships are human relationships. And like any human relationship, they change over time. Conflict may arise, people’s availability might shift, or it might simply become time for someone to step away. None of this is unusual - in fact, it’s expected. What matters is how it’s handled.

At Equal Care, we don’t avoid the messy parts of working together. We face them with honesty, courage and care. That means acknowledging when something isn’t working, and putting in place the support needed to talk it through, adjust the setup or bring things to a close well.

When things get tough

Disagreements, misunderstandings or tensions between team members can and do happen. These might involve communication difficulties, blurred boundaries, mismatched expectations, or changes in a person’s needs or availability.

If this happens, the first step is always to try and talk. The person best placed to support this conversation will vary — sometimes it’s the Coach, other times it might be a trusted team member or the person holding the team hat for support coordination. The aim is to clear the air, listen to each other, and work out what (if anything) needs to change.

Even if the outcome is someone leaving the team, these conversations can be hugely valuable in maintaining trust and learning for everyone involved.

When it’s time to leave

Sometimes, a team member will need to leave for reasons that have nothing to do with conflict — for example, a change in availability, a shift in circumstances, or because the support needs have changed. Whatever the reason, it’s important that people have the opportunity to leave well.

We encourage:

• Clear, timely communication about the decision to leave

• Trying to find cover for upcoming support, where possible

• A short goodbye message in the team chat (or another format)

• Appreciation and acknowledgement of contributions

The Coach or another trusted person is available to support this process, particularly where emotions are running high or relationships have been strained.

Support and accountability

If a conflict cannot be resolved through conversation, or if a serious concern arises (such as a breach of trust or policy), the issue may move into a more formal problem-solving or safeguarding route. We always aim to handle these processes with transparency, fairness and care for everyone involved.

Our values in action

We hold to the principles of:

• Bravery: naming what’s difficult and facing it together

• Honesty: saying what we need, clearly and respectfully

• Kindness: remembering the humanity in everyone involved

Goodbyes can be as meaningful as hellos. They are part of building strong, resilient teams where change is acknowledged, and relationships are treated with respect.

After deciding that this is definitely something you want to do, the first step to founding any circle, co-op or new group is 'find the others'. Co-operative Founders will be the ones recruiting the first paid roles. They are the people who set the overall direction, culture and purpose of the co-op, giving it its starting momentum.

There is no need to register as a co-op at this stage - in fact, we actively advise against it! The most significant factors for success are the members of the group and the importance of bringing people together with a range of skills and perspectives. The group's rules and ways of working need to be learnt and explored. This takes time and should be honoured.

To address economic disparities between those who are not able to commit voluntary time and those who can, now is a good time to look at small grant awards that can support some of these costs. Equal Care made good use of UnLtd's 'Do It' Award (now the ) for this purpose.

If the new co-operative is an initiative of the local authority, this stage could take the form of community workshops, coupled with a more formalised recruitment process to find your founders, who could be a mix of people giving and getting support, councillors and local authority officers.

If you are an existing homecare organisation, the members of your founding team may be drawn from your workforce and those you currently support as well as their family members. This may be in addition to members of your management team and outgoing owners as part of a transitional phase.

Regardless of where the impetus for developing the co-op comes from these are the keys to finding the others:

1. Representation: find the mix of perspectives who will be representing the membership.

2. Seek people out: Be brave, actively target people you want to join the group and approach organisations that you think might have access to them.

3. Understand what's lacking: It might be a perspective, a skill or access to a resource but whatever it is, be clear that you want it.

The Purpose Circle

Aim for:

• A brave, inclusive and kind culture among the founding group and across the wider community

• A resilient, well-equipped core group ready to launch and steward the first stages of co-operative care and support

• A network of community members forms; people ready to step into roles, bring their knowledge, and grow the Circle together

The Purpose Circle is your founding board. This group will provide guidance, support, and critical friendship to help the founders. This will require a lot of goodwill, but it is essential that this be matched with the skills and experience to help take the group forward.

Many people in the co-operative and care sectors may be enthusiastic and share your ethos and goals, but they may not be the right people to contribute positively. The question is whether they have good will/intentions versus lived experience. The latter is critical to go the distance, coupled with relevant skills and expertise.

Members of the Purpose Circle will come and go throughout the journey, and that is fine - it will take time to resolve a group that is right for your organisation. Some people will go to be employed by the co-op, some will go on to be supported by it and others will remain at more of a distance. Yet others will conclude that it's not for them. Equal Care has experienced all the permutations but throughout this has maintained a big commitment to ensuring that all membership categories are properly represented on this circle. Find Equal Care's current board make-up .

Recruiting care workers into your co-operative isn’t just about filling roles - it’s about building a community of people who believe in a different way of doing care. You're not just hiring; you're inviting people to co-create something better.

This page outlines our approach to recruiting care workers, coaches, and others into your Circle or organisation.

🧭 Start with Purpose

Before you write your first job ad, get clear on what you’re offering and what kind of people you're looking for.

• Are you recruiting for paid care workers, peer coaches, or Circle operations roles?

• What support or induction will you have in place when they join?

• What kind of values and skills matter most for the role?

👉 Be honest about what’s still being built. The right people will want to shape things with you, not wait for perfection.

📣 How to Reach People

Use a mix of approaches to reach both experienced care workers and people who may not think of themselves as “formal” carers but have strong caring skills.

Ideas:

• Leafleting at community centres, markets, schools, libraries

• Posting in local Facebook groups, WhatsApp chats, or Nextdoor

• Collaborating with local voluntary organisations, mosques, churches or mutual aid groups

• Referrals from existing members or peer networks

Make your messaging warm, inclusive and specific. Avoid corporate job-speak.

📝 What to Include in Your Offer

Your recruitment materials should clearly show what’s different about joining your co-operative:

• Emphasis on autonomy, support and respect

• Peer coaching and regular supervision

• Flexible hours and team-based matching

• Paid at or above the Real Living Wage

You don’t need to tick every box yet, but you should share the direction you're moving in.

🧩 Keep It Low-Barrier, High-Support

Traditional job application processes can exclude the very people you want to reach.

Consider alternatives to CVs or formal interviews:

• A short expression of interest form

• One-to-one chats or small group sessions

• Community info events or taster sessions

• Invite people to observe or shadow

If you do need paperwork (e.g. right to work, DBS), support people through it. Be proactive and kind - especially if English isn't someone’s first language or if they’ve been out of the workforce for a while.

🪴 Support from Day One

Recruitment doesn’t end when someone joins. Early-stage support is key.

• Use the Worker Welcome Process to introduce the platform, policies and culture

• Connect people with a Coach

• Pair new workers with experienced members

• Be clear about training and next steps

🧠 Keep Learning

Recruitment can be tough but it is an ongoing process, and one you’ll keep getting better at.

Track:

• What channels are working?

• Who’s applying - and who isn’t?

• Are there any barriers we can remove?

Use co-production wherever possible. Ask current care workers what helped them decide to join. Let that inform your approach for recruitment as you move forward.

From the outset, Equal Care was designed to be a platform co-operative: a democratically owned and governed digital platform business that combines the principles of traditional co-ops with the infrastructure and reach of modern online platforms.

From the beginning, the goal was to use technology to support the act of care - enhancing autonomy and equity while reducing administrative overhead, so that more time could be spent where it matters most: on the relationships within our Teams.

The Beginning of the Journey

Early on, the founding team faced a strategic decision: Should we develop our digital infrastructure in-house or buy in a ready-made service?

Each option had its own trade-offs:

The Decision

The team opted to develop in-house. This path aligned more closely with Equal Care’s values and long-term aims - particularly our commitment to autonomy, co-production, and ownership.

With the pilot fast approaching, we launched two workstreams in parallel:

1. A temporary digital setup using off-the-shelf tools to get the pilot underway.

2. Custom Platform Discovery Requirements were gathered and several agencies were approached to scope the build. When none could fully meet the brief within budget and timeframe, we made the decision to build the platform ourselves, in-house using

Building the Roadmap

The first step was assembling a core platform team - a project manager and technical architect - to work with Equal Care’s founders to define a clear Product Roadmap.

This roadmap:

• Articulated the vision and outcomes for the platform.

• Prioritised work based on member needs, not just features.

• Created a structured backlog for the development team.

A designer and developer were then recruited to begin delivery.

Incremental, Rapid Releases

The low-code 'Frankenstein’s Monster' setup allowed us to start quickly, but it was never meant to last. Each service in that setup came with a cost - both financial and operational.

To replace it, we released new platform features incrementally:

• Gradually phasing out paid tools

• Testing with real users in real-time

• Reducing time to market

• Increasing adoption and feedback

Lessons

Technical capacity is vital

Most social care founders aren’t experienced in product development. Hiring experienced technologists or upskilling internally is key.

It’s hard to attract tech talent

Developers and designers are in high demand. Competing with commercial tech salaries is a challenge, especially in a social care context.

You can’t plan for everything

Even the best-designed systems will face bugs, outages, and unexpected issues. Developing strong quality assurance and testing practices is essential to build resilience into the product.

There are many ways to fund a co-operative, depending on how it is governed and the organisation's needs, particularly the capital required for start-up.

Equal Care has successfully used several methods to raise funding both before and after trading revenue began which are detailed on the following pages; however, it's useful to list the range of options available, as they each have their use in beginning and maintaining a co-operative.

Funding types

Key Considerations in Fundraising

• Clear Mission and Vision: Clearly articulate the co-operative’s mission and how the funds will be used to achieve its goals.

• Member Engagement: Involve members in fundraising efforts, ensuring they are informed and supportive of the methods used.

• Legal and Regulatory Compliance: Ensure all fundraising activities comply with relevant laws and regulations, including those specific to co-operatives.

• Professional Advice: Consult financial advisors or co-operative development bodies to explore the best options and strategies.

At the heart of the Equal Care Teams model is a commitment to mutual consent and clarity. That starts with how people are introduced to each other - through personal, honest profiles - and with the promises each person makes when they agree to be part of a team.

These tools are not just forms or policies. They’re about setting the tone: relationships that are respectful, open, and grounded in shared understanding.

🧾 The Getting Support Profile

The Getting Support Profile describes what good support looks like for the person receiving it. It’s created with them (and/or someone they trust) during the Supportive Conversation, and might include things like:

• Day-to-day routines and rhythms

• Preferences for how support is given

• Important details about health, communication or triggers

• Cultural, emotional or sensory considerations

• What helps someone feel safe, well and respected

The person has full control over what’s included, how it’s worded, and who it’s shared with.

👤 Worker and team member profiles

Everyone giving support — whether as a paid worker, family member, friend or volunteer — has a profile too. These are created through the Equal Care platform and can include:

• A short introduction, “a bit about me”

• Skills, interests, lived experience, languages spoken

• Specific experience (e.g. working with dementia, mobility support)

• Availability, location and hourly rate (for independent workers)

These profiles are written in the person’s own voice. We encourage openness and honesty so that people can make meaningful, informed choices about who they’d like to work with.

🤝 Consent is always mutual

Joining a team is always based on consent from both sides.

• Team Owners choose who they’d like to invite

• Team members decide whether they’d like to support

• Everyone can say no — and that decision is respected without pressure

Trial sessions allow people to try things out before committing. If either person decides not to go ahead, that choice is supported and handled with care.

📜 Promises: setting shared expectations

Before a team is properly formed, each person receiving support signs the : a short, accessible agreement that sets out what people can expect from each other and from the co-op. It helps clarify things like:

• Respect for autonomy and boundaries

• Good communication

• Consent around decisions

• Working through issues together when things get tough

The promise isn’t a contract in the traditional sense — but it carries weight. It’s a shared commitment to treating each other with honesty, care and respect.

At Equal Care, we make most of our decisions using consent — and that’s not the same as consensus.

In a consensus model, everyone has to agree. With consent, we ask a different question: Can you live with this decision, even if it’s not your favourite option?

You don’t have to love a proposal to say yes to it. What matters is that it doesn’t cause harm to the Circle’s purpose — and that there are no paramount, reasoned objections standing in the way.

What happens if people don't agree?

Sometimes reaching consent takes a bit of work. That’s okay: we’ve got tools for that.

If there are concerns, members can:

• Measure the concern – Can the worry be tracked or tested? Can we set up a backup plan?

• Shorten the term – Can we try the decision out for a limited time?

• Amend the proposal – Can we tweak it so it works better for more people?

These tools are useful not just in Circles but also in Teams — anywhere decisions are made collaboratively.

How consent works in Circles

Most Circle decisions, including picking people for roles (like Circle Hats),are made with consent.

If you’ve taken on a Hat, that means:

• You’ve consented to take it on for a set period.

• Your fellow Circle members have consented to you wearing it.

And remember: Hats can always be taken off again. That’s part of what keeps things flexible. No one gets stuck in a role forever, and there’s always space to try new things and grow your skills.

In the rare event that a Circle can’t reach consent - usually only after multiple meetings - the Facilitator can pass the decision to the next broader Circle for resolution.

A few important details

While consent is about working together in an open, fair way, some clearer definitions and exceptions can help guide the process.

What does 'consent' actually mean?

Consent is reached when no one has a strong, well-reasoned objection. This is known in sociocracy as a paramount argued objection. That breaks down into two parts:

• A paramount objection means the proposal would cause real harm to the Circle’s purpose or responsibilities.

• An argued objection means the concern can be clearly explained - not just a personal preference or gut feeling.

If someone raises an argued, paramount objection, the group works together to adjust or rethink the proposal.

Quorum: who needs to be there?

Each Circle should agree on a quorum — the minimum number of members who need to be present for decisions to be made. They should also have a simple process for gathering consent from members who aren’t in the room (or on the call) when the decision is made.

When consent doesn’t apply

There are a couple of specific situations where the usual consent process isn’t used:

Restructuring or closing a Circle

If a broader Circle (like the Purpose Circle) decides to reshape or dissolve a Circle, the people in that Circle must be part of the conversation. But the broader Circle can make the final call without needing their consent.

People decisions

Decisions relating to pay, role or other legal elements of someone's employment, including problem-solving do not happen within Circles, Equal Care specifically disagrees with this as a sociocratic practice and has produced separate processes for this.

Local Circle Development

Equal Care’s co-operative care model is grounded in the belief that community engagement is essential to shaping and delivering effective social care services.

This Circle - distinct from the more strategic Purpose Circle - brings together the people who shape the service so that it truly reflects community needs, turning assumptions into facts and tailoring the offer accordingly.

Building relationships with local partner organisations will help your service thrive over the long term, and may even become a core part of your delivery model.

Technology Procurement

Getting the tech right is essential - it forms the administrative backbone of your organisation, handling much of the coordination and admin that comes with delivering social care. The Playbook details this more fully .

Culture and Relationship Development & Practice

Every organization has its own culture; however, few intentionally design it. Instead, they often depend on emerging shared values, beliefs, behaviors, and practices to naturally shape employee interactions and collaboration.

Equal Care believes that a proactive approach is necessary to ensure everyone has clarity on how to interact with each other, the business, and everyone they come into contact with.

Social care often misses the "care" element, becoming overly functional, dehumanising the relationships between those giving and getting care to increments of effort. By setting your culture early - and revisiting it often - you can ensure it stays rooted in care, connection, and the evolving needs of your members.

Service Design

Service design is a holistic approach to planning and organising your resources to improve the experiences of both the people working within your organisation and those interacting with it. In a typical business context, this would be referred to as “employee and customer experiences.”

While the leadership may be experienced in front-line care delivery and its management, it is still vital to intentionally design the service for the organisation you want to create. This is your opportunity to cast off assumptions and shape something that genuinely reflects your goals, ethos and community.

The process focuses on orchestrating people, processes, and technologies to create seamless and valuable service experiences. It is a process of continuous improvement - your design will need to evolve in response to internal developments and external changes as they arise.

Read more about it on gov.uk and on the website.

Policy Development & Adoption

Policies are the blueprints for your organisation, distilling all the thinking and decision-making you have done into clear, formal guidelines that shape every part of your work.

Equal Care has co-created with our members and published them on a site similar to this one.

Policies are essential because they:

• Establish clear expectations

• Promote consistency

• Enhance compliance

• Reduce risk

Team Starting is the process that helps someone begin building their support team. It usually starts when a person, family member, friend or professional gets in touch to ask for help with care and support. From there, a trained Team Starter works alongside them to build a team that’s right for their needs, preferences and circumstances.

This early stage is about gathering information, building trust, and working out who might be a good fit without rushing. The person receiving support (known as the Team Owner) remains at the centre of the process throughout.

What follows is a brief overview of how a team comes into being. In the next few sections, we’ll go into more detail about the role of the Team Starter, the steps involved, and how people create their profiles and promises — the foundation for how relationships begin.

Getting in touch

There are a few ways people typically reach us:

• By using the contact form on the Equal Care website

• Calling 01422 754321

• Emailing [email protected]

• If a contract is in place (for example with a local authority or NHS body), referrers may have a direct route to refer

At this stage, only brief details are needed. Someone will check whether the support requested is something Equal Care can offer. If not, the person can choose to be added to a waiting list, which is reviewed regularly.

If a potential match becomes available - someone who fits what the person is looking for and is interested in giving the support needed - the Team Starting process begins.

Early conversations and first steps

If personal care or medication support is involved, a face-to-face visit is arranged. During this visit, the Team Starter helps complete a support profile and a trust assessment, recording what's important to the person and what good support looks like for them. If those types of support aren’t needed, the visit is optional.

The person is asked to review and approve what’s been written about them, and to sign the Getting Support Promise, which outlines what they can expect from the process and from the people supporting them.

This information is then shared - with the person’s consent - with prospective team members.

Meeting and choosing support team members

The person or someone they nominate is invited to the Equal Care platform. This creates a private Team Chat and access to profiles of people who have offered to give support.

The Team Starter (or an existing team member) supports with:

• Looking through support worker profiles

• Making initial contact

• Arranging conversations and trial sessions

Trial sessions are always paid and take place with the consent of both parties. After the session, both the person and the worker decide whether they’d like to continue. If there are any concerns, the Team Starter is available to help resolve them.

Moving forward

When both sides feel ready to continue, the team begins to take shape. Each team develops differently: some grow quickly, others build over time. Some people want to coordinate things themselves, while others ask a trusted person to take the lead. Either way, the Team Starter stays involved for as long as needed to help the team settle in.

Community Share Offers are a way for UK co-operative societies to raise capital by offering shares to their members and the wider community.

By engaging the community and aligning financial investment with the purpose and goals of the co-operative, Community Share Offers represent a powerful tool for societies to fund start-up phases as well as achieve sustainable growth alongside community development.

Benefits

For the Co-op, community shares provide access to patient (or long-term) capital, which is often more flexible and supportive than traditional finance such as debt or grants. This strengthens the community’s engagement and sense of ownership, adding richness and value to the membership.

For Investors community shares are a chance to support projects and initiatives they are interested in and passionate about, potentially providing a modest financial return and involvement in the governance of the co-op.

How they work

Community Share Offers involve selling shares to members of the community who are interested in supporting the mission and goals of the co-op. The capital raised can be used for a variety of purposes, such as starting a new venture, expanding existing operations, or funding a specific project.

The concept of community does not necessarily mean one that is only local. In the context of a co-operative, a community typically refers to a group of individuals or organisations who share common interests, goals, or values and are collectively involved in the ownership, governance, and benefits of the co-operative.

Process of Offering Community Shares

Characteristics

Community shares do not operate in the same manner as public or private company shares:

• Withdrawable Shares: Unlike ordinary shares in a company, community shares are withdrawable, meaning that investors can get their money back, subject to terms and the society’s ability to do so.

• Non-Transferable: Shares cannot be sold or transferred to others, maintaining the investment's local and community-focused nature.

• Voting Rights: Shares usually come with voting rights on a one-member-one-vote basis, regardless of the number of shares held.

Risks

As with any financial investment, there is associated risk:

• Financial Risk: Like any investment, there is a risk of losing the invested capital, especially if the society faces financial difficulties or ceases trading.

• Liquidity Risk: As shares are not transferable and withdrawal is subject to the society’s financial health, investors may be unable to withdraw their money when they want to.

Regulation

Community Share Offers are regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority . Societies must comply with relevant legal requirements, including those related to issuing shares and conducting financial promotions.

Equal Care's Community Share Offer

Equal Care successfully completed two community share offers; the first was to fund the start-up phase of the co-op, and the second was to raise capital during difficult financial circumstances during the Covid-19 epidemic.

This below investment prospectus document was produced to promote Equal Care's first offer. It is very comprehensive and illustrates the amount of work required to produce a high-quality proposal that is appealing to investors.

At Equal Care, we believe that care works best when it's built on trust, mutual respect, and meaningful relationships. That’s why we support people to form their own Teams: small, personalised groups made up of the people they choose to support them.

Rather than a rota planned in a distant office, or unfamiliar staff sent to your door, the Teams model gives control and connection back to where it belongs: with the people giving and receiving support.

What Teams offer

1. Real choice over who is in your life Team Owners (the people receiving support) choose who supports them. It might be family, friends, volunteers, or paid workers, and no one is added without mutual consent. This creates relationships that are chosen, not assigned.

2. Flexibility and responsiveness Because Teams agree arrangements directly with each other, it’s much easier to adapt. Need to move a visit or change how support is delivered? You don’t need to wait for someone in an office to approve it; you just talk to the people in your Team.

3. Shared responsibility, shared power Everyone in the Team contributes, including family members, friends, and peer supporters. Roles and responsibilities are made visible using "team hats" on our platform, which means unpaid work isn’t invisible, and everyone’s contribution is recognised.

4. Autonomy and dignity Team Owners are not treated like service users or patients. They lead their team to the extent they want to: shaping how things work, or delegating decisions if they prefer. The system fits the person, not the other way around.

5. Better support, built on knowledge Team members who know the person well are more likely to notice changes, get the details right, and respond appropriately - from the way someone likes their tea to signs that something’s not quite right.

6. A space for growth Teams offer space to learn: about each other, about care, and about how to work co-operatively. People build skills they might not have developed in more traditional care settings.

What makes this different?

The Teams model is a radical departure from most care agency models. Here's how it compares:

Why it matters

The Teams model doesn’t just improve outcomes; it transforms someone's entire experience of care.

When people know who’s turning up, feel listened to, and are treated as full human beings rather than cases or clients, care becomes something relational and life-giving. When those giving support are respected, trusted, and given autonomy, the quality of their work improves too.

This model restores what’s so often missing in traditional care: trust, connection, choice, and dignity.

If you’re running or planning a community share offer in the UK, the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) plays an important role.

It oversees the registration of co-operative and community benefit societies, ensures they comply with legal requirements, and provides guidance on fair practice. While not every share offer needs direct FCA approval, it’s essential to understand how they support transparency, regulation, and investor protection.

You can find more detail on the FCA's official website.

What the FCA Does

📋 Registering Co-operatives

The FCA is responsible for registering co-operatives and community benefit societies under the . This ensures your co-op is legally constituted and governed in line with co-operative principles.

✅ Ensuring Regulatory Compliance

Once registered, co-ops are expected to follow their own rules and the wider regulatory framework. The FCA checks that your organisation is financially well-run and legally compliant.

When You’re Raising Money

📣 Community Share Offers

If you're planning a community share offer, the FCA may need to review your offer documents — especially if the offer is large or complex. They will check that what you’re presenting is:

• Clear and accurate

• Honest about risks and rewards

• Fair to potential investors

While a full prospectus isn’t always required, you may need one depending on the size of your offer or how widely it’s promoted.

Investor Protection

🔍 Fair Marketing

The FCA ensures that share offers are not misleading. Marketing must be factual and avoid overpromising. They can take action if investors are misled.

🛠 Redress Mechanisms

If an investor feels they’ve been misinformed or treated unfairly, the FCA provides ways for them to seek redress.

Support and Resources

🧰 Guidance for Societies

The FCA provides guidance notes and resources to help co-ops structure their offers well — covering governance, communication, and transparency.

🎓 Educational Materials

They also publish materials to help both organisers and members understand the rules, risks, and responsibilities of participating in a co-op share offer.

Ongoing Oversight

🔁 Monitoring

Even after your offer is complete, the FCA will review your annual returns, financial statements, and any rule changes to ensure continued compliance.

⚠️ Enforcement

If something’s not right, the FCA can take enforcement action. This might include fines, restrictions, or - in serious cases - deregistering the society.

Transparency and Public Records

The FCA keeps a of co-operatives and community benefit societies, where you can find:

• Annual returns

• Financial information

• Registered rules

This helps to promote trust, accountability and openness within the co-operative sector.

Implementing co-production involves creating a collaborative environment where service users and providers work together as equal partners throughout the planning, design, implementation, and evaluation of services.

Here’s a step-by-step guide to implementing co-production:

These are operational Circle Hats developed at Equal Care to help the co-op run smoothly day to day. Each hat supports a key area of work - from welcoming new members, to safeguarding, to keeping on top of finances - and is usually taken on by one or more people in each Local Circle.

This evaluation framework was developed during a 2023–2024 project piloting a commons-based home care model in Hackney, funded by the London Office of Technology and Innovation (LOTI).

LOTI’s innovation fund offered up to £200,000 for councils to collaborate with third- and private-sector partners on new approaches to social care. Our London Circle partnered with Hackney and Southwark Councils and secured £100,000 to develop the UK’s first care model built on commons principles, aiming to activate grassroots care networks at a hyper-local level.

The role of Our London Circle

Our London Circle, formed in 2020, works with community groups to build Community Care Circles that meet local care needs. These groups use Equal Care’s tech platform and support to develop cooperative care services rooted in the neighbourhoods they serve.

In early 2022, the team began organising with residents and groups in Clapton, Hackney. After a year of groundwork, the Clapton Care Circle of Equal Care was formed, co-producing a new vision for care and support in the area. Funding remained a barrier until LOTI’s opportunity gave the project momentum, supporting the transition from local organising to regulated service delivery.

What the pilot set out to do

The pilot, which ran from April 2023 to September 2024, involved members of the Clapton Circle and Equal Care’s operations and growth team in Calderdale, Yorkshire. Together, they worked to:

• Build a hyper-local network that could support and resource five self-managing care teams

• Co-produce an evaluation framework for commons-based care with people giving and receiving support, local authority partners and community members

• Develop new features on our tech platform to empower other groups across the UK to create their own commons-based care services

• Create a

It also helped that the pilot took place in and around Clapton Common, supported by Clapton Commons, a place-based community development organisation. What better name for this new way of working than a commons-based model of care?

A framework for learning, not just proof

Given the short-term nature of the project, the goal of developing this evaluation framework was formative, not summative. The focus wasn’t on proving success but on learning in real time: trialling different tools, reflecting on what worked (and what didn’t), and adapting as we went.

The result is a framework designed to grow and evolve, shaped by the experience of building a new care model from the ground up - one that can now be used and adapted by other teams, services and communities exploring commons-based care.

A key part of the Equal Care model is that teams don’t stay dependent on one central organiser. Instead, the people closest to the care relationship are supported to take ownership of it. The Team Starter’s role is temporary by design: they are there to help the team build enough trust, confidence and coordination to begin running itself.

✅ Signs the team is ready

There’s no exact checklist, but common indicators include:

• Essential hats are held by team members (not the Team Starter)

• The rota is running consistently and well

• Communication is active and respectful - issues are raised and addressed

• Everyone knows who’s doing what and how to find information

• The person getting support (or their advocate) is involved and informed

• The team is welcoming new members with minimal external help

🔄 What the Team Starter does at this stage

Rather than a sudden cut-off, the Team Starter gently reduces their involvement:

• Checks in with hat holders to make sure they’re confident

• Shares reminders about where to find help if needed (Coach, safeguarding lead etc.)

• Signposts team resources (e.g. policies, platform guides, rota tools)

• Passes on any remaining external contacts (social worker, referrer etc.)

The tone is warm, respectful and celebratory. The team is trusted to carry on, with support in the background if needed.

💬 The final message

The Team Starter usually sends a message to the Team Chat (or agrees another method with the group), which might say something like:

“Hi everyone! I just want to say how great it’s been to work with you all in building this team. I’ll be stepping back now and leaving you in each other’s brilliant hands. I’ve made sure everything’s in place and you know where to go for support if anything comes up. Big thanks to each of you for the part you play. Equal Care is here in the background whenever you need us.”

🧭 What support is still available?

Even after stepping back, teams are never on their own. Support continues through:

Everyone in the team can reach out, not just the Team Owner or one key person.

In social care, difficult conversations are often part of the work: moments that call for honesty, vulnerability and bravery. These can involve sensitive topics, personal boundaries, or situations where something isn’t working as it should. While the instinct might be to avoid these conversations, naming things clearly - with care - is essential to building trust and ensuring high-quality, respectful care and support.

At Equal Care, we use an approach called Radical Candour to help us do this well.

A Quick Guide to Radical Candour

What is Radical Candour?

Radical Candour is a communication approach developed by Kim Scott, which asks people to do two things at once:

• Care Personally – to show real, human concern for the other person

• Challenge Directly – to be honest, specific and clear in offering feedback or raising concerns

It’s about offering support and speaking up. It’s about building relationships where people can grow, make mistakes, and hear what they need to hear - not just what they want to hear.

The main things to bear in mind when using radical candour:

• Ask for feedback before offering it Listening creates space for mutual growth.

• Be specific and sincere Vague praise or criticism doesn’t help anyone.

• Keep the focus on care and growth The goal is not to win the argument, but to strengthen the relationship and the work.

• Make the intent clear Explaining that Radical Candour is being used can help ease tension and open up understanding.

The Radical Candour Framework

The model maps four different communication styles based on the balance of care and challenge:

• Radical Candour: High Care + High Challenge Honest and respectful feedback. Saying the difficult thing because it matters.

• Obnoxious Aggression: Low Care + High Challenge Blunt or harsh delivery without concern for the other person.

• Ruinous Empathy: High Care + Low Challenge Avoiding honest feedback to spare feelings, which often causes more harm in the long run.

Practising Radical Candour at Equal Care

Radical Candour works with small numbers of people. Two is best, four is generally a maximum before it stops being useful.

We work with Radical Candour Agreements, which is a simple, private and personal agreement made between two people which lays out:

1. The principles of how we will work together. The more specific and the weirder the better, for example, "sarcasm is okay".

2. A table with What's Okay in one column and What's Not Okay in the other column. For example, 'What's okay' could include 'Taking a day to get back to me on the chat'. What's not okay could include 'drunken text messages unless they're just to say how much you love me' (really!).

A radical candour agreement is not 'HR'. They are best made where conflict is not present or has been fully resolved through normal problem-solving channels. They are private documents shared only between the people who made the agreements together. Sometimes it can be useful to have another person there to facilitate the agreement and write it out, but it's not necessary.

They are an opportunity for people to be real with one another, to lay out what really annoys them and what kind of situations they'll be their best and worst selves in. It can be quite a cathartic and vulnerable process and is an incredibly useful preventative tool to avoid conflict and collaborate together well.

Why we use it

Across Equal Care - from team dynamics to circle governance to 1-to-1 support - Radical Candour helps us to be more honest and more human. It supports strong working relationships, better outcomes, and a shared sense of trust. Difficult conversations are still difficult, but we don’t shy away from them. Instead, we approach them with clarity, compassion and care.

Social Climate, a concept pioneered by Professor Rudolf Moos (Stanford University), describes the prevailing atmosphere within any group setting—whether a school, workplace, hospital, care home, or therapeutic community—and the ways that atmosphere shapes individual behavior, well-being, and outcomes. By examining how people perceive inclusion, safety, support, and shared purpose in their everyday interactions, Social Climate helps us identify both strengths to build on and areas needing improvement. In practice, assessing Social Climate can:

• Enhance Engagement and Learning – In schools, a supportive, inclusive climate boosts student participation and achievement.

• Strengthen Therapeutic Outcomes – In treatment settings, trust and safety within the group accelerate recovery and personal growth.

• Improve Care Environments – In home-care or residential settings, a positive climate fosters respect, autonomy, and coordination among residents, family members, and staff.

To align a Social Climate assessment with our Theory of Change and care model, we’ve tailored Moos’s dimensions around five core principles:

1. Relationship-Centered Care

2. Sociocratic Governance

3. Multi-Stakeholder Ownership

4. Co-Production

Rather than treat these in isolation, our framework examines how they interact—and how power dynamics influence whether these values are genuinely lived.

Key Dimensions of Rudolf Moos' Social Climate and how it looks in our model and evaluation framework

We’ve embedded these dimensions into our custom Social Climate Survey —a tool that allows teams, circles, and the co-op at large to track progress, surface emerging issues, and guide iterative improvements.

📊 Learn more. For full details on our Social Climate Framework and survey tool, click .

Every Circle in Equal Care is different as they are shaped by the people in it, the community around it, and the work it’s doing. There’s no blueprint or “one right way” to form a Circle. But there are a few shared principles we come back to time and again.

1. Purpose is co-created

Each Circle begins by revisiting its purpose together. This isn’t about copying what’s come before, but about blending local needs with the wider mission of the co-op. The process of forming purpose is part of forming trust.

Most organisations have pretty rigid hierarchies. Most of us are used to supervisors, managers and deputy managers, and we are used to having to having to speak to the person on the ‘level above us’ before we can communicate with anyone higher than them. Organisations like this are often illustrated like a long line or a pyramid, with the end result the same: that there’s often a distance between you, the person doing the task itself, and somebody that you need to speak to about it.

At Equal Care we share responsibility between those who are the best placed to make the decisions, namely the care and support workers themselves. That’s why we organise ourselves using Circles.

Circles are small groups of people with a shared purpose and responsibility. Everyone in the Circle is treated equally. People might have different roles, but everyone’s voice matters, and everyone is involved in the decisions being made.

Using Circles means that the decisions we make are far more likely to be:

• High-quality

At Equal Care Co-op, most decisions are made by Circles: either the main Circle or one of its sub-Circles. Circles have the autonomy to decide within their own domain (area of responsibility), but they’re also expected to seek out and listen to input - especially when a decision could have a wider impact.

This section outlines how Circles gather input, how individuals can give feedback or appeal a decision, and how proposals are created and developed.

When a Circle receives a question or proposal:

If you’re considering launching a community share offer or investing in a co-operative, it’s important to understand the legal and structural restrictions involved. These rules are designed to:

• Keep co-ops focused on their social or community mission

• Protect investors from undue risk

• Support fair, democratic ownership

This page gives an overview of the key restrictions you need to be aware of in the UK context.

What did we do?

We conducted a total of 13 semi-structured interviews with people in various roles, including:

• Care workers

We organised group activities at two key points in the evaluation process. These sessions brought together care workers, people receiving support, family and friends, volunteers, community members, and local partner organisations. The aim was to ensure that participants helped shape what was measured - and how - and had a chance to reflect collectively on what had been learned.

Group Activity 1: Co-producing our Theory of Change

In May 2023, we held a participatory workshop to map out our Theory of Change. Participants included care receivers, their families and friends, Equal Care workers, local volunteers, community members, and partner organisations.

What did we do?

We developed a bespoke Social Climate Survey tailored to the values and dynamics of our cooperative care model. The survey was grounded in a social climate framework that recognises the unique interplay of:

• 🫂 Relationship-centred care

Evaluating a commons-based, hyper-local model of home care is far from straightforward - and that’s a good thing!

Why? Because we’re not trying to measure a single intervention or a top-down service. We’re trying to understand the ripple effects of a model that weaves together care, community, co-production, and power-sharing. A model that aims to do a lot at once: build relationships, shift culture, improve lives, and distribute responsibility more fairly.

This complexity makes the work more rewarding, and the evaluation more challenging. Here are some of the key hurdles we’ve encountered, grouped into three areas: methodological, ethical, and logistical.

One of the organisers describes how "at one point we realised that the main thing we were able to offer was solidarity, love, belonging and connection.' One of the original ideas was to give people, particularly volunteers, material incentives for regular commitment in the form of wellbeing-related resources like free swims or coffees. But across the interviews, participants emphasize that the main incentive for them was connection and friendship. Meetings were deliberately run in a way that created opportunities for emotional connection. The organisers created check-in spaces where people could share their feelings or their hope and facilitators would always open a space by asking people to reflect on a question: "how was your week today?" or "share three things you liked this week."

One of the Care Owners spoke in her interview about the importance of the project taking place on a hyper-local level, both in terms of relationship and the practical logistics:

I was very inspired by the idea of local people doing local work. I never understood why Hackney council would try to employ a Tower Hamlets care worker. Think about it, if its bad traffic they are gong to be a week late. So not only did I believe in the idea of keeping thing local and building community. I also believed, on a practical level, that this would work.

An important benefit of this 'place-based' approach is that care workers and care receivers may have connections and relationships to one another beyond or outside of their official care role because they are part of the same community. For example, one of the paid organisers described in an interview how one of the most successful matches was between a care worker whose grandmother was a friend and fellow congregant of the care receiver. They reflected that this might be a generative approach to explore, trying to offer jobs to people who are already part of someone's informal care networks. The advantage here is that trust and a sense of mutual responsibility have already been built.

Many interviewees emphasized the way in which Equal Care places value on individual agency and growth. This came through most strongly when explicit comparisons were made between traditional care agencies in the private sector:

Social services is a bit like getting a parcel from amazon. Its a totally passive thing, no relationship. Equal care does things differently. It tries to look at the person and try to ask questions about what they actually want and need. Everyone has different care needs.

The Amazon metaphor that this Care Owner uses to describe her previous experience of care service is revealing on two levels. Firstly it conveys the 'impersonal' or anonymised nature of the interaction, where instead of a relationship there is just a consumer transaction, the handing over of a product. The reference to a corporate platform is also significant in relation to the increased automization of care services as digital tools are deployed to monitor and control every move of care workers, reducing their role to a series of quantifiable tasks.

The importance of recognising that different people have different care needs came across strongly in many of the interviews. One of the care owners spoke about the importance of making sure that there is a good match between the care worker and care receiver in terms of specific skills and experience that might be important e.g. being able to provide support using digital technologies. She also emphasized the importance of compatibility in terms of interests, personality, energy and other characteristics: "you don't put a highly organized neat freak with a scatty person." To illustrate the lack of agency or flexibility that existing within normal care services, one of the Care Owners shared an anecdote from a conversation with a friend who was using an NHS trust: