Our adult social care system isn’t just struggling—it’s broken. Across England, the care system struggles with chronic staff shortages, poor pay, bad working conditions, and a lack of high-quality care which means care recipients, their families and workers are let down out every turn. If we’re serious about fixing adult social care, it’s time to put co-operation at the centre of the solution.

At its heart is a care system which seems to enable profit extraction rather than high quality care. At public provision has receded, private for-profit care has proliferated across England – accounting for over 80% of the sector. In residential care, this has led to 10% of revenues, approximately £1.5bn, being extracted annually. This goes against what a care system should be – a system which puts people first by delivering the best care possible and providing them the best opportunity to live fulfilling lives with dignity.

With the Casey Review looking at how to reform the adult social care system, our new report, The Power of Co-operation in Care, aims to make the case for co-operative care growth across England. It features conversations with care providers, trade associations, think tanks and academics on how the Labour Government can make a more co-operative care system a reality.

Co-operative care can deliver a more personalised care that puts both recipients and workers in control. International evidence demonstrates the power of co-operative care to improve service quality, wages, working conditions, and staff retention. All of this will be instrumental in creating a care system we can be proud of. Italy’s co-operative social care system shows what’s possible when there is a political will for growth. Italy’s social care co-operatives are now pillars of the wider welfare system, with over 14,000 co-operatives employing 440,000 people across Italy. With a legislative framework and adequate co-operative development support, there is no reason why the UK should not experience similar rapid development of co-operative care.

The report makes the case for piloting new care co-operatives across the country, supported by tailored co-operative development support. A new worker buyout mechanism could be introduced to support the maintenance of care provision at risk of closure. These new features could be an integral part of the Casey Review reforms and the proposed National Care Service.

As we look towards the future of the social care system, co-operative models have the power to be transformative for care recipients, their families and workers. Now is the time to take action to reduce profit extraction and grow care co-operatives in every community. Read the report here.