News

Earlier in October MacIntyre was delighted to welcome members of the Casey Commission team to Milton Keynes.

The Casey Commission, led by Dame Louise Casey, are conducting an independent review into adult social care. The Commission began in April 2025 and will be undertaken in two phases with the final phase reporting back by 2028 to the Prime Minister.

At the visit to MacIntyre the team heard about three different areas:

The move from children’s residential and education support to adult social care
MacIntyre’s experience of successfully supporting disabled people who have been inappropriately living in secure settings to move into their own homes.
The importance of engaging and investing in the third sector. How third sector organisations, like those of us making up the More Than a Provider collaboration, can help lever community based assets and influence the shape and scope of what is considered to be great social care.

Leaving education

How do young people and their families avoid the “transition cliff edge” when leaving education

The Commission were urged to include a focus on the period of time after a person leaves education (often referred to a “transition” in the scope of their report).

We were joined by Alice, who shared her personal experience of supporting her son Jude when he left MacIntyre’s school this summer. Despite initiating the planning more than a year before he was due to leave, Alice was offered the final choices for Jude just a week before his leaving date.

Jude’s parents’ first choice was for him to continue in education, but the local further education college would not accept him and the closest specialist college was more than two hours from their home. The only option remaining was for Jude to move to an adult supported living home in his home county. The team heard how Alice fears Jude is already losing some skills; she is now in regular contact with the local authority to look at options for him to move.

MacIntyre No Limits™

Bruce Smith, Head of MacIntyre No Limits, presented the No Limits solution – No Limits offers personalised programmes of learning for 16-25 year olds who have an Education Health and Care Plan (EHCP). The focus of the curriculums includes four Pathways:

Homes Not Hospitals

In the second session of the day we were joined by Sarah, Dom and Cath who outlined MacIntyre’s approach when supporting people to move from long-stay inpatient units.

Dom, an expert by experience, shared his own story of being in the unit, and how his life has changed since moving out. The current NHS statistics show that 3,995 people with a learning disability, autism or both are detained in inpatient hospitals. This number has increased from 3,400 at the start of the Transforming Care agenda in 2012.

Our therapeutic model was shared with the team and the fact that no one supported by MacIntyre has been readmitted to a secure setting was celebrated. We were able to compare the funding differentials that exist between the two models.

Investing in the Third Sector

After a delicious lunch from MacIntyre’s Coffee Shop, the last session focussed on the positive influence that people who draw on social care are having in the neighbourhoods where they live and work and how we all need to rethink what we mean by social care. People who draw on social care and MacIntyre employees told our Everyone Everywhere story.

Everyone Everywhere is a way of working that has been adopted across MacIntyre. It’s about flipping the narrative: rather than being seen as passive recipients of care and support, people are connecting across the neighbourhoods where they live and work, offering their gifts, skills and passions. People talked about being movers and shapers ensuring that local neighbourhoods are connected and inclusive places where we all look out for each other.

Sarah Burslem, MacIntyre CEO, said:

We were delighted to host the Casey Commission team and have every faith that this review will be a catalyst for significant and much needed reform for people drawing on social care. We were able to share how the resilience, ambition and creativity that exists across MacIntyre and other organisations like us are leading to better lives and better outcomes for disabled people.

The visit was part of a wider effort by More Than a Provider, a group of six non-profit organisations to ensure that the voices of people are central to shaping the future of adult social care. Supporting people with learning disabilities, autistic people, and mental health needs, the partnership includes Certitude, Brandon Trust, Dimensions, Choice Support, MacIntyre and United Response.