Speak Up For Care Campaigning and Engagement toolkit

The General Election took place on 4th July 2024 with Labour winning by a decisive majority. Our press release in response assures the new government that the not-for-profit care and support sector stands ready to support them in implementing their plans for social care.

As well as gaining the power to form the government, Labour also gained 211 new MPs and it’s vital for us to continue the engagement with these new MPs that began before the election when they were candidates. The first 100 days of the new government will be critical.

To that end we have updated our Speak Up For Care resources and toolkit which you will find links to below.

At the core of our campaign are the voices of people working in and drawing upon care and support – it’s what they want and need for a good life that matters. We’re therefore incredibly grateful to Isaac Samuels who shared with us his message for the new government on what he wants to see them focus on for social care.

To watch Isaac’s full interview please visit our YouTube channel.

Campaigning resources available for download

The toolkit contains important guidance for any members planning to get involved in campaigning now we are in the first 100 days of the new government, particularly those which are registered charities.

In addition, we have developed some content for members to use on their websites and also to inspire a series of social media posts using the hashtag #SpeakUpForCare. The suggested posts are in the voice of a care provider, a care worker and someone in receipt of care and could be used to encourage those using your services and their families, friends, supporters and the wider community to lend their voices to help us all Speak Up For Care.

Even if your organisation only has capacity for sharing some of our posts or posting stories of the people you care for using the hashtag #SpeakUpForCare then that’s great! The more the hashtag grows on social media the bigger the impact and the more people we can reach.

A word of warning regarding using social media – Do be mindful of the negative reactions some users, particularly on X (formerly Twitter), can have towards posts featuring people who use your care particularly where the images include visiting politicians. We would advise contacting the office of the visiting MP to agree the terms of engagement for the visit, provide some key points about your service that you would want them to highlight in their posts or perhaps agree some social media wording in advance.

Thank you to our members in the Policy & Public Affairs Network and the Marketing & Communications Forum for assisting us in the development of this toolkit. This toolkit builds on our ‘must haves for the new government‘. Further feedback would be welcomed! Please email victoria.garratt@nationalcareforum.org.uk with any further comments.

Other campaigns we are supporting

We have been proud to support the Care and Support Alliance‘s Show Us You Care campaign since it launched before the election with its first action.

The second action, a direct email to MPs asking them to take direct action on care launched on 23rd July and we will be taking part using the CSA’s branded assets.

Letter templates to a local MP or councillor

We have also created a series of letter templates to encourage your staff, people who draw on your care and their families, friends and supporters to contact their local MP our councillor and arrange visits to their care settings. All resources are purely intended as guidance to provide a structure and ideas and do not have to be followed to the letter. In fact, we would suggest members to use the templates as a guide and insert their own thoughts and comments into them and encourage staff and those drawing on care using the other templates to do the same.