Our members often see the effects of policy and commissioning before they appear in national reports. They know when a contract is no longer viable, when regulation is creating unintended consequences, when a neighbourhood model is being designed without community partners, or when people are falling between clinical, social care, housing, and voluntary services.

Our role is to bring those experiences together, test what we are hearing, add evidence, develop clear asks, and take them to the people able to act. We then report back on what happened next. We do not treat attendance at a meeting as impact, and we do not claim a policy change where the evidence does not support it.

When providers raised concerns about CQC registration and dormancy decisions affecting mental health residential and supported living services, we met affected organisations, gathered wider member and commissioner evidence, and escalated the issue nationally. The work remains live, but it shows how a problem experienced locally can become a stronger national case when providers act together.

We co-chair with NHS England the VCSE network supporting six neighbourhood mental health centre pilots. Their learning points to the importance of trusted relationships, locally relevant support, shared decisions, warm handovers, outreach, lived experience, and sustainable funding for community partners. We have taken that learning into national discussions about the expansion of neighbourhood models, and NHS England has asked us to develop a Community of Practice proposal so new sites can learn from the pilots.

In August 2026 we put five practical recommendations to the independent review of mental health conditions, ADHD, and autism. The published review in October included a detailed recommendation on stable, multi-year VCSE commissioning, shared governance, common outcomes, and organisational sustainability. We do not claim sole credit for that recommendation, but it closely reflects a central part of the case we and our members had put forward.

We continue to make the case for mental health social care in discussions that can otherwise default to older people, care homes, and hospital discharge. Our work with ADASS, DHSC, the Care Provider Alliance, and wider partners keeps in view the housing, relationships, employment, community connection, and day-to-day support that help people remain independent and avoid crisis.