The Association of Mental Health Providers welcomes the official launch of the Commission on a National Care Service, chaired by Baroness Louise Casey, and the publication of its terms of reference. This Commission represents a critical opportunity to rethink and reshape adult social care in England, moving toward a more equitable, sustainable, and person-centred system.

We particularly welcome the Commission’s ambition to tackle long-standing systemic issues across the social care sector, including underfunding, fragmentation, and inequalities in access and outcomes. It is encouraging that the Commission has been established with cross-party support and a clear remit to consider both the current crisis and the long-term transformation needed to deliver a social care system that meets the needs of all communities. Baroness Casey’s track record in social policy, homelessness, and public service reform gives us confidence in her ability to lead a thorough and inclusive process. We are especially pleased that she has started by engaging with people who use social care services and those who support them, setting the right tone for a process centred in lived experience.

Mental health must be central to the Commission’s vision. Any future social care model must embed mental health support across all services, tackle the wider social determinants of mental health and wellbeing, and ensure timely, joined-up, community-based support. VCSE organisations are already delivering impactful, preventative, and personalised mental health support that reduces pressure on statutory services and improves outcomes for individuals. This work must be recognised, valued, and supported as part of long-term system reform.

The Association’s work to raise awareness of the essential role played by adult social care and support services in improving outcomes for people experiencing poor mental health and illness has been integral to our role in the Mental Health Social Care Policy Oversight and Advisory Group and through the development of our mental health social care mapping tool and analysis. This work reinforces the need to place mental health at the heart of social care reform. The Casey Commission presents a vital opportunity to promote a deeper understanding of the role of social care and support systems, as defined in the Care Act 2014, in relation to mental health, and to ensure this is reflected in the Commission’s considerations and recommendations.

However, we are concerned by the proposed timeline for reform. A decade-long process risks delaying urgent transformation until 2036, while demand for social care continues to grow and pressures intensify. It is not acceptable to ask older and disabled people, carers, those with mental health needs, or children and working-age adults to wait even longer for change.

Any future model of care and support must embed mental health support across all social care and support services, address the wider social determinants of wellbeing, and ensure timely, joined-up, and community-based support. VCSE organisations are already delivering preventative, personalised social care and support services that reduce pressure on the NHS and improve outcomes. Their role must be recognised and invested in as part of long-term system reform.

We welcome the Commission’s emphasis on prevention, productivity, and workforce reform. But these aims must be backed by urgency, sustained investment, and a genuine commitment to co-production with those who use and deliver social care. Only by fully integrating mental health and listening to the voices of providers and people with lived experience can we build a social care system that is equitable, effective, and fit for the future.

As members of the Care Provider Alliance and the Care and Support Alliance, we also support their responses to this announcement.