Creating national standards of care could put an end to the social care postcode lottery in England, a national charity has said.
For decades, people with similar care needs have faced very different experiences depending on where they live in the country: from timely, personalised support that enables independence and dignity, to long waiting lists, high eligibility thresholds and unmet basic needs.
This is what is meant by the social care postcode lottery – a system where access to support, quality of care and outcomes are shaped less by need and more by local circumstances, capacity and interpretation of duties.
In a new report, the Social Care Institute for Excellence (SCIE), a charity that promotes good practice and innovation in social care, argues that the core challenge facing the sector is not a lack of values or vision, but the inconsistent translation of those shared principles into people’s day-to-day experiences of care and support.
It says that while England already has a widely shared understanding of what good care should look like, those values are applied unevenly across the country.
This inconsistency, the charity explains, is what has produced the postcode lottery in access, quality and outcomes.
The report, titled ‘Towards a National Care Service: Raising national standards of care’, frames national standards of care not as a prescriptive blueprint for services, but as a “mechanism for clarifying expectations so that people can rely on a consistent baseline regardless of where they live”.
Kathryn Marsden OBE, Chief Executive of SCIE, said: “It is indefensible that, in this country, two people with the same social care needs, living only a few miles apart, can experience completely different levels of support. That postcode lottery undermines people’s dignity, independence and safety, and it places intolerable pressure on families and unpaid carers who are left to fill the gaps.
“National standards of care offer a practical way to close that gap – not by imposing a one-size-fits-all model, but by making clear what people should be able to expect from the system wherever they live. Done well, they can translate long-standing values in social care into clearer, outcomes-focused expectations that are rooted in lived experience and backed by accountability.”
SCIE’s proposed framework sets out how national standards could define what is essential and non-negotiable, while deliberately protecting flexibility in how outcomes are achieved locally.
The emphasis is on standards that specify what good care delivers for people, rather than mandating uniform processes or service models.
Crucially, the report is clear that national standards alone cannot fix the deep-rooted challenges facing social care, including workforce shortages and financial pressures.
Their impact, it says, depends on how they are designed and implemented, and whether they are supported by the right system conditions, from data and accountability to commissioning capability and co-production infrastructure.
“Social care operates in a complex, resource-constrained system, shaped by workforce shortages, financial pressures and shifting political priorities. Poorly designed standards risk becoming symbolic, compliance-driven or disconnected from reality. This is not about quick fixes. Ending the postcode lottery will require sustained commitment, careful implementation and a focus on learning and improvement – not just ambition on paper,” Marsden added.
“As the Casey Commission builds momentum towards its final report in 2028, this is the moment to get the foundations right – starting with clarity about what good care should deliver, and how we reduce variation in people’s experiences without losing what makes care personal and local.”