The UK is living through a care crisis. 

From childcare to social care, from unpaid carers assisting elderly and sick relatives to paid workers working long hours for increasingly less pay – we simply do not have the infrastructure in place to make sure we, and our loved ones, are treated with dignity and autonomy. 

What little care is available, is unaffordable for most. 

This is a systemic crisis of willful neglect – and requires more than just a short term fix. What we need are caring systems, not just caring people. In short: we need an economic system that values care at its heart. 

As we approach the 75th anniversary of the founding of the NHS – there is an opportunity to rethink our institutions and accurately assess how we got here and what to do next. 

openDemocracy – in partnership with Autonomy’s Feminist Futures Programme – has just published a fantastic new explainer video series on solutions to the care crisis which can be accessed here. It includes FFP’s very own Helen Hester, alongside Dalia Gebrial, Asad Rehman and Sarah Jaffe. 

As part of the project, we are also co-hosting – alongide OpenDemocracy, Verso Books and War on Want – a parliamentary event on 11th July from 6-8pm to discuss the care crisis and how we fix it – featuring Nadia Whittome MP, Helen Hester, Asad Rehman, Emily Kenway and Adam Ramsay. 

Please join us and register at the Eventbrite link below.