The National Care Forum (NCF) – the leading association for not-for-profit social care is delighted to announce that Professor Vic Rayner OBE, Chief Executive Officer of the National Care Forum as become the incoming chair of the Care Provider Alliance (CPA), the coalition of national voices of adult social care providers in England, for 2024/25.

Vic’s extensive experience spans social care, health, housing, and technology sectors -including over eight years at the helm of the National Care Forum.

Vic chairs the government national workforce advisory group and the National Social Care Advisory Group on social care and technology, where she has been at the forefront of promoting digital transformation across care. She also sits on a range of government and national specialist groups with a focus on new models of care and regulation.

Furthermore, this year Vic became chair of the Global Ageing Network and works extensively with international partners on key areas of innovation and change.

Vic is a regular national and international speaker and has extensive knowledge and expertise across a wide range of care, support, housing and social policy agendas. She was awarded an OBE for services to social care in 2021.

The role of CPA chair rotates annually across each of the ten associations. Vic follows Dr. Jane Townson OBE, Chief Executive Officer of the Homecare Association, who served as the CPA’s Chair for the past 12 months.

Commenting on her new role, Vic said:

“I am thrilled to serve as this year’s Chair of the Care Provider Alliance (CPA). The CPA members work across the whole care and support sector ensuring a coordinated response to the major issues that affect care providers and as an Alliance we continue to go from strength to strength. Our work together with policymakers, commissioners and those who draw on care and support is vitally important, and I look forward to building our engagement and impact together.

“This is such a crucial time for social care, and speaking with one voice will be critical as we seek towards achieving fair pay for carers, and the implementation of a funded workforce strategy. Commissioning and regulation are also areas of concern, and we are very keen to work with the new Government to develop a National Care Service.

CPA remains focused on nurturing our partnerships and existing programmes, such as the Integrated Care Systems Learning Network for health and social care partners and building on our essential resources for care providers in business continuity and digital transformation.

“Our thanks go to outgoing Chair, Dr Jane Townson OBE, for her outstanding leadership of CPA over the last year, and to the vital project team who support us on a part-time basis.”

Outgoing Chair, Jane, commented:

“Serving as Chair of the CPA over the past year, it has been an honour and a privilege to work with many exceptional colleagues across the care and health sectors. We built on work in previous years to strengthen our engagement with national and local government; the NHS; regulators; think tanks; universities; sector experts in the UK and abroad; and the media.

“During this period, we have seen an increase in demand for care and complexity of need. International recruitment helped to plug gaps in our workforce in the short-term but also created fresh problems we worked hard to solve. Alongside this, we supported development of a strategy to grow and develop our UK care workforce, led by Skills for Care. CPA members have remained committed to the digital transformation of care and are pleased that 70% of providers are now using digital care records. Difficulties at CQC have created many issues for care providers and we have advocated strongly for improvement. The financial position of many small providers remains precarious. Our analysis has highlighted the need for investment and the value of timely support and care for individuals, communities, and the economy.

“There are many opportunities to improve healthy life expectancy by supporting more people to live well in their communities. I know Vic has the energy, tenacity and knowledge to take the Alliance forward as we work towards creating a robust and sustainable social care system.

“In my role as CEO of the Homecare Association, I will continue to be a part of the CPA and look forward to working closely with Vic in her new role.”