Carer Innovation Collective: ”Better support for carers, together”
The Carer Innovation Collective brings together people across the NHS, local authorities, and carer organisations who are passionate about improving support for unpaid Carers. It’s a space to share ideas, explore new approaches, and learn what’s working, from digital tools and AI to frontline support and engagement. Expect open conversations, shared challenges, and practical insights you can take back and apply. Whether you’re building new services or strengthening existing ones, this is a place to connect, learn, and make a real difference.
For me, it’s trying to balance telling the real story with fitting into rigid criteria. You’re working with complex, human situations, but the bid process often reduces that to boxes, outputs, and numbers.
There’s also the challenge of proving impact when so much of carers’ support is preventative or long-term. How do you clearly evidence something that hasn’t happened because the right support was in place?
And then there’s the time and resource pressure. Smaller organisations especially are expected to produce highly detailed bids while still delivering frontline support.
Would be really interested to hear what others are finding most challenging at the moment.
For me, it’s the level of detail expected with very limited time. You’re trying to evidence everything — impact, partnerships, delivery models — while still running day-to-day services.
It can feel like you’re being asked to produce something incredibly comprehensive without the capacity to step back and do it properly.
Interested to hear how others are managing that balance.
Also, it’s the uncertainty. You can spend weeks pulling together a strong bid, but it’s never fully clear what will land — priorities can shift, criteria can feel open to interpretation, and feedback isn’t always detailed enough to learn from.
There’s also a disconnect at times between what’s asked for on paper and what’s actually needed on the ground. You end up trying to shape real-world support into a format that doesn’t always reflect how carers’ lives actually work.
And with funding being so competitive, it can feel like even really strong, experienced organisations are constantly on the back foot.
Would be good to hear if others are feeling the same or have found ways to navigate it better.
