The School for Social Care Research
The School for Social Care Research (SSCR) is funded by the National Institute for Health and Care Research. The University of Birmingham joined the School in 2019 and in 2024 successfully secured a second phase of funding. We will receive a share of £31 million in funding over the next 5 years (2024 – 2029). The £31 million is made up of £25 million for research and up to £6 million to build social care research capacity. The school will continue to complement existing NIHR funding streams for social care research.
The current SSCR is a new partnership between 7 centres in social care research in England: University of York (lead University), University of Birmingham, University of Bristol, a collaboration between the Universities of Leeds and Leeds Beckett, the London School of Economics and Political Science and the University of Sheffield. SSCR is a key part of the broader adult social care research taking place within the School of Social Policy and Society.
This next round of funding will further support the School’s core vision to provide better evidence for what works in adult social care and how this can be applied across the whole country. This will support, mobilise and deliver impact for the benefit of the public as service users, carers and the workforce.
Researchers in the School of Social Policy and Society at the University of Birmingham have a strong track record of research into reducing, delaying and preventing the need for social care and exploring alternative types of care. Membership of SSCR provides an opportunity to build on existing strengths in research into wellbeing and prevention; funding care appropriately; designing effective care markets; and improving integration with health services.
SSCR funded projects:
Completed projects
"When the money runs out": capital depletion and transition out of self-funded care. (2021 - 2024) Principal Investigator: Dr Philip Kinghorn, Senior Lecturer, Institute of Applied Research. Co-investigators: Dr Rebecca Ince, University of Birmingham, Dr Denise Tanner, University of Birmingham, Dr Kate Baxter, University of Birmingham and Anne Hastings, Age UK Solihull.
Social Work with Older People. (2021 - 2023) Principal Investigator: Dr Denise Tanner, Associate Professor of Social Work.
Combining Asset and Strengths Based Innovations in adult social care (CASBI) (2019-2022). Professor Jerry Tew, University of Birmingham (Principal Investigator), Professor Robin Miller, University of Birmingham (Co-investigator), Dr Sandhya Duggal, University of Birmingham (Co-investigator), Dr Phil Kinghorn, University of Birmingham (Co-investigator) and Clenton Farquharson MBE, Chair of the Think Local Act Personal partnership board (PPI lead)
Understanding the Contribution of Social Enterprise to the Social Care Sector: An Exploratory Study. (2017 - 2021) Principal Investigator: Dr Kelly Hall. Co-investigators: Dr Philip Kinghorn, Dr Chloe Alexander, Kelly Hayward.
Development of a decision support tool for older people who pay for social care, and their families. (2021 - 2023) Principal Investigator: Kate Baxter (University of York). Co-investigators: Yvonne Birks (University of York), Lyndsay Lindley (University of York), Mark Wilberforce (University of York), Dr Louise Overton (Department of Social Policy, Sociology and Criminology, University of Birmingham) Professor Dawn Dowding (Division of Nursing, Midwifery and Social Work, School of Health Science, University of Manchester), Dr Maxin Watkins (School of Social Policy, University of Birmingham).
Understanding the Social Care Assessment Journey of Older LGBTQ+ People. Principal Investigator: Jason Schaub (University of Birmingham). Co-investigators: Dr Dora Jandric (University of Birmingham), Dr Stephen Hicks (University of Manchester), Dr Paul Willis (University of Bristol), Professor Ben Thomas (Opening Doors), Sallie Johnson (University of Birmingham), Izzy Pullen (University of Birmingham), Dorothy Gould (University of Birmingham), Martin Wells (University of Birmingham), Julian Hargreaves (University of Birmingham), Cecilia Dubois (University of Birmingham), Tracie Hammond (University of Birmingham), Stephen Airey (University of Birmingham).
Councillors and Care: Understanding and enhancing the role of councillors in shaping adult social care practice https://21stcenturypublicservant.wordpress.com/councillors-and-care/. (2021-2023) Principal Investigator: Catherine Needham (University of Birmingham). Co-investigator: Catherine Mangan (University of Birmingham).
Current projects
What’s going to happen to us next? What happens to people with learning disabilities and/or autistic people when they leave long-stay hospital settings, and what sorts of support helps people to stay out of hospital? (2025 – 2027) Principal Investigators: Jon Glasby and Robin Miller (University of Birmingham)
ASSURE: understanding the impact of CQC assurance on local authorities (2025 - 2027) Principal Investigators: Catherine Needham and Emily Burn (University of Birmingham).