Meet our Exhibitors at the Summer Conference

May 29, 2025

Meet our Exhibitors

WMCA Registered Managers, Deputies and Seniors Conference

19th June 2025

We are looking forward to our Registered Managers, Deputies and Seniors Conference on Thursday 19th June where will be addressing the CQC theme Is your Care Service "Responsive".

We have some great speakers lined up but only have limited spaces left. You can find out more and book your space here.

In the meantime, we wanted to introduce you to the many Exhibitors who will be taking part in the event and encourage you to speak to them to find out more about how they can support you with your service.

Citation have been providing expert Health & Safety, HR and Employment Law advice to businesses like yours for over 25 years taking the complication out of compliance. Whether it’s building a solid and reliable team or managing the one you’ve got, Citation can save you time and money and offer quality expert advice - all under one roof. If you’re enjoying making the most of Citation’s advice line, ask about their full service where you’ll benefit from their expert support, 24 hours a day.

Don’t forget that as a WMCA Member you have access to a dedicated Citation expert via a FREE HR advice line. You can find out more about this on the Members area of our website.

The Data Security and Protection Tool Kit (DSPT) is an Online Assessment which all Care Providers who work with and access NHS patient data and systems (including NHS Mail) must complete annually.

The tool kit covers such areas as your privacy and data protection policies, how you store and backup data, how you secure mobile devices, business continuity in the event of a cyber incident and how you manage your IT security and support.

FREE Support is available to help ALL CQC registered care providers complete the Data Security Protection Toolkit through the national Better Security Better Care program of which WMCA is the Local Support Organisation for the West Midlands.

Find out more about our digital support here.

Established in 2001, Skills for Care is the strategic workforce development and planning body for adult social care in England. They work with employers, Government and partners to ensure social care has the right people, skills and support required to deliver the highest quality care and support now and in the future.

Their role is to work across the whole system to understand the key drivers of workforce change using insight, data and evidence. They provide managers and those involved in the delivery of social care with guidance on best practice, tools, resources and intelligence to support workforce recruitment, capabilities, and culture. This combination of strategic and operational activity is the cornerstone of their reach and insight into the sector.

Come along to their exhibition stand and speak to Suzanne Petrie or email: suzanne.petrie@skillsforcare.org.uk

Quality Care Recruit (part of the Quality Care Group) specialise in assisting care businesses with recruiting senior-level hires across a wide range of roles. In addition, through Resourcing+, their own dedicated service, they support care homes and domiciliary care businesses in finding and retaining carers and support workers whose values align with your organisation's needs.

Quality Care Recruit was established to provide leadership recruitment solutions and more. With extensive industry expertise and innovative strategies, QCR addresses key sector challenges such as high staff turnover, compliance issues, and budget constraints. Through services like Executive Search (ES) and Recruitment Process Audits (RPA), as well as Resourcing+, their dedicated service for recruiting carers and support staff, QCR ensures that candidates are not only qualified but also culturally aligned. They prioritise quality placements that enhance operational excellence across all levels of the care sector.

Visit their exhibition stand and speak to Mathew and Simon.

Email: mathew.singleton@qcaregroup.co.uk or simon.van.os@qcaregroup.co.uk

Maximus is an Access to Work Mental Health Support Service providing cost-free support for people struggling with their mental health.

Through confidential, personalised support, they have helped more than 45,000 people with anxiety, depression and stress feel better at work over the last seven years.

Maximus are offering dedicated one-to-one support appointments throughout June, focused specifically on stress in the workplace. These initial sessions are part of the Access to Work Mental Health Support Service, and can lead to up to nine months of personalised, confidential support—all fully funded by the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP). This support is ideal for SMEs, where resources can be stretched and employee well-being is crucial to productivity and retention.

Appointments are available to book now, and over the coming months, Maximus will continue providing condition-specific support for challenges like anxiety, depression, and more.

Speak to their representative at their exhibition stand or email: clive.thomas@maximusuk.co.uk

The NIHR is funded by the Department of Health and Social Care to improve the health and wealth of the nation through research.

Working in partnership with the NHS, universities, local government, other research funders, patients and the public, they fund, enable and deliver world-leading health and social care research that improves people's health and wellbeing and promotes economic growth.

They are also a major funder of applied health research in low and middle income countries, work that is principally funded through UK government international development funding.

ENRICH is a national network that connects care homes with researchers, facilitating research within care settings. It supports care home staff, residents, and families to take part in and benefit from research. It is free to sign up.

ENRICH’s primary aim is to improve the health and well-being of care home residents and staff. By supporting research, ENRICH supports the introduction of new practices and the improvement of standards of care in these settings.

Any care home interested in supporting research can join the NIHR ENRICH Research Care Home Network.

Visit their exhibition stand or email: nicola.standen@nihr.ac.uk to find out more.

Sight Loss Councils, funded by Thomas Pocklington Trust, are regional groups led by blind and partially sighted (BPS) volunteers. Together, they use their lived experience to tackle the things that really matter to blind and partially sighted people, every day.

There are currently around 25 Sight Loss Councils. Thomas Pocklington Trust plans to expand these further across the country this coming year.

Together they prioritise issues identified to them by BPS people locally and nationally. These priorities include accessible transport and streets so everyone can travel independently and safely, and health and fitness. They also work to increase the accessibility of museums, galleries, retail and leisure, depending on local area need.

For more information email: louise.connop@pocklington-trust.org.uk or chat with them at their exhibition stand.

WMCA recently ran two successful Fire Safety Workshops for Care Homes and Dom Care Providers. The Workshops highlighted identifying fire safety risks when working with vulnerable people. They also addressed how to risk assess service users home and ensure providers can offer reliable support for service users to prevent fires in their homes as well as looking at fire prevention assessments for care homes.

Visit their exhibition stand to find out how they can support you and your service with fire prevention.

Contact kerry.chance@wmfs.net to find out more

Inspired Inspirations create tools that bring people together, lift spirits, and help those in care and education feel seen, engaged, and valued—every single day.

Their Able Range is carefully designed to turn everyday moments into something special. Whether it’s used in a busy classroom, a quiet care lounge, or a vibrant community hub, each table is crafted to support cognitive, emotional, and physical well-being in ways that feel natural and joyful.

Through their CPD-accredited Project Well Being programme, they can help your team understand how to use the tables to reach every person—even those who seem the hardest to engage. From sensory sessions and storytelling to memory games and music therapy, they give you the tools to turn interaction into transformation.

Chat to them at their exhibition stand or email stewart@inspired-inspirations.com for more information.

We have partnered with Social Care People to offer our members 40% discount on job advertisement discounted bundles and FREE recruitment advice from the Social Care People team of experts.

The bundle will result in your job vacancy being posted on the following sites-

• Carehome; • Community Care; • Monster; • Reed; • CV Library; • Total Jobs; • Jobsite; • Working Mums; • Indeed; • Find a job; • Social Care People

If you are planning to advertise any social care vacancies online, then this is a great way to save money and give your role wide coverage! Plus you will get unlimited advertising for a year on the Social Care People job board.

Find out more by chatting to them at their exhibition stand or email claire@socialcarepeople.co.uk for more information.

Quality of Care offer help to care providers that covers two key areas.

QoC Business

Their aim focuses on the need to make sure your care business is financially strong and healthy. If any business is financially weak and vulnerable then sooner or later it is going to fail. This has to be the first area to tackle.

This is where their help starts and they have created tools and training to help you make sure your care business is financially resilient enough to be sustainable.

QoC Training

Quality of Care are an accredited training company that offers care specific training, apprenticeships and business training such as leadership and Management and Strategy.

They formed a dynamic team of trainers and assessors, headed by Karen Hunter, who have contributed to the accreditation of QoC by ICQ and Qualsafe.

Their experience tells them that if your care home gets these two areas right then it can build a great team of loyal people who deliver quality care whilst remaining financially viable.

Find out more by chatting with them at their exhibition stand. Alternatively, contact Chris at chris@qualityofcare.co.uk.

Intelligent Lilli support people to live safely and independently with intelligent, proactive care monitoring solutions from Home Care Monitoring to Falls Detection in care homes and communities.

Lilli brings positive benefits to all involved in the delivery of a person’s care, through innovative solutions for both home and care environments.

Their advanced technology provides robust data and insights, enabling care teams to make informed decisions, optimise resource allocation, maintain high standards of care and reduce costs.

Chat to them at their exhibition stand where you can find out more or email matthew.ford@intelligentlilli.com

Halesowen College provide high quality education and skills development to young people and adults both on campus, within the community and, through their apprenticeship offer, in the workplace.

Their staff will be exhibiting at the conference to promote the courses they offer in Health and Social Care, including:-

Level 3 AAQ Cambridge Advanced National
Health and Social Care Foundation Degree
Apprenticeships
Pearson BTEC Level 3 National Certificate in Health and Social Care
T Level
Access Courses
and more!

Contact Sarah Hale, Health & Social Care Placement Officer on shale@halesowen.ac.uk to find out more

Delphi Care Solutions helps care providers achieve excellence by offering comprehensive, end-to-end support tailored to the unique challenges of the sector. Whether you're navigating regulatory compliance, optimising operations, or undergoing significant change such as acquisition or exit, our expert team—comprising former CQC inspectors, NHS leaders, clinicians, and sector specialists—brings the insight and hands-on experience needed to drive results. From ensuring inspection readiness and service improvement, to enhancing business performance and delivering strategic growth, we empower providers to deliver high-quality, sustainable care with confidence."

Sarah McCormack, Business Development & Taskforce Executive, will be speaking at our Conference on "Responsive: A Practical Guide to CQC Readiness"

You can contact Sarah at smccormack@delphi.care or call her on 03301 333 002

Website: Care Quality Consultants/CQC Compliance Consultations - Delphi Care

Alternativately, you can book a free consultation with Sarah here.

The King's Trust (formerly the Prince's Trust) is funded by the Department of Health & Social Care to support your organisation recruit the next generation of young people into the social care sector.

They work in conjunction with NHS England's Widening Access & Participation initiative to support young people aged 16-30 from diverse backgrounds into Health & Social care careers.

Come and chat with them on their exhibition stand to see how they can support your care business.

You can find out more about the King's Trust Health & Social Care Programmes here.

Alternatively, contact Jason Wright, Delivery Manager (Health and Social Care) West Midlands, King's Trust

Email: Jason.Wright@kingstrust.org.uk

Tel: 07773 002845

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Improving Care and Promoting Independence for Individuals Living with Sight Loss

July 22, 2026

22 July 2026 10.00am - 11.00am

WMCA Newsletter

July 21, 2026

Amber Court Residential Care Home Turns the Tide

CAA calls for a national funding settlement

July 16, 2026

Care Association Alliance sets out a national funding model for adult social care, designed to give families certainty, providers stability, and councils the resources to do their job (read the full repo rt here ) A new CAA report proposes pooling the financial risk of an ageing population nationally, rather than leaving it with 153 individual councils. The core of the model: ring-fenced national funding shared on a needs-based formula, a national tariff for care, and an independent body to keep it honest. Individuals keep a means-tested contribution, but with a lifetime cap and a raised capital threshold, so no one faces unlimited costs or has to sell their home. Councils keep assessment, planning, safeguarding and oversight, but are relieved of carrying a national demographic risk on a local budget. Backed by the Rt Hon Damian Green, Chair of the Social Care Foundation and former Deputy Prime Minister responsible for social care policy. The Care Association Alliance (CAA) has published a proposal for how England should fund adult social care for older people. Its report, Adult Social Care Funding Reform, describes a national funding settlement built on a straightforward idea: the cost of growing old and needing care is a national risk, and it should be met nationally, while care itself continues to be arranged and delivered locally. A national risk carried on local budgets At present, primary responsibility for adult social care sits with 153 local authorities under the Care Act 2014. They assess need, commission services and manage local provider markets. They also carry the full financial weight of demographic change, a pressure that is national in scale and rising quickly. The number of people aged 85 and over is projected to double within twenty years, and the Office for Budget Responsibility estimates that simply maintaining today's system will require public spending on social care to grow by 3.1 per cent a year over the next decade, compared with the 0.7 per cent average delivered between 2009/10 and 2022/23. That pressure shows up directly in the price of care. On average, councils pay £24.10 an hour for home care, while the Homecare Association puts the minimum sustainable rate at £32.14. The National Audit Office found in 2021 that authorities were commissioning care at below the sustainable cost of care, and the King's Fund reports that in 2025/26, council fee increases of around 5 per cent were outpaced by provider cost increases of 8 to 10 per cent. This is not a matter of councils choosing to underpay. It is what happens when local budgets are asked to absorb a national cost. Providers take the strain through thinner margins and deferred investment, and families often meet it through the higher fees paid by those who fund their own care, on average 41 per cent more than the council-funded rate. One settlement, built as a system The CAA argues that these are symptoms of a single structural mismatch, and that they need to be fixed together. Its proposed national funding settlement rests on three principles: pooling the financial risk of demographic change nationally, a statutory entitlement to support triggered by assessed need, and continued local delivery within a national framework. In practice, the settlement has five main components: A ring-fenced national care grant , distributed to councils on a needs-adjusted formula, so that funding follows need rather than local fiscal capacity. A reformed means test , with a raised capital threshold, frozen at £23,250 since 2010/11, and a lifetime cap on what any individual can be asked to pay. A national tariff for residential and home care , set at the independently assessed cost of sustainable provision, which councils commission at or above. A bundled funding model for residential care , with assessed packages that are portable when people move. A reformed Deferred Payment Agreement scheme , so that no one is required to sell their home to pay for residential care. Underpinning the settlement is an independent National Care Assessment Body, sitting outside both the NHS and local government, which would verify the cost evidence, review the tariff and report where provision falls short. Local authorities retain their role as commissioners and delivery leaders, close to their communities and provider markets, but are relieved of being the sole bearer of national financial risk. The report is explicit about what it does not propose. This is not a free care service on the model of the NHS, and it does not absorb social care into the health service. Individuals who can contribute to the cost of their care will continue to do so, within a reformed means test and a lifetime cap. The word national describes the funding architecture, not the way care is provided. The proposal is offered as a contribution to the Casey Commission, which is beginning to test public views on who should receive care, what the state should guarantee and what individuals should contribute. The CAA says funding reform is the necessary first step, and Adult Social Care Funding Reform is the first in a programme of papers it will publish over the coming months. Melanie Weatherley MBE, Co-Chair of the Care Association Alliance, said: “No family should receive worse care because of where they happen to live, and no provider should have to choose between keeping a contract and delivering care safely. These are not failings of the people running the system. They are what happens when a national risk is carried on local budgets. If we fund care nationally, price it honestly through a national tariff, and ask an independent body to keep it that way, we can give families certainty, providers stability, and councils the resources to do the job they are asked to do. “This paper is not a criticism of local authorities, who are doing a demanding job under real pressure. It is a practical plan to put the whole system on a sustainable footing, and we hope it is useful to Baroness Casey's commission as it begins its work.” The Rt Hon Damian Green, Chair of the Social Care Foundation and former Deputy Prime Minister responsible for social care, said: “The case for reform is widely accepted. What has been missing is a workable, affordable plan that a government of any colour could adopt. This paper offers exactly that, and a cross-party route to deliver it.” (read the full report here ) ENDS Notes to editors The Care Association Alliance is the national umbrella body for local care associations in England, a member-led organisation with more than 50 local care associations, collectively representing over 10,000 independent care providers across every English region. It is a founding participant in the Care Provider Alliance. The £24.10 per hour figure is a national average local authority domiciliary care fee, not a per-council figure. It is cited alongside the Homecare Association's minimum sustainable rate (£32.14), the National Audit Office's 2021 finding on below-sustainable-rate commissioning, and the King's Fund's 2025/26 fee-versus-cost analysis, all set out in full in Adult Social Care Funding Reform (Paper One), published [DATE] 2026. Additional figures are drawn from the Health Foundation REAL Centre, the OBR, the King's Fund, the IFS and Social Care 360. The funding-gap projection runs to 2032/33. Baroness Casey's remarks were made on 7 July 2026, in a BBC Radio 4 Today interview and a speech to the Local Government Association's annual conference, in which she confirmed the Casey Commission will begin testing the views of the public this month ahead of its first report, due this year. Spokespeople are available for interview. Media enquiries: Melanie Weatherley MBE, Co-Chair of the Care Association Alliance.

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