ITEC 2025 is less than a month away!
Take a sneak peek at a few of the highlights of the programme
Independent commission into adult social care - TSA’s response
TEC made clear - a new communications campaign for our sector
The National Telecare Action Plan has been launched
February/March 2025
Alyson Scurfield TSA Chief Executive
Well, 2025 has started with a bang for the TEC sector with a significant Government announcement on immediate action to harness the power of care technology.
In short, the Government has set out reforms to use TEC so older people can live at home for longer, career pathways for care workers can be improved and new national standards for care technology can be established. This will ensure families and care providers can access the safest, most effective care devices and it’s something we are engaging with Government on.
It was also announced that Louise Casey will be leading the biggest shake-up of adult social care in England for decades. I have written to Baroness Casey offering support and explaining the scale and reach of the work, you, our valued members do every single day, supporting over 2 million people who are older and disabled. Rest assured, the voice of our sector will be represented loud and clear throughout this three-year review.
In my letter to Louise Casey, I outlined the work of our joint commission with ADASS into proactive and preventative care. We are creating a blueprint that councils can use to make the business case for this type of predictive, anticipatory care. I have been busy explaining to central and local Government officials how the tools from our ADASS TSA commission can help to make the ambitions of Louise Casey’s review a reality. Find out more on page 3.
This also links to our ongoing switchover programme which is all about putting digital
infrastructure is in place, so proactive and preventative care becomes a reality.
Following the success of our Stockport pilot we’re working again with Virgin Media O2, this time on a digital switchover project in Cardiff. Virgin Media O2, TSA and Cardiff City Council are developing a collaborative programme that will enable safe, smooth, speedy digital migration of telecare customers across the city. We’ll be reporting back on the results over coming months.
In January I gave evidence at the Digital Communities All Party Parliamentary Group (APPG), organised by our partners at the Local Government Association. I laid bare the problems our sector is facing around the digital switchover and the support we need from Government to overcome these challenges. I’ll keep you updated on the progress of this lobbying activity.
Finally, I am so excited that our ITEC Conference is just weeks away. We have a hugely valuable programme developed for you, our members. From practical workshops to inspirational speakers, the two-day event has been designed to help TEC organisations harness opportunities across health, care and housing. Find out more on pages 8-9. Looking forward to seeing you there!.
In January, the Government announced immediate investment and reforms to transform adult social care. Excitingly, this includes plans to harness the power of care technology such as new national standards so people, families and care providers can use the best care technology. You can read more about these plans here.
We’re engaging with the Government around these standards and also looking forward to collaborating with policymakers, so technology is better integrated into care plans.
The first stage, reporting in 2026, will identify the critical issues facing adult social care and set out recommendations for effective reform and improvement in the medium term.
But there was another important announcement in this new year message. Baroness Louise Casey has been appointed to lead a new independent commission to transform social care.
Expected to begin in April 2025, the review will be split into two phrases, setting out a vision for adult social care, with recommended measures and a roadmap for delivery.
It will recommend tangible, pragmatic solutions that can be implemented in a phased way to lay the foundations for a national care service. These recommendations will be aligned with the government’s spending plans which will be set out at the Spending Review in the spring.
The second stage, reporting by 2028, will make longer-term recommendations for the transformation of adult social care. It will build on the commission’s initial work to look at the model of care needed to address our ageing population, how services should be organised to deliver this, and how to best create a fair and affordable adult social care system for all.
Alyson Scurfield, CEO of the TEC Services Association (TSA), said:
“Our members support 2.03 million older and disabled people, and we represent 360 care organisations using and developing care technology, including local authorities and housing associations. The innovation and hands-on experience of our members means we are uniquely placed to contribute to this commission, advising on how technology can transform care, improve training and boost collaboration between NHS and care staff.”
We have already written to Baroness Casey requesting a meeting and we’ll be feeding insights and updates to her team as the commission progresses, representing the invaluable work of the TEC sector.
By Alan Williamson Head Of Strategic Engagement and Communications, TSA
TSA is developing a marketing campaign to raise awareness and understanding of TEC. This was prompted by research from Dr Sarah Alden into what people want from TEC. Sarah found no clear, consistent messaging or imagery to help people understand TEC and navigate the options.
Communications in our sector is often focused on technology, rather than people. Yet research from Sarah Alden, Social Care Future and other organisations indicates that it’s the impact care and support has on individuals, their families and everyday lives that has the most resonance.
For the past six months we’ve collaborated with a behavioural strategy consultant, animator and designer to create a communications campaign that tackles this issue. This creative team has worked with TSA member organisations, board directors, committee members and people with lived experience to develop clear consistent messaging, creative ideas and assets.
We’ll be unveiling this campaign at ITEC, sharing downloadable animations and editable marketing assets that can be used by our members to promote their solutions and services. We’ll also be creating a language guide, providing messaging that supports organisations to talk to their audiences about TEC in a clear, consistent way.
Find out more about this exciting campaign at ITEC from 17-18 March.
Shantelle Million-Lawson recently joined TSA as Chief Operating Officer and has already made a significant impact. Having started her career as a Care Assistant, Shantelle quickly discovered her passion for social care and the profound effect herself, and her colleagues could have on the lives of others.
“There is no other job in the world that provides the same satisfaction of knowing, and being able to pinpoint, the difference you’ve made to someone’s life each day.”
During her time working in care homes, she identified inefficiencies and saw how people could be better supported.
“That’s when I developed my passion for simplifying processes and making things clearer and more straightforward. That’s where I really found my calling and my ability to make a difference.”
With a keen interest in making care delivery simple and efficient, Shantelle began exploring how technology could enhance people’s lives. Securing support and funding from her university, she founded her own company with the mission to provide a solution for facilitating the functionality and compliance of care planning in Adult Social Care.
She later went on to work for a national care provider within their Clinical Quality team – focused on improving quality through digitisation. During the pandemic, Shantelle led the implementation of a system that enabled the tracking and documentation of Covid testing, as well as taking proactive steps to keep people safe.
“Through that work, I started to engage more and more with the department as a major care provider. I began working with DHSC and really began to understand the kind of impact that someone with my background could have in government.”
Shantelle joined the Digitising Social Care team in 2021. During her time there, she led the Adult Social Care Technology Fund and supported her team to launch the new Digitising Social Care website.
“It was an incredible eye-opener to another aspect of social care. I had been a Care Assistant in both a local authority and a private care provider. I’d worked as a supplier and for a national care provider, and it felt that having that national government perspective on how the sector operates would complement my skill set.”
Having known about TSA and its work from early in her career, Shantelle was drawn to the “hands-on approach” that TSA takes.
“Over the years, I’ve developed a well-rounded view of the different aspects of our sector and was searching for a place to strategically apply that knowledge and skillset with national impact. I absolutely consider it a privilege to be in the COO position now, not only learning from Alyson but also from the team and the board. It genuinely is the kindest organisation, and people are really driven by simply doing the right thing.”
The passion and expertise Shantelle has brought to TSA cannot be overstated. Speaking about her role and the future of TSA, she shared:
“It’s a real gem of an asset to the sector, and I believe my role is to elevate that gem and demonstrate its impact.”
As she looks ahead to 2025, Shantelle is setting the blueprint for TSA’s future.
“For me, 2025 is about laying the right foundations for operational excellence. We have conducted an internal organisational review to standardise our processes and deliver the best possible outcomes for our members and the wider sector. I’m genuinely excited to see the results of this in 2025, and how it will inform our business planning for 2026 to 2030.”
By Paul Berney
ADASS and TSA’s joint Commission on proactive and preventative care hosted its second roundtable on 22nd January and the feedback we gathered was invaluable.
Chaired by ADASS president Melanie Williams and TEC Quality chair Sir David Pearson, the event was attended by nearly 30 commission members including ADASS CEO Sally Burlington, TSA CEO Alyson Scurfield and NHS DHSC Digitising Social Care programme director Peter Skinner, along with directors of adult social services, principal social workers and occupational therapists.
Three commission members who draw on care and support themselves, Rich Amos, Debra Edwards and Clenton Farquharson also contributed throughout the day, ensuring that lived experience is at the heart of this work.
Valuable input also came from our four sponsors Careium, The Access Group, CGI and Legrand Care.
Weaving lived experience throughout this blueprint is essential in supporting people to live the lives they want to lead.
This roundtable was a chance to update commission members on our progress in creating a blueprint that helps councils make the business case for proactive and preventative TEC.
Over the past eight weeks I have interviewed almost 40 local authority TEC commissioners and strategic leads and TEC providers to collect examples of the proactive and preventative care services that they have in place.
From smart speakers and tablets to connected care platforms, local authorities have shared data on the number of people using these systems, their monitoring and alert procedures, costs involved, return on investment (ROI) and use cases. Crucially, they’ve also talked me through their entire development process.
We are using these insights to create a blueprint in three parts. This will include:
• A step-by-step guide based on best practice from councils already running successful proactive and preventative services
• An overview of services already launched with exemplars from the councils using them
• A financial tool allowing commissioners to estimate financial returns based on models elsewhere
Running alongside this, my colleague Rowan Atkins is gathering personal stories from people who draw on proactive and preventative care. She’s been speaking to younger and older adults, family members and practitioners about how they are using systems and the impact on their lives.
Weaving lived experience throughout this blueprint is essential, both in terms of different perspectives but also bringing this work back to what it’s all about – supporting people to live the lives they want to lead.
Towards the end of the commission, we’ll be engaging with people who draw on support to get their feedback on the blueprint itself. Commission members, the ADASS Regional Chairs Group, the ADASS Digital Strategic network, the Principal Social Worker Network and local authority commissioners will also feedback on the blueprint.
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ADASS and TSA will launch the final blueprint at the ADASS Spring Seminar from 28 – 30 April. Watch this space for more updates.
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Limited delegate tickets are still available, and it’s not to be missed! ITEC
is now less than a month away, and we’ve got a full schedule of insightful talks, educational workshops, and networking opportunities for you to dive into.
Firstly, we are delighted to announce that Minister of State for Care, Stephen Kinnock MP will be joining us at ITEC 2025!
A Labour MP for Aberafan Maesteg, Stephen has been an MP continually since 7 May 2015. He currently holds the Government post of Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care).
Stephen will be joining us for our first Plenary Stage Session of the conference and will share insight on the ambitions of the national care service as part of the Transforming Lives session in the Main Auditorium. In case you missed our previous announcement, we are very excited that Baroness Tanni GreyThompson will chair this year’s conference, delivering a keynote that blends her personal experiences with technology-enabled care and her belief in the importance of integrated and functional systems to improve outcomes for people and communities.
The Plenary Stage will also play host to the Session ‘Driving the Digital Transformation’ includes a critical discussion on the TEC sector’s transition from analogue to digital. Our expert panel will explore the transformative opportunities digital technology brings, sharing success stories and powerful insight on navigating challenges the switch from analogue to digital can present.
Across the two days, the Innovation Stage will be the place to be for cutting-edge discussions on transforming the world of TEC. Championing innovation at this stage, our inspiring speakers will be covering topics that affect all involved in the evolving sector of technology enabled care.
One of these sessions is titled ‘Strategies for Building a Stronger Future’; with speaker Jane Brightman from Skills for Care sharing expertise on workforce development, retention and ensuring the sector is prepared to meet the evolving demands of a rapidly changing care landscape.
Look out across all stages across the conference for a hugely important introduction to building a common understanding of TEC, exploring the practical steps to develop a shared language for our industry. Be prepared for thought-provoking contributions from sector leaders, as they share strategies for driving clarity, confidence, and collaboration across TEC.
The Association of Directors of Adult Social Services (ADASS) and the Technology Enabled Care Services Association (TSA) have joined forces to launch an ambitious new Commission aimed at revolutionising social care through proactive and preventative care services. Learn more about the latest vision for the future of Social Care in the session on ‘Unlocking the power of proactive and preventative care services’ – this is definitely not one not to be missed!
As always, we will be providing plenty of opportunities to join one of our Knowledge and Networking sessions throughout the day. This is your chance to engage in discussions with thought leaders, innovators, and professionals from diverse backgrounds to exchange ideas and forge new partnerships.
And of course, as always, the flagship Gala Dinner will be the place that this year’s ITEC Awards are presented to those who have truly shined in our industry over the past year.
There’s so much more that we simply can’t pack it all into this edition of TEC Voice – but you can stay up to date with speakers and sessions at #ITEC2025 on our website. View the full programme here: itecconf.org.uk/programm e
Get your delegate tickets here, but don’t delay – they’re selling fast! itecconf.org.uk/ticket-options /
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The UK’s transition from analogue to digital telephone networks marks a crucial step in modernising the country’s communications infrastructure. However, for the estimated two million people reliant on telecare services, this shift presents significant challenges.
The newly published Telecare National Action Plan (TNAP), developed by the Department for Health and Social Care (DHSC) and the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT), is a strategic framework designed to ensure that telecare users remain safeguarded throughout this transition. As the industry body for technology-enabled care, TSA is at the heart of this mission, driving collaboration, ensuring best practices, and supporting the industry in adapting to this digital transformation.
The UK’s legacy Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN) is becoming increasingly unreliable, necessitating a shift to Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) technology. While this upgrade promises greater resilience and new opportunities for TEC innovation, it also introduces risks, particularly for telecare users who currently depend on analogue connections. Without careful management, there is a real danger that vulnerable people could find their telecare solutions rendered inoperable overnight.
Recognising this, the TNAP sets out four key outcomes to protect telecare users:
Outcome 1 • :
no telecare user will be migrated to digital landline services without the communication provider, the customer or the telecare service provider confirming that the user has a compatible and functioning telecare solution in place.
As the leading voice in the TEC sector, TSA has been instrumental in shaping industry-wide responses to the switchover. Our work focuses on:
TSA provides telecare service providers, housing associations, and local authorities with up-to-date guidance on how to assess, test, and transition their telecare systems safely.
Collaboration & Advocacy: • Through the Telecare Action Board (TAB), TSA ensures alignment between communication providers, regulators, and telecare organisations, advocating for the needs of telecare users.
Training & Support:
TSA offers support to help service providers prepare for the digital transition, ensuring they have the necessary expertise to manage risk and implement best-practice solutions.
Consumer Awareness:
TSA is actively working with government agencies and telecom providers to educate telecare users and their families about the changes, ensuring they take appropriate action before the migration.
Outcome 2 • : use of analogue telecare devices is phased out to ensure that only digital devices are being used.
Outcome 3 • :
telecare users, their support networks and their service providers understand what actions they need to take.
Outcome 4 • : stakeholders collaborate to safeguard telecare users through the digital phone switchover.
“The Telecare National Action Plan is a vital step in safeguarding telecare users during the digital switchover. At TSA, we are dedicated to working with government, service providers, and the wider sector to ensure a smooth and safe transition. This is a pivotal moment to not only protect users but to embrace the future of digital care—enhancing independence, resilience, and quality of life for millions.”
TSA is capturing baseline digital migration data around this work, along with ongoing trends. Risks will be monitored, and mitigating actions put in place. Surveys of TEC service providers and people drawing on telecare will inform the development of this work.
With the switchover deadline approaching, action is required now. TSA urges all stakeholders – service providers, local authorities, housing associations, and telecom companies - to engage with the TNAP, assess their readiness, and collaborate on practical solutions to mitigate risks.
TSA remains at the forefront of this mission, ensuring that telecare users are not left behind in the digital transition. By working together, we can turn this challenge into an opportunity for a stronger, safer, and more advanced telecare system.
If you have any questions about the digital switchover, please email: ALLIP@tsa-voice.org.uk
To read the full TNAP, please: visit this link
