Carely

Advisory committee

Help us build the front door, and hold us to it

We are forming an advisory committee of people who use adult social care, unpaid carers, and retired health and social care professionals. Not a focus group, and not a courtesy. A committee that decides what we build, and in what order.

We are recruiting now. Everyone who applies gets a reply, whether or not there is a seat for them yet.

Who we are looking for

Three kinds of experience, and we need all three

People who use adult social care

You know where the system fails, because you have lived it. A physical disability, a learning disability, autism, mental health needs, dementia, or simply getting older and needing help for the first time. You do not need to have applied for a care package, or to be an expert in anything except your own life.

The largest block of seats on the committee.

Unpaid carers

You carry the consequences of decisions made without you: the phone calls, the chasing, the forms, the gaps between services. Including young adult carers, who are usually the last group anyone thinks to ask.

Carers are assessed separately, and so are their views.

Retired professionals

Retired social workers, occupational therapists, nurses, commissioners, directors of adult social services, CQC inspectors and GPs. You know how the system actually works: the statutory duties, the assessment, the workforce reality, and the budget that has to absorb all of it. You have the time, the perspective, and no employer to answer to.

Professional knowledge, without the corporate line.

What it decides

Real power over the parts that affect people

The committee approves

  • Every question Aria asks, and every word of every message
  • How risk is recognised, escalated and explained
  • How accessibility works: formats, reading level, language, channels
  • What is recorded about a person, what they can see, and how consent works
  • The order we build things in — the roadmap itself

The committee advises

  • How an assessment is structured, and what strengths-based means in practice
  • What success looks like, and which measures matter
  • How we work with councils, and what we publish about results

It does not decide

  • Our technology stack. We will tell you what we chose and why, but we will not pretend you chose it

The rule that stops professionals drowning out the people they serve

Retired professionals bring the system's knowledge. People who use services carry the consequence. Where the two disagree on something a person sees, hears or reads, the person's experience decides: a majority of the lived-experience seats must be in favour before that change ships.

This is not a formality. It is the difference between a committee that includes people and a committee that listens to them.

What it involves

Two hours a month, on your terms, and paid

How it works

  • Meets monthly, for two hours
  • In person, by video, or by telephone — whichever you can use
  • Papers at least five working days ahead, in plain English
  • Easy Read, large print, translation and interpretation on request
  • An independent chair, who does not work for Carely.care
  • You can step back at any time, and say why or not

What you are paid

  • A published rate for each session you attend
  • Paid for preparation and reading time — reading a design document is the work
  • Travel, subsistence, and the cost of replacement care while you are with us
  • Accessibility costs: interpretation, Easy Read, technology, data, travel support
  • Paid directly to you, without an invoice or a company

Being unpaid is the most reliable way to end up with a panel of people who can afford to attend.

How you will know it is real

The test we set ourselves

Every item gets an answer

Accepted, adapted, or declined with a written reason. Not logged and closed. The committee sees the answers at the top of every meeting.

The decisions register is published

Every quarter: what the committee raised, what changed, and what did not. If the register is empty, that is a fact about us, not about you.

If nothing changed, we are wrong

If we cannot show you specific things that changed because of this committee, treat our co-production claim as unproven. That is the test we would apply to a supplier, so we apply it to ourselves.

Put your name forward

Tell us you are interested

There is no application form to fail. Tell us what you would want to change about the way people get care, and we will come back to you.

  • You do not need to have used a computer to apply
  • You do not need to write well, or at length — one line is enough
  • You do not need to know anything about technology
  • You can ask us to telephone you, or post you a paper form and a prepaid envelope

We are at the beginning. If the committee is not right for you, we will say so honestly and tell you why.

Put your name forward

One line is enough. If you would rather we telephoned you, or posted a paper form, say so above and we will. We use what you send only to reply to you and to tell you about the committee — read the privacy notice.

Know someone this is for?

The people we most need to hear from are the least likely to see a link like this. If someone comes to mind, send it to them.

Other ways to work with us