Shrien Dewani

People stay in organisations for all sorts of reasons. For some it’s stability, pay or circumstance. For others it becomes something harder to define. Over time, it stops being only about the role itself and starts to be shaped by trust, support and the people around them. I’ve worked with Sian for 17 years. That length of time isn’t something I ever take lightly and it isn’t something I assume. Today is her birthday and yes, she will hate me mentioning this, but realising I

Why leadership development in social care matters more than ever One of my enduring passions in social care has always been this - growing people. Not fast-tracking titles. Not creating managers in name only. But patiently developing leaders, individuals who understand responsibility, personhood, accountability, and the quiet moral weight that comes with being entrusted with other people’s lives. In recent years, as the sector has become more complex, more regulated, and

By: Shrien Dewani This week, one of my absolute highlights has been working with ADG Architects and John Bell as we continue the design journey for our new build projects. I always enjoy working with John. He is a seasoned architect with decades of experience in the care sector, but more importantly, he is someone who genuinely cares about creating communities that work for the people who live in them. That matters, because buildings shape lives. In social care, they s

By: Shrien Dewani For nearly three decades in social care, one truth has become increasingly clear to me: a care home community is a living organism, constantly reshaping itself around the needs, vulnerabilities, and relationships of the people within it. Unlike most places we call “community,” ours are defined by continual change. People arrive at the most fragile moments of their lives. They often stay for a shorter time than ever before, reflecting how and when people n

By: Shrien Dewani    As we approach three decades as a family organisation in social care, we have been taking time to reflect, not nostalgically, but purposefully. Thirty years offers perspective.   It brings us back to a fundamental question - what are we here to accomplish for the people who choose to make one of our communities their home? Social care is not a static sector. It adapts, absorbs, expands, contracts, and reshapes itself in response to forces often beyond

By: Shrien Dewani True progress in social care is never created by funding alone. It emerges when leadership has the courage to look beyond individual programmes and ask a deeper question: what kind of system are we choosing to build for children, families and the adults who support them? The latest government investment is an important step, but its real potential depends on whether we are willing to think bigger, connect the dots, and redesign care as one cohesive, human-c

By: Shrien Dewani There are moments in public life when words reveal far more than the speaker intended. Zack Polanski ’s recent comments, reducing the work of care professionals to the crude phrase  “wiping someone’s bum”  and framing foreign nationals as the people who should do it, is one of those moments. It exposes not just a lack of understanding, but a breathtaking absence of humanity, dignity, and leadership. As someone who has spent my life working in, learning

By: Shrien Dewani The latest figures reported by Community Care should give every leader in adult social care pause. An 81% fall in the number of visas granted to overseas care staff is not a minor fluctuation in workforce trends; it is a structural shift with profound implications for the stability of care in the UK. This is not about policy headlines. It is about people and the fragility of the workforce pipeline that supports those who rely on us every single day.