Better Careers for Better Care
Key Terminology
Open Call for Expressions of Interest 2026
To support a shared understanding of the terms used in our open call for Expressions of Interest, please find a list of key terminology below.
We recognise that different people and organisations will have varying definitions of these key terms. Where it feels necessary and appropriate, applicants to the Better Careers for Better Care 2026 open call can use the Expression of Interest to articulate their own definitions.
Adult Social Care System: all stakeholders and services key to the successful delivery of adult social care, including care provision across settings and employment models, commissioning, procurement, care worker advocates, lived experience advocates, and partner organisations in health and community services.
Care workers: professionals providing paid care and support including employees of care homes and assisted living settings, homecare workers, and Personal Assistants. Opportunities for unpaid carers are not within the scope of this funding call.
Collaboration: agreeing shared objectives, shared measures, and processes for joint decision-making and conflict resolution.
Co-production: when people come together as equals to make decisions or create services that work for them all. In the context of adult social care, this includes people who draw on care and support, and/or unpaid carers, and professional care workers who deliver care and support.
Culture: the shared, learned, and transmitted set of values, beliefs, and behaviours of a group of people. When looking at the adult social care sector, the systemic culture is the interconnected web of shared beliefs, values, behaviours, and norms that defines how the sector operates.
Outputs and outcomes: outputs are the direct and measurable products of programme activity, such as sessions delivered or people trained. Outcomes are the changes that occur as a result of those activities, including shifts in knowledge, skills, attitudes, behaviours or organisational practice. Together, they distinguish between what was delivered and the difference it made.
Professional development opportunities: training and development that builds the skills and capacity of the adult social care sector, for example through accredited pathways, reflective practice, coaching and mentoring, leadership development, cross-system rotational placements, and recognition pathways.
Respect: recognition of the value, rights and dignity of each person. In practice, this means that care workers and people with lived experience will be supported to contribute meaningfully and rewarded fairly for their input.
Trust: transparent decision-making, reliable follow-through on commitments, and a shared ownership of risks and successes.
