Social Care Plan
Arranging care for someone you love, answered in ten minutes.
The problem
When a parent suddenly needs care, families face councils, means tests, NHS funding rules and a maze of providers, usually in the same week as a hospital discharge. The information exists, but it is scattered across dozens of sites written for professionals.
Who it’s for
Adult children arranging care for an older or ill parent in England, often from a distance, often in a crisis, mostly on a phone.
What we had to respect
- Funding rules differ by council and change every April.
- People are stressed: no account, no jargon, no dead ends.
- Every number shown must be sourced and dated. Nothing may sound like a promise.
The decisions that shaped it
The experience
Care check, personalised results, a shareable family plan and an urgent route for hospital discharge.
What we learned
“The hardest design work was the language. Most of the iteration happened in the words, not the layouts.”
Deep dive
A content system with tone rules
Guidance never promises an outcome that belongs to the council. Funding is always “may be able to get”, and every page is written for someone reading on a phone in a hospital corridor.
Sourced and dated figures
Every cost, allowance and threshold carries the source it came from and the date it was checked, so a family can show the plan to a social worker and be taken seriously.
Privacy by default
Answers stay in the browser while someone works through the care check. Nothing is saved until they choose to, using a magic link rather than a password.
Accessibility as the baseline
Built to WCAG 2.2 AA, with an 18px hyperlegible typeface, one question per screen and a separate urgent route for hospital discharge.