Empowerment in Health and Social Care

A definition of empowerment in health and social care is a process that gives people more control over the decisions and actions that impact their lives. This can include things like expressing sexuality, religious beliefs and aspirations while feeling supported and protected when doing so.

A conscious effort should be made to give service users a choice, such as the gender of their carer, preferences surrounding their daily routine and their overall goals and wishes. Care workers should think about ways to ensure people have real choices that they can make and act on the things that are important to them.

Empowerment is important in health and social care as it provides service users with a greater sense of how to navigate the care system. They gain more control over decisions and actions that affect their lives. It’s also important for others involved in care, such as friends and family of service users and care workers. 

Empowerment is extremely important for confidence, self-esteem and our sense of self and value, which can impact our ability to make positive choices about what we want in life.

Empowerment in Health and Social Care vs. Healthcare 

There is a slight difference between empowerment in health and social care compared to healthcare. It’s important to remember that decisions and actions are different for every individual and can change alongside their circumstances. 

However, while people in both health and social care and healthcare deserve support, respect and protection when it comes to expressing themselves, those in healthcare tend to have different decisions and actions they need to make and control. 

For example, as mentioned above, service users have a choice in their care and routines in health and social care. On the other hand, people in healthcare will need to make choices when it comes to managing their health and care. 

This is often through systematically putting in place interventions and including self-management education, health coaching and peer support. Establishing the expectation that people are equal decision-makers with clinicians is key when promoting empowerment in healthcare. 

Several pieces of legislation underpin the right to empowerment in health and social care. Care providers must be familiar with these and ensure their practice reflects them: 

The Human Rights Act 1998 protects the fundamental rights and freedoms of everyone in the UK, including the right to liberty, privacy and freedom of expression. These rights are foundational to empowering service users to live with dignity and autonomy. 

The Mental Capacity Act 2005 is a key piece of legislation directly linked to empowerment. The Act promotes autonomy and empowerment of individuals and protects their rights, particularly to make their own decisions. It is built on five guiding principles which determine a person-centred approach to decision-making. Where a person lacks capacity, any decision made on their behalf must be made in their best interests and must be the least restrictive option available. The Act applies to everyone involved in the care, treatment and support of people aged 16 and over in England and Wales. 

The Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards (DoLS) and Liberty Protection Safeguards (LPS): The Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards (DoLS), an amendment to the Mental Capacity Act 2005, remain the current legal framework for authorising deprivations of liberty in care homes and hospitals. A replacement framework, the Liberty Protection Safeguards (LPS), was legislated for under the Mental Capacity (Amendment) Act 2019 but has not yet been implemented. A government consultation on the LPS was announced in October 2025, and it is widely expected that the earliest the LPS could come into force is 2027. Care providers should continue to operate under DoLS until further notice. 

The Care Act 2014 is the primary legislation governing adult social care in England. At its heart is the Wellbeing Principle (Section 1), which places a legal duty on local authorities to promote individual wellbeing in all care functions, including personal dignity, physical and mental health, independence, and the ability to participate in society. The Care and Support Statutory Guidance makes clear that the core purpose of adult care and support is to help people achieve the outcomes that matter to them in their life. 

The Equality Act 2010 protects service users and staff from discrimination based on nine protected characteristics, including age, disability, race, religion or belief, sex and sexual orientation. Empowering individuals means ensuring they are treated fairly and without discrimination, whatever their background. 

Policy Context: NHS 10-Year Health Plan (2025)

The government's landmark 10-Year Health Plan for England, ‘Fit for the Future’ (published 3 July 2025) places patient and service user empowerment at its core. The Plan commits to making shared decision-making the norm rather than the exception, with co-created personal care plans for people with complex needs. It introduces a new Patient Choice Charter to strengthen patient voice, choice and feedback, and expands personal health budgets so patients gain greater control over how NHS resources are used for their care. The Plan also commits to transforming the NHS App into a tool for patient access, empowerment and care planning. These commitments reflect a broader shift in health and social care policy toward genuine empowerment and person-centred practice. 

It may come as a surprise to you, but there are both advantages and disadvantages to promoting empowerment in health and social care. Here, we will explore the pros and cons of empowerment and how disadvantages could be resolved.

First, the advantages. Certain areas of empowerment are essential. All service users have the right to feel safe, respected and supported, no matter their abilities, religion, sexuality, etc. Lack of empowerment in health and social care can lead to a loss of confidence and self-esteem, leading to unhappy people and poor decisions. When service users fully understand why and how they are being empowered, they’ll make informed choices about what they do and don’t need, and understand why things are being done in a certain way and how much they cost, which leads to reasonable decision-making.

On the other hand, whether it’s due to their age, health condition or poor communication, a disadvantage of empowerment is that some service users may not fully understand what is told to them. This can lead to them not using the information as they should (e.g. expensive, unreasonable or unhealthy decisions). In some cases, this information could lead to stress and anxiety due to a lack of understanding or the constant inability to fulfil their requests. However, a good relationship and communication between service users and care staff can reduce the risk of this occurring. Overall, the pros certainly outweigh the cons.

Care services must strive to ensure that the people they support feel understood and heard. You can guarantee this by getting to know people and listening to them. The following shows examples of empowerment strategies in health and social care.

• The first step is to consider your ‘assessment of need’ conversations and how they help you get to the heart of a person. For example, knowing what’s important to them, their strengths and things that could improve their happiness and well-being.
• When translating your assessment, consider how it fits into care and support planning. This includes the involvement of that person, whether care plans are co-produced or if they’re written by staff and read to them.
• During delivery of care, ensure that your staff ask what the service user would like to happen. This includes what they would like to do next and how they want to spend their time. These are the building blocks of empowerment as it helps people feel in control of their decisions.
• We all make decisions based on information, so you should make sure that your service users have all of the information they need to confidently make decisions. Look over things to ensure that it doesn’t contain any complicated jargon and is fully accessible.
• Whether it’s the gender of their carer, an input on their daily routine or their future aspirations, you need to think about what you can do to give people in your care real choices and how to act on the things that are important to them.

Person-centred care helps to empower those in aged care as it produces better outcomes, increases satisfaction with the care they receive and improves the quality and safety of care. To ensure this, when someone arrives at a care home, they should sit down with their carer and develop a personalised care plan that aligns with the service users’ unique values and preferences. 

Remember, the steps to empower older individuals in aged care should be the same for everyone, no matter their age. They must have choice, control and influence over their life.

Empowerment in care homes can simultaneously be more achievable or more difficult.  Because contact time is increased, there is more opportunity to encourage people to be empowered, but this can also create the space for disempowerment, passivity and dependency if the service and staff do not have the right approach to sensible empowerment of people living in care homes.

You can increase empowerment in care homes by ensuring that:

• All residents are included at all levels in the running of the service, this must include those that may be less capable of making decisions.
• Support is provided to residents to ensure they make their own decisions and are involved in how treatment and care are provided in the home.
• They’re complying with the Mental Capacity Act 2005 which includes making sure that decisions taken on behalf of someone who lacks the capacity to do so are done in their best interests.
• Personalised services promoting control and choice for individuals are provided and their safety is put first.
• Both residents and relatives are provided with the information they need about complaints and expectations from their service provider.
• They empower their service users to stay independent, active and connected to their communities and loved ones.
• Risk enablement processes and risk assessments have been clearly defined and put into effect.
• Residents have access to support, representation and advocacy.
• All residents’ care plans are co-produced, so that residents both feel and are genuinely involved in shaping their own care
• Residents are treated as genuine residents of a home, rather than clients or customers that are occupying a space that someone else owns and is in charge of
• Residents can take on appropriate roles within the home if they want to, such as organisers of different kinds of events and initiatives.
• Helping and encouraging residents to find ways to overcome obstacles to empowerment and participation, rather than giving up. For example, if a person’s mobility issues are stopping them from taking charge of the care home’s garden, how can you make alterations so that they can participate safely?

Just because people reside in a residential care home, doesn't mean that they should be stripped of empowerment. Empowerment is achieved when strengths are magnified, not weaknesses and it can be achieved through so many ways. Allowing service users to take control of their life choices will make them feel valued and like they have self-worth.

Domiciliary care promotes liberation and independence by allowing individuals to continue living in their own homes while they receive care and regular visits from a professional. This gives them a chance to maintain control over their everyday lives, including their normal daily routine, their favourite activities and decision-making processes.

Due to the increased independence, this method of care has to offer, domiciliary care itself can be considered a form of empowerment. However, only if it is carried out correctly.

For example, you should have an effective personalised care plan in place. Person-centred care planning gives empowerment to individuals by promoting independence and allowing people to be more involved with decisions about their care. It revolves around listening to service users, and finding out what matters to them and what kind of support they need. See more information on care planning here.

Empowerment in health and social care must be supported and promoted. While it can have a slight negative impact when it hasn’t been explained correctly, the benefits far outweigh the costs.Empowerment protects the confidence, well-being and self-esteem of service users. It can help them achieve the outcomes they want, and contribute to increased, more sustained quality of life and health.

Legislation and standards can improve empowerment in health and social care as they set out laws to protect and inspire both care workers and service users. For example, the Equality Act 2010 can empower individuals as it allows them to have the right to feel welcome and accepted wherever they go. The Care Act 2014 places a legal duty on providers to promote individual wellbeing and ensure people are at the heart of decisions about their care. 

From a regulatory perspective, the Care Quality Commission (CQC) assesses person-centred care as a core quality standard across all its key questions - Safe, Effective, Caring, Responsive and Well-led. Care plans should fully reflect people's physical, mental, emotional and social needs, and people and those close to them should be regularly involved in planning and shared decisions. 

To help you stay on top of this information, you should consider implementing Access Policies and Procedures. You can easily manage all of your health and social care policies, procedures, documents and forms in one easy-to-use and accessible digital platform. Saving you time and money that can be reinvested into your care service.