Across the UK, local authorities have been redefining what effective, human-first digital practice looks like. The latest release of the Adult Social Care Connected Toolkit – Version 10 (V10) – is the result of that shared effort: the only modular platform that integrates directly into your case management system. It has been co-developed by councils, practitioners, and people with lived experience to make every assessment, plan, and decision simpler, fairer, and more connected.

From collaboration to co-development

For almost 35 years, local authorities have worked alongside Imosphere to build the digital foundations of adult social care – connecting people, practice, and funding. That same partnership has shaped V10.

Over the past year, councils across England have taken part in our national User Acceptance Testing (UAT) programme, working directly with social workers, occupational therapists, and community teams to test real cases, join focus groups, and give feedback on design, language, and usability.

Oxfordshire County Council and Sunderland City Council were among the first to take part – providing detailed feedback alongside other councils to help shape everything from the new Care Act Assessment to the Preventative Assessment and Personal Budget Estimation Tool within the Connected Toolkit.

Teams from Suffolk, West Sussex, and Herefordshire (to name a few) also played an active role in the co-design workshops – sharing real-world experiences and helping refine how the forms flow in daily practice. Nottingham and Suffolk further supported our Connected Funding discovery work earlier this year, ensuring the new funding model reflects real budget pressures and decision-making needs.

Together, we explored what really matters in day-to-day practice:

• What slows you down?
• Where do forms feel like barriers instead of tools?
• What language feels human, not clinical?
• How can we design tools that support professional judgement and are ready for AI when the time comes?

Every insight shaped what came next.

Designing for practice, not process

Working with practitioners and lived experience experts like Jak Savage MBE, every question in the Care Act Assessment was reviewed through the lens of dignity and empowerment.

The goal wasn’t just efficiency – it was to make sure every form helps tell someone’s story clearly, respectfully, and in their own words.

One practitioner captured it perfectly:

“From the person’s perspective, the new form simplifies the process considerably. It is more straightforward, easier to navigate, and lends itself well to mapping and drawing conclusions.”

Councils tested, refined, and tested again – removing duplication, simplifying language, and grounding every question in real-life experience. The result? A toolkit that helps practitioners have better conversations, not longer ones.

Because when assessment tools work with practitioners, not against them, the focus stays where it belongs: on people, not paperwork.

Ready for today. Built for tomorrow.

V10 is designed to meet the pressures of practice today while being future-ready. It brings together clear logic, structured guidance, and plain language – built to work equally well in human conversations and in AI-assisted environments.

That means:

• Questions that flow naturally in conversation
• Consistent scoring that supports transparency and defensibility
• Built-in logic that reduces cognitive load
• AI-ready structure that safeguards professional control

This isn’t about technology replacing expertise – it’s about using design to protect it.

The difference councils are seeing

Early testing shows V10 delivers measurable improvements:

• 33% faster completion times  
• 79% usability rating from practitioners
• Stronger alignment with strengths-based principles

But the real success is in how it feels to use. Practitioners have already reported that V10’s streamlined layout and friendlier language make it easier for them to capture what really matters to the people they support – describing it as “a tool that supports better conversations” and “something built with us, not for us.”

What’s next

In the coming weeks, we’ll be sharing stories from the councils who shaped V10 – how they tested, refined, and implemented it – and what it changes in practice.

Because V10 isn’t just an upgrade. It’s a shared step forward for adult social care – built with councils, for councils.

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