The demand for health and social care is growing constantly. Wales' ageing population and relatively high incidence of disability are putting services under increasing strain. More and better services are needed: services that are responsive, flexible, and more personal, with the citizen as an active partner rather than a passive recipient. At the same time, the impact of the recession and prospect of deep cuts in public expenditure mean that care providers are also facing growing financial pressures.

The danger is that a headlong rush to achieve efficiency savings creates a 'race to the bottom' in public service provision. Many proposals to save money assume that services will remain essentially unchanged -doing the same thing, only trying to do it more cheaply - rather than focusing on far- reaching reforms that both prevent needs arising, and provide better outcomes.

Achieving change with the third sector: better social care goes beyond current rhetoric, to bring you practical, pioneering approaches that are Supported by springing up across Wales, which are already delivering better social care in a cost effective way.

The day will challenge all of us - third sector service providers and organisations seeking better service user participation, alongside our partners in the Welsh Assembly Government, local health boards and local authorities - to maximise the contributions of the third sector. We know the sector is already 'achieving change' but this event seeks to create a real step change to better services with our communities in Wales.

The conference offers a day of powerful presentations and an array of workshops giving you the chance to find out how this new approach benefits and brings opportunities for all, and importantly how you and your organisation can change! It is a terrific opportunity for organisations wanting and needing to develop and extend their role in achieving better social care.

The Big Lottery Fund is supporting this event and is able to fund the delegate fee of a limited number of Big Lottery Fund grant holders

For more information, please contact Kate Gobir at WCVA on 029 2043 1724 and you can find the programme and booking form in 'resources' to the right hand side of this page.