Guest blog: Beyond England: why CASCID is expanding its coverage of Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland

The UK government recently claimed in its 2026 response to an independent review of the UK Statistics Authority that data divergence across devolved nations “hinders meaningful comparisons across the UK”. When we first launched the Catalogue of Social Care Individualised Data (CASCID), our aim was to make UK social care data easier to find, understand and use, particularly the kinds of rich datasets that already exist but can be difficult to discover or access. We often described this challenge as a problem of data “gaps”.

One of the most important lessons we have learned when forming this free catalogue, which is part of project funded by National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) School for Social Care Research (SSCR), is that the “gap” is not always due to data being absent. More often, the gap is one of discoverability. Key datasets may be scattered across different national portals, described using local or inconsistent terminology, or embedded within publications rather than clearly identified as reusable data sources. These barriers can prevent existing data from being found and used effectively. This is precisely the problem a catalogue like CASCID is designed to address: not by creating new data, but by making existing data more visible, comparable and easier to act on.

What data is included?

Social care is devolved, which means the data landscape is devolved too: what’s collected, how it’s defined, and where it sits can look very different across the UK. It has also become increasingly difficult to compare adult social care data across the four nations because each collects and publishes data differently.

Divergent administrative systems reduce visibility at UK scale, even when national data exists and data is often collected for local service delivery rather than reuse and is poorly harmonised. We want CASCID to be genuinely useful for researchers, policymakers, practitioners and advocates everywhere, therefore the catalogue needs to reflect the diversity of social care data available and help people navigate it.

Listening to users, through website feedback, advisory groups, user-testing sessions and conversations at conferences has pushed us to act on two fronts. First, we improved the way the catalogue shows geographic coverage and whether analysis is possible at different levels (country, region, local authority). Second, and the focus of this blog, we’ve strengthened representation of Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland by actively identifying and cataloguing more datasets from the devolved nations.

Why we brought in country experts

To make these additions meaningful and to avoid missing key sources we recruited three country experts (Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland). Their job wasn’t simply to suggest a new dataset or two; it was to help us identify relevant national sources, spot gaps and opportunities, and advise on how CASCID can be promoted effectively so the catalogue reaches the stakeholders who would benefit from it. This matters because national data ecosystems are often relationship driven. Knowing what exists is hard enough; knowing what is trusted, maintained, updated and usable is another.

What kinds of datasets have we been adding?

A central aim of our ongoing work to refine CASCID has been to broaden the types of social care data that are easy to find across the UK, particularly outside England. Rather than focusing only on surveys, we’ve deliberately included administrative datasets, censuses and workforce collections that sit closest to how social care systems actually operate day to day.

In Scotland, the standout feature is the breadth of routinely collected administrative data and the strong infrastructure for safe data linkage. We’ve included national datasets that track social care activity, waiting times, care homes, workforce supply, and system pressures such as delayed discharge. What’s particularly valuable is how many of these sources are designed to link with health and population data, supporting joined‑up analysis of people’s experiences across health and social care.

In Wales, we found statutory national collections that offer a comprehensive picture of who is receiving care and support. The children’s and adults’ care and support censuses are particularly powerful because they cover everyone with a care and support plan and are collected fairly consistently across all local authorities. Together, they make it possible to see children’s and adults’ services clearly within one national framework and can be used to connect service use to wider questions about demand, outcomes and sustainability. Adding Wales‑wide workforce data alongside these collections also helps link need and provision to the capacity of the system itself.

In Northern Ireland, the most distinctive feature of the data landscape is the more integrated Health and Social Care system. The datasets we’ve included reflect this structure: social care activity is often reported through Health and Social Care Trusts and sits alongside healthcare data rather than apart from it. By cataloguing service statistics on residential care, children’s services, direct payments and carers, alongside workforce and population data, CASCID helps users understand how social care evidence in Northern Ireland is produced and how different sources can be brought together to inform planning and policy.

What we hope this unlocks

In the long run, stronger representation across the UK supports better comparison, better learning, and better evidence while still respecting the four nations have different systems, different terminology and different policy contexts. It also makes it easier to see where the true evidence gaps are, because you can distinguish between data that is not collected and data which is simply hard to find.

If you work in or around social care data in Scotland, Wales or Northern Ireland, and you think there’s a dataset we’ve missed or particular measures that we should highlight, please get in touch. CASCID is deliberately iterative: it improves when people who know their systems best help shape it.

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