About us

Welcome to the NIHR Policy Research Unit in Health and Social Care Workforce

The National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) Health and Social Care Workforce Research Unit (HSCWRU) exists to develop research knowledge in the health and social care workforce field and to disseminate findings to policymakers, service providers, employers, and patient, service user and carer groups. The Director of the Unit is Professor Annette Boaz.

HSCWRU is an NIHR Policy Research Unit. Core funded by the NIHR’s Policy Research Programme (PRP), we also receive grants following competitive tender from a variety of other funders. We are affiliated with the NIHR Applied Research Collaboration South London (leading its social care theme) and we work closely with the NIHR School for Social Care Research. See an overview of our research and more about our work as a Policy Research Unit.

The Unit was established in January 2019, growing out of a policy research unit dedicated solely to the social care workforce, which ran from 2002-18. The current NIHR Policy Research Programme award runs for five years (2024-28) and the Unit announced its programme of work in March 2024. Researchers from King's are joined by collaborators from the Institute for Fiscal Studies, the University of Salford, and the London School of Economics.

As well as publishing widely in the academic press, the Unit is the base for Making Research Count London, a subscription service which engages directly with the practitioner community. In addition, the Unit runs a broad range of events which are open to all. We also disseminate via Bluesky (cross-posting on X, formerly Twitter), LinkedIn, and our YouTube channel. And see the Unit blog and our news page.

The Policy Research Unit's Senior Management Team brings together expertise from the Business School, the Florence Nightingale Faculty of Nursing, Midwifery & Palliative Care, and – beyond King's – from the Institute for Fiscal Studies. The Unit's Public Contributor Involvement and Engagement Advisory Group is chaired by Valerie Lipman. Go to our people pages.

Unit news and events

20 November 2024

Unit research presented at MHCLG events

Minister for Homelessness and Democracy welcomed attendees

20 November 2024

Needs, mis-recognition and epistemic injustice

Karl Mason spoke at the Unit's Homelessness series

6 November 2024

Evaluation of Community Led Support receives European Social Services Award

Unit researcher Chloe Waterman was co-investigator

12 Dec

Memory loss and physical frailty amongst people experiencing homelessness

12 December 2024

Penny Rapaport, UCL; Jo Dawes, UCL

Featured research: Studies focusing on self-neglect / hoarding behaviours

Self-neglect and hoarding among older people

How should Adult Social Care best respond?

Decluttering the homes of people with hoarding behaviours

Investigating the role of professional decluttering services.

Training for professionals working with people with hoarding behaviours

A study building on two earlier NIHR SSCR funded projects.