We are Wiltshire Centre for Independent Living (CIL). We are militantly hopeful and we believe every disabled person should live a life that feels like their own, full of purpose and led by them.
We are a user-led organisation with over two decades of experience supporting disabled people to live independently and shape how services are designed and delivered. We do this through our Life Connecting approach, where relationships sit at the heart of everything we do.
When Wiltshire Council came to us with a challenge to transform adult social care, our first thought was, ‘Transform adult social care? Yeah, right. No pressure then. How do you even begin to eat an elephant that big?’
For us, the answer was not another strategy, another consultation or another action plan. It was people. People who knew the system because they lived it every day. People who knew the good, the bad and the ugly of it.
We all deserve to live our lives our way
The Pioneers, a group of people with lived experience of disability, came together at a time when people with those experiences were not being meaningfully included in decision making. They were determined to change that.
So, we went on a rampage across the county, bringing together council workers and people with lived experience as equals to create a shared vision for how social care should be delivered in Wiltshire. The shared vision is ‘We all deserve to live our lives our way’.
Alongside the Pioneers, we found their counterparts inside the council: the Innovators. These were people working within the system who were hungry for change and ready to challenge how things had always been done.
The Pioneers were not setting out to tweak a few processes; they wanted to change how the council thought, how it listened and ultimately, how it worked. Together, the Pioneers and Innovators started a movement built on the belief that things could, and should, be better for people.
Wiltshire CIL brings together the people, relationships and opportunities that make this work possible. We do not speak for people with lived experience – we create the conditions for them to lead. Much of that happens behind the scenes, building trust and creating the space for honest conversations.
We started with relationships. Pioneers and Innovators got to know each other as people before roles. We learned about each other’s stories, what made us tick and everything in between. We became united by a shared determination to challenge how things had always been done.
Brutally honest conversations
As those relationships grew, we became a bit nosey and started asking the big questions. We uncovered frustrations, questioned barriers that everyone had simply accepted and challenged rules that turned out to be little more than urban legends. By bringing everyone together, we created the space for brutally honest conversations that challenged the familiar response: ‘We’ve always done it this way.’
Before long, the Pioneers were everywhere: in team meetings, staff inductions, legal documents and conversations about how things should be done. They challenged assumptions, questioned accepted ways of working and proved that lived experience belongs wherever decisions are being made.
Every win mattered. Some were small, while others changed whole systems. Before long, their energy became infectious and people from across the council were asking how they could work with the Pioneers too.
A real turning point
It was not always easy. The hardest part was not slipping back into old habits. There were meetings that did not go to plan and moments when it would have been easy for frustration to take over. Instead, we stayed in the room together. We talked honestly about what had not worked, what we had learned and what needed to change. Those conversations became a shared set of principles that everyone could hold themselves to.
Then something started to shift: the Pioneers became part of how things were done. When the Care Quality Commission announced its inspection, the Pioneers were the people they wanted to hear from directly. That felt like a real turning point.
It did not stop with adult social care either. The Pioneers are now helping shape work in leisure, culture and communities too, including a new pilot at Westbury Leisure Centre. It is another sign that this way of working is starting to influence how other services think too. We thought we were changing adult social care. It turns out we were starting something much bigger.
Influencing decision-making
Since winning the award, we have had conversations with organisations asking, ‘How do we do this too?’ That is why Disability Ally and People as Partners now exist. They bring together everything we have learned about relationships, equality and genuine partnership, so other organisations can build their own way of working alongside people with lived experience.
The Pioneers continue to influence decisions across Wiltshire and beyond. What started as a local movement is growing into something much bigger, with more organisations choosing to work differently and recognising lived experience for what it is: expertise.
Looking back, transforming adult social care was only ever the starting point. The real change was what happened when people started working differently together. Our vision has not changed – we want a future where people with lived experience do not have to fight for a seat at the table because they helped build the table together. When people are trusted as partners, better things happen. It is as simple as that.
The Markel 3rd Sector Care Awards will return to the B:Music Town Hall in Birmingham on Friday 30th April 2027; save the date! Nominations open on Friday 4th September 2026.
Familiarise yourself with the categories and why not nominate yourself, someone else or an organisation for an Award? There is no charge to nominate, so what have you got to lose?
To stay up to date with future announcements, follow the Awards on X, Facebook and Instagram using #3rdSectorCareAwards, and sign up on the CMM website to receive updates direct to your inbox.
Poppy Witts-Woodward is Business Development Manager at Wiltshire Centre for Independent Living.
Email: [email protected] LinkedIn: @Poppy-Witts-Woodward