Professor Vic Rayner chief executive of not-for-profit social care association the National Care Forum has been appointed chair of Care Provider Alliance (CPA), a coalition of adult social care providers in England.

The role of CPA chair rotates annually across each of the 10 associations. Rayner follows Dr Jane Townson, chief executive of the Homecare Association.

Rayner has extensive experience of the social care, health housing, and technology sectors, including more than eight years at the helm of the National Care Forum.

Rayner chairs the government national workforce advisory group and the National Social Care Advisory Group on social care and technology, where she has helped promote digital transformation across care. She also sits on a range of government and national specialist groups with a focus on new models of care and regulation. This year she also became chair of the Global Ageing Network working with international partners on areas of innovation and change.

Rayner said: “The CPA members work across the whole care and support sector ensuring a coordinated response to the major issues that affect care providers and as an Alliance we continue to go from strength to strength. Our work together with policymakers, commissioners and those who draw on care and support is vitally important, and I look forward to building our engagement and impact together.

“This is such a crucial time for social care, and speaking with one voice will be critical as we seek towards achieving fair pay for carers, and the implementation of a funded workforce strategy. Commissioning and regulation are also areas of concern, and we are very keen to work with the new government to develop a National Care Service.

Townson commented: “Serving as chair of the CPA over the past year, it has been an honour and a privilege to work with many exceptional colleagues across the care and health sectors. We built on work in previous years to strengthen our engagement with national and local government, the NHS; regulators, think tanks, universities, sector experts in the UK and abroad, and the media.

“During this period, we have seen an increase in demand for care and complexity of need. International recruitment helped to plug gaps in our workforce in the short term but also created fresh problems we worked hard to solve. Alongside this, we supported development of a strategy to grow and develop our UK care workforce, led by Skills for Care. CPA members have remained committed to the digital transformation of care and are pleased that 70% of providers are now using digital care records. Difficulties at CQC have created many issues for care providers and we have advocated strongly for improvement. The financial position of many small providers remains precarious. Our analysis has highlighted the need for investment and the value of timely support and care for individuals, communities, and the economy.