Families and unpaid carers often judge a care service by how well it communicates. They want to know how someone is settling, whether they ate, whether an appointment went ahead and whether anything has changed. They do not usually want a dump of confidential internal notes. They want timely, human updates they can trust.
That gap between expectation and practice is now visible in national research. In February 2026, Care England published What shapes family confidence in care, based on a survey of 1,000 people responsible for arranging care for a family member. Seven in ten families said they would like daily updates, but only around half receive them that often. Sixty-two per cent would like updates through a care app or digital portal, yet only forty-one per cent currently get them.
Pelp Family exists because we think approved updates should be part of the care platform, not an afterthought on WhatsApp.
What the research says families want
The Care England research is blunt about changing expectations. Real-time updates, open communication and visibility of day-to-day care are no longer treated as extras. Among families whose provider already offers a digital platform, 81% said it contributed positively to the quality of care. Where tools support two-way communication, families report even more value: 87% of those using digital tools said they could share updates with the provider.
Smaller studies with unpaid carers whose relatives live in care homes point the same way. Regular communication, feeling part of the caring team, access to managers when issues arise, involvement in care planning and attention to personal preferences come up again and again. Carers also ask for ways to see daily information remotely, including through an app, without having to chase the home for every update.
Why informal channels are not enough
Many services still rely on phone calls, emails, printed diaries or staff personal messaging apps. Those channels can be warm and useful. They are also hard to control. Information can go to the wrong person, sit on a personal phone, miss an audit trail or create pressure on support workers to reply outside working systems.
Families themselves are not always clear what they are entitled to see. Digital social care record evaluations in England have found that relative portals are often underused, and that people drawing on care and their families may have limited understanding of the digital tools involved. Visibility without explanation can create confusion. Silence creates anxiety. The middle path is agreed, predictable updates with clear boundaries.
Privacy and consent are part of good communication
Better communication does not mean sharing everything. Care records contain special category personal data. An Individual may not want every relative to see the same information. Authorised representatives, advocates and family members can have different roles and different rights of access.
Any family-facing product has to start from invitation, relationship checks, consent and permissions. Internal notes, safeguarding discussions and professional judgements should stay internal unless they are deliberately approved for sharing. That principle is already written into how we describe Pelp Family and trusted communications on our features page.
What good updates look like in practice
Families rarely need a novel. They need enough detail to feel connected and to know when to visit, ask a question or raise a concern.
- A short update on how the person has been, in plain language
- Notable changes in mood, appetite, sleep or activity
- Confirmation that appointments or planned activities happened
- Photographs or messages only where authorised and appropriate
- A clear way to reply or request a conversation with the service
- The ability to stop or change access when relationships or wishes change
How Pelp Family is being designed
Pelp Family is the mobile experience we are building for authorised family members, advocates and representatives. It sits alongside Pelp Staff and Pelp Manager, so updates can start from real care activity rather than from a separate marketing feed.
- Invitation-based access with relationship verification
- Consent and permissions controlled by the care service and the Individual’s wishes
- An updates timeline limited to approved information
- Authorised photographs and attachments where enabled
- Secure messaging with the service
- Approved care documents when sharing is appropriate
- Notification preferences, plus suspension or revocation of access when needed
Trust is built between visits
Registered Managers know that a calm phone call after a difficult afternoon can protect a family’s confidence. Technology should make that kind of communication easier to sustain, not replace the relationship behind it.
Pelp is still in development, and family features will only be as good as the consent model and the staff workflows that feed them. The Care England figures suggest demand is already there. Our job is to meet it without blurring the boundary between professional records and what an authorised person should see.