The journey of Nova Care Consultants
2017
Our roots date back to 2017 with the creation of Social Worker Gary, a sole trading independent practice led by our Founder and Consultant Director, Gary Spencer-Humphrey. We also won the Social Worker of the Year Award in the same year. Our director, Gary Spencer-Humphrey is a dual-registered social worker in England and Wales, an Approved Mental Health Professional Lead, a Best Interests Assessor and a DoLS Authoriser. Gary began his health and social work career over 20 years ago, starting as a healthcare assistant and rising through the social work ranks as a senior practitioner, team manager, AMHP Lead, service manager and later Head of Service. You can read more about Gary here.
2019
In 2019, Social Worker Gary incorporated into Expert Social Worker Ltd, retaining the trusted brand of Social Worker Gary. The service quickly became recognised as a leader in private care, mental health and complex capacity assessments, offering a range of private and publicly funded (legal aid) expert witness services to the legal and judiciary. We also won our second national award as the UK Social Care Expert.
2020-2023
In 2020, our referrals quadrupled, and we welcomed our first associate, who is now our assistant director. We ran our services from our headquarters in Hampshire. In 2021, we expanded our operations into Wales and opened our second office the following year. IN 2022, we were shortlisted and received the finalist gong for the Small Business Excellence Award. In 2023, we grew again and onboarded our first Personal Assistant (PA), supporting the consultant director.
2024
In 2024, we were joined by two social work consultants, Jaimie and Akhil. Jaimie is our expert in older adults, and Akhil is our lead in learning disabilities.
2025
In 2025, we took on our first non-social work professional, an independent occupational therapy consultant, Michelle, who is a specialist in moving and handling. In March 2025, we rebranded Social Worker Gary as Nova Care Consultants Ltd, marking our evolution from a single-led practice to a service that now spans five UK offices across England and Wales.
What we stands for
"We are committed to shining the path forward in private client assessments and support services across the UK."
We are the only multi-national award-winning private client practice, serving our customers 7 days a week, 365 days a year. We are the proud and trusted partner with more than 35 law firms and 25 councils nationwide who retain us for expert advice, consultation and instructions. At Nova Care, we deliver rapid, reliable and high-quality assessments from one-off instructions to ongoing support services, including our new professional Deputy and Attorney (Health and Welfare) service.
What sets us apart is our unwavering commitment to delivering excellence in our respective practices. We are also the only UK practice where all associates and consultants have held senior leadership or management positions across the NHS or Local Authority, which enhances the quality and standard of our services. Some of our staff are trainers and academic researchers, making the care brighter for all. While it is not a requirement in the UK to hold management, leadership or academic excellence for any private practitioner, this additional skill set adds exceptional depth, insight, skill and professionalism to everything we do, and we are often quoted as providing the best service in the UK.
"We are proud to lead the way in independent private client care practice across the UK - consistently delivering excellence, first time, every time, and making care brighter for you, your client and families"
