ARCO What Next? Annual Conference - July 2025

We are thrilled to announce that the ARCO What Next? 2025 Annual conference will be returning in July for its 9th Edition.

Widely recognised as the main agenda-setting event for the Integrated Retirement Community sector, the ARCO Annual conference is the must-attend event that brings together the most influential and experienced operators and organizations in the sector.

Known for its excellent and fresh content, where new innovative ideas are shared first, and for the unmatched networking opportunities, including the attendance of Ministers and senior policy makers, this event is one not to missed! 

The conference will be held in London and run over two days. And as it's now tradition, the main conference day will end with ARCO's Annual Drinks Reception, which is an opportunity for all delegates to enjoy the largest sector social gathering as well as networking opportunities with sector peers.

Agenda:

Under the title 'Leading Change: The time is now', this year's conference will focus on the key components the sector will need to embrace as we navigate a changing economic, sociodemographic and political landscape.

The sessions will cover, amongst other topics, the following:

• Navigating the Macro Environment: Pressures, Challenges, and Opportunities in housing, health and social care

The landscape of social care and housing is shifting rapidly. With reform of social care delayed until at least 2028, what’s the state of play in the world of care and support?

We’ll also broaden our perspective to explore trends and challenges in other property sectors and the wider housing market - will we see a sustained recovery in the housing market, and how is the wider property sector grappling with challenges of high build costs and economic uncertainty? Are there synergies with the Integrated Retirement Community sector? What is unique to us? What lessons can we learn and where are the opportunities for innovation and investment? Join us for an engaging discussion that brings together expert insights from all sides of the macroeconomic spectrum.

• A story for today’s generation: Putting Integrated Retirement Communities on the map

Awareness and understanding of Integrated Retirement Communities (IRCs) in the UK remain limited. This session will look at the public’s perception of our sector and how information, advice and insight can elevate the IRC sector’s visibility to our target audience.

• Project Oracle: Unlocking a New Tenure Model for the UK

Project Oracle explores an innovative form of tenure that has transformed senior living and housing markets abroad – the move to contract-based tenure models for IRCs. In this session, we’ll unpack how it may work, why it succeeds in other countries, and what it could mean for the UK’s housing and care landscape. We’ll also share exclusive insights from research conducted with people aged 70+, as well as looking into operators’ perspective and the potential to attract and grow investment into the IRC sector in the UK.

• Celebrating success (while learning from what didn’t go quite so well!)

Amidst the challenges in the economy and the housing market, there are operators making remarkable strides—selling well, delivering outstanding services, and creating thriving communities for older people. This session will spotlight success stories from across the industry, featuring insights from leaders and teams who are driving positive change. From innovative service models to strong sales performance, discover what’s working, what’s resonating with customers, and how these success stories can inspire the broader sector.

In this session, we will also not shy away from looking at what didn’t work well, and how the sector can learn, adapt and improve its offer for customers and operators alike.

• WiRL (Women in Retirement Living): Growth, successes, and the challenges ahead

Since its launch in 2023, WiRL (Women in Retirement Living) has grown from a small network of passionate professionals into a thriving community advocating for change in the UK retirement living sector. Rapidly expanding its network and attracting professionals from across the IRC and wider later living sector, WiRL has made significant strides – as we reflect on its early successes, we’ll also hear about the ongoing challenges within the industry that WiRL was created to address, as well as the plans moving forward.

We will be announcing the rest of the programme and guest speakers in the upcoming weeks.

Tickets 

• Early bird discounted tickets for ARCO Members, Accelerators, Strategic Partners, Partners and our Affiliate Network will open on Monday 31 March.
• Tickets for the general public will be released on 14 April.

Stay updated by following us on arcoconference.co.uk and Linkedin