After Cloud Approved as a G-Cloud 15 Supplier: What This Means for Public Sector Social Care

A significant step for After Cloud.

After Cloud, the company behind Storyteller, has been approved as a supplier on the UK Government’s G-Cloud 15 framework.

It is important news for us. It may also make it easier for councils, adult social care organisations and children’s services teams to explore how Storyteller could support more consistent, relationship-centred care.

The framework does not change what Storyteller is.

It creates another route for public sector organisations to find and consider it.

What is G-Cloud 15?

G-Cloud 15 is a UK Government procurement framework for cloud-based services.

It is managed through the Government Commercial Agency and the Digital Marketplace. The framework is designed to help public sector organisations buy cloud hosting, cloud software and cloud support services.

The official G-Cloud 15 agreement page describes it as a route for buying cloud-based computing services, including off-the-shelf and pay-as-you-go solutions.

For buyers, frameworks can provide a more structured way to explore suppliers and services. They can reduce the need to begin every procurement from scratch, while still requiring buyers to follow the relevant rules, terms and internal processes.

G-Cloud 15 is being introduced under the Procurement Act 2023. The Government Commercial Agency describes the framework as offering public sector buyers access to a broad range of suppliers, including small and medium-sized enterprises, alongside a quick and easy route to market.

That matters in social care.

Digital services need to work for the people using them. They also need to fit within the governance, procurement and information-handling responsibilities of public sector organisations.

Why framework access matters to public sector buyers

Finding the right digital service is only one part of a public sector technology decision.

Teams also need to understand how they can explore, assess and procure that service. A framework can help create a clearer starting point.

For a council or care organisation, G-Cloud 15 may make it easier to:

• Search for relevant cloud software and support services.
• Compare suppliers within an established public sector route.
• Begin conversations with providers that are listed on the Digital Marketplace.
• Consider digital services alongside existing procurement and governance processes.
• Build a clearer internal case for exploring a new approach.

It does not remove the need for due diligence.

It does not guarantee that a particular service is the right fit.

It does not replace a buyer’s responsibility to assess security, data protection, accessibility, value, implementation and service suitability.

The G-Cloud buyers’ guide explains that eligible public sector organisations can use the relevant buying service to purchase cloud services through the framework. Buyers should always check the current guidance and framework terms before taking action.

What this means for Storyteller

Storyteller helps people in care preserve the moments, relationships and experiences that shape a person’s life.

For children and young people, that can include photographs, school reports, milestones, memories, messages and everyday moments shared by the people around them.

For adults in care, it can include personal history, family connections, important routines, meaningful experiences and the details that help others understand who they are.

These stories should not depend on one folder, one home or one person remembering to pass information on.

They should remain available, with the right permissions, as circumstances change.

Storyteller provides a shared digital space where carers, practitioners, families and the person themselves can contribute to a living record. It is designed to support life story work and relationship-centred care without making the process feel like another disconnected administrative task.

That purpose remains at the heart of what we do.

G-Cloud 15 gives public sector organisations another way to discover the platform and start a conversation about whether it meets their needs.

A route for children’s services

Children’s life story work is important at every stage of a child’s journey through care.

A move between foster homes can mean a move between belongings, routines and familiar people. Physical records can become separated, damaged or difficult to access.

The emotional impact can last well beyond the move itself.

A secure, collaborative digital record can help the people around a child contribute to their story as it unfolds. A foster carer may add a photograph from a school event. A social worker may preserve an important document. A young person may choose what matters to them and add their own memories.

Small moments become part of something larger.

Their story remains theirs.

For local authorities and children’s services teams, this can support a more continuous approach to life story work. It can also help teams consider how information, memories and relationships are preserved across changes in placement and care.

Storyteller is not a replacement for professional judgement, direct work or meaningful relationships.

It is a tool to help those relationships leave a lasting record.

A route for adult social care

Adult social care has its own life story needs.

A person may move into supported living, residential care or another setting. Their care team may change. Family involvement may vary. Important knowledge can sit across conversations, paper files, photographs and the memories of different people.

When that knowledge is scattered, it can be harder for new carers to understand the person behind the care plan.

Life story information can support better conversations.

It can help staff learn what makes someone feel at home, which relationships matter, what experiences have shaped them and how they prefer to spend their time. It can give families and care teams a shared place to preserve memories, rather than relying on one-off handovers.

Storyteller supports this wider view of care.

Not just tasks completed.

Not just information recorded.

A person’s history, identity and relationships.

For adult social care organisations, G-Cloud 15 may provide a practical route to explore a platform designed around those needs.

Approval is not government endorsement

We want to be clear about what this announcement means.

After Cloud’s approval as a G-Cloud 15 supplier means that After Cloud has a place on the framework and can be found through the relevant Digital Marketplace supplier information.

It is not a government endorsement of Storyteller.

It is not a guarantee that Storyteller is suitable for every public sector organisation.

It is not confirmation that a council, NHS body or care provider has awarded a contract to After Cloud.

It does not remove the need for a buyer to complete its own assessment.

Public sector buyers should review the current After Cloud supplier listing, check the live Digital Marketplace information and read the applicable G-Cloud 15 terms and guidance before procurement.

Framework availability and buying arrangements can change. Buyers should also confirm the relevant framework status and route to market at the point they are ready to proceed.

Transparency matters to us.

What happens next?

We will continue working with public sector organisations that want to understand how Storyteller could fit into their services.

That may begin with a conversation about a specific challenge:

• How can life story work continue when a child moves home?
• How can adult social care teams preserve personal history more consistently?
• How can families, carers and practitioners contribute safely?
• How can a service make meaningful memory work easier to sustain?
• How can a digital platform fit with existing systems and responsibilities?

There is no single answer for every organisation.

The right approach depends on your service, your people and the outcomes you are working towards.

Our role is to listen, explain how Storyteller works and help you decide whether it is worth exploring further.

A step towards more connected care

Care is built through continuity.

A familiar face. A remembered detail. A photograph saved at the right moment. A story carried forward when circumstances change.

Technology cannot create those relationships on its own.

It can help protect them.

After Cloud’s approval on G-Cloud 15 gives public sector organisations another way to find Storyteller, ask questions and consider how a living digital memory space might support children, adults, families, carers and practitioners.

For us, this is more than a procurement milestone.

It is an opportunity to make life story work and relationship-centred care easier to explore across public services.

Would you like to understand whether Storyteller could support your organisation?

Visit Storyteller to learn more, or contact our team to start a tailored conversation.

There is no obligation.

Just a clear conversation about what your service needs and how we may be able to help.