Nic Brimblecombe

Nic Brimblecombe is an Assistant Professorial Research Fellow at the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE), affiliated with both the Care Policy and Evaluation Centre (CPEC) and the Centre for Analysis of Social Exclusion (CASE). She joined LSE in 2012 and has established herself as a leading researcher in social care policy, with particular expertise in unpaid caregiving systems.

Her research interests span adult social care, long-term care, unpaid and family carers, young carers, carers and employment, inequalities in care, unmet need for care, and housing-care relationships. Brimblecombe employs mixed methods approaches, combining quantitative analysis of large datasets with in-depth qualitative interviewing to examine systemic barriers in care provision.

Her recent publications reveal a research trajectory increasingly focused on intersectional inequalities in care access, with particular attention to how ethnicity, income, and geographic location create differential barriers to receiving appropriate care services. Her 2022-2024 publications demonstrate continued relevance to current policy debates around social care reform in England.

As project lead for initiatives including Care and Place (CAPE) and Reducing Barriers and Improving Support for Young Carers (REBIAS-YC), she directs significant research efforts examining the links between housing characteristics and care needs among older people, and identifying barriers young carers face in accessing appropriate support.

Her advisory work appears substantial though not explicitly detailed in available materials, with multiple collaborative projects involving researchers across institutions. Her publications consistently emphasize practical policy implications, particularly regarding unmet need and service accessibility for vulnerable populations.