Association of Directors of Adult Social Services (ADASS)

Responding to the provisional local government finance settlement published today, Melanie Williams, President of the Association of Directors of Adult Social Services, said: “While this additional funding is welcome, there remains a gap of over £1bn for adult social care to even standstill next year, which means councils won’t be able to fully meet people’s care and support needs. This means that fewer people will be able to draw on care and support to help them stay independent and well, such as transport to go shopping, a regular cooked meal or support for family carers. “Limiting the number of people who can access adult social care creates a vicious cycle; too many people reach crisis point and end up in hospital unnecessarily because they aren’t receiving low level care at home, and they can’t leave hospital because there isn’t enough support to return home safely. “To get people home from hospital quicker and prevent them from needing to go there in the first place, the Government must commit to a long-term, fully funded plan for social care, to make care at home and in the community the default option for everybody.” ·      It’s important to note the additional £200 million funding within the social care grant is split between adult and children’s social care and for many councils. In our Spring Survey the average split of the Social Care Grant was 60:40 (adults:childrens). However, the proportion of the additional Social Care Grant allocated to adult social care varies greatly from council to council from 100% of the grant to 0%. ·      We have not included the £515million to support councils with the costs associated with the increase in employer National Insurance Contributions (NICs) in our calculations as this is not specifically for adult social care. Estimated Costs to Council Adult Social Care for 2025/26- ·      Approx. Employer NICs £517mn (net) ·      Inflation CPI/NLW £1.2bn ·      Demography £700mn Total=2,417mn   Directly Available Funding for Adult Social Care from Government for 2025/26- ·      £648mn raised by ASC precept ·      £528mn from Social Care Grant (assuming 60/40 distribution in favour of adult social care) Total= £1,176mn   Funding gap/shortfall= £1.241mn #adultsocialcare #ADASS #localcouncils #LocalGovernment

We've signed @LGANews letter as we're calling for government to work with the adult social care sector to mitigate pressures on councils, providers & charities. We urge government to recognise funding for adult social care as an investment, not a cost #FutureofASC

Today our President, Melanie Williams, gave evidence at the Health and Social Care Committee looking at the 10 year health plan and the Government’s ambition to shift care from hospital to the community including what needs to be done differently this time to achieve this shift. The session was chaired by Layla M., and alongside our President, we also heard from Saffron Cordery, Interim Chief-Executive, NHS Providers, Stephanie Elsy, Chair, Bath and North East Somerset ICB. Melanie said there had been three main initiatives which in the last 10-20 years have achieved some of the shift from hospital to community that we can learn from; the Better Care Fund, Community Mental Health Transformation Programme, and the shift within mental health away from campuses and asylums and into the community. She spoke about the barriers and challenges facing the shift from hospital to community, adding that having clear policy expectations and being clear about who we are talking about and what we want to achieve based on their needs rather than on settings of care, is an important lesson. Also, that we need to make sure that metrics and measures follow the policy, using the Better Care Fund as an example of why that's so important given that it has often 'drifted' from its original purpose. In concluding, she agreed with her fellow panellist Stephanie Elsy that the one most important thing the Government or NHSE could do to invest, deliver and prioritise services in the community would be to "include it in the planning guidance and measure what we are doing on it". 

It was great to hear Kirstie Kerr’s contribution to the discussion on preparing for adulthood at #NCASC24. Hearing stories from people with lived experience of social care enables us to support our councils and colleagues to make changes to grow work across children’s and adults social care and to strengthen systems. Importantly, it helps us to set this out to our Government so we are clear with how they can use their levers to improve young lives. Thanks to IMPOWER for facilitating this roundtable discussion about preparing for adulthood.

That's a wrap! It's been a brilliant three days at the National Children and Adult Services Conference 2024 #ncasc24 at the Liverpool ACC. We heard from Melanie Williams, the President of the Association of Directors of Adult Social Services (ADASS) who spoke not only about the challenges facing adult social care but her "amazing hope" for the sector and from so many inspiring people across the event in our main sessions, workshops and Big Chats. We were joined by Stephen Kinnock who set out the Government's vision for adult social care, while Sally Warren talked in detail about the 10-year health plan. It was great to see co-production and people with lived experience at the heart of this year's conference as summed up by Dr Clenton Farquharson CBE in the video below. We'd like to thank you all for joining us at the conference, our sponsor IMPOWER Consulting and the exhibitors and staff at Liverpool ACC, alongside our partners the Association of Directors of Children's Services and the Local Government Association for making NCASC 2024 a success. We look forward to welcoming you back in 2025.

On the final day of the National Children and Adult Services Conference 2024 (NCASC), it was brilliant to hear from Sally Warren as she discussed in detail the NHS 10-year health plan. After, she took questions from the panel which included, Jess McGregor, the Vice President of the Association of Directors of Adult Social Services (ADASS), Rachael Wardell, Vice President of the Association of Directors of Children's Services, Isaac Samuels, Co-chair of the National Co Production Advisory Group and Cllr David Fothergill, Chairman, LGA Community Wellbeing Board Lead and from members of the audience. It was an insightful and engaging session where the Director General for the 10-year health plan for the DHSC encouraged us to all to get involved in the national conversation about the NHS, which she said had received thousands of responses so far. It was a fantastic end to #ncasc24!

Great Big Chat session this morning on the final day of #ncasc24 with Leicester City Council and IMPOWER on co-production leadership and commissioning with Alex Fox, Delivery Director at IMPOWER, Kate Galoppi, Director of Adult Social Care and Commissioning at Leicester City Council and Mo Peberdy, expert by experience.

Stephen Kinnock, the Minister of State for Care took to the stage at #ncasc24 this afternoon to talk about the Government’s plans for a new National Care Service. He talked about the importance of cross-party consensus, given that social care has been a ‘political football’ in the past. After his speech, he answered questions from the panel who included, Melanie Williams, the President of the Association of Directors of Adult Social Services (ADASS), Kate Sibthorp from the National Co-production Advisory Group and Louise Gittins, Chair of the LGA and members of the audience. He discussed the importance of consulting with those people who draw on care and support, assurance, carers and the Government’s three strategic shifts for the NHS: hospital to community, analogue to digital and from sickness to prevention. Excitingly, he said he wanted to hear from and engage with all of those working in adult social care and encouraged us to write to him and give our views on how to ensure the NHS 10-Year Plan includes social care at https://lnkd.in/dmqrAHsZ.

An insightful panel discussion on what next for adult social care and support this afternoon at the National Children and Adult Services Conference #NCASC24 with Melanie Williams, President of the Association of Directors of Adult Social Services (ADASS) who spoke about coming together as one voice for the sector and investing in our partnerships. Other speakers on the panel included, Anna Severwright, Co-convenor at Social Care Future, Vic Rayner, Chief Executive of the National Care Forum Chair and Cllr David Fothergill, Chairman of the LGA Community Wellbeing Board.

Fascinating discussion kicking off the afternoon session at #ncasc24 on how local authorities and partners can improve support for children and young people as they reach adulthood - Melanie Williams, Sheila Murphy, Deborah Crossan and Kirstie Kerr, SENDCO. You can read more about this important issue in a new report from the Association of Directors of Adult Social Services (ADASS) and IMPOWER Consulting here: https://tinyurl.com/pfaIMP