About Us
On this page you will find a wide selection of information about Barnet and Adult Social Services.
Introduction to Adult Social Services
Aims and objectives of Adult Social Services...
Barnet's Background
Information about the council and the borough...
Perfect Partners
Our partners in delivering high quality services...
Well Structured
Links to our departmental structure...
Strategic Commissioning and Transformation
Information about the Strategic Commissioning and Transformation division
Care Service Delivery
Information about Care Service Delivery division
Performance and Supply Management
Information about the Performance and Supply Management division
Introduction to Adult Social Services
Barnet has seen major change in recent years, particularly in Adult Social Services. We have embraced the personalisation agenda and are applying to give people more choice and more control over their own lives. Our goal is to make the best possible use of resources and budgets.
We invest in all staff, managers, social workers, occupational therapists, unqualified practitioners and business support staff recognising that everyone’s role is crucial to the success of our division. This is backed up by well established supervision, appraisal and learning and development systems.
Adult Social Services now works closely in partnership with the health, independent and voluntary sectors. This joined-up approach has strengthened service delivery and better equipped us to identify and meet the needs of the local community. Our preventative work is tackling many issues before they arise.
Across the department, there is a strong team ethic and a culture of mutual support amongst frontline teams. We’ve also given managers the tools and training to provide better oversight, supervision and support.
By investing in training, IT and the team itself, we have achieved manageable caseloads and given employees the time they need for direct work with people who need social care services. The result is an engaged, well-motivated team who know they can have a genuine impact on people’s lives.
We want all staff to feel involved be well informed and prioritise good communication with regular newsletters, team and divisional meetings. Our recent inspection acknowledged a motivated workforce.
Barnet's Background
Demographics
Welcome to one of London’s most interesting and progressive areas - home to a diverse community of 332,400 residents and the second largest London borough, stretching from Cricklewood in the south (bordering Camden) and Hadley Wood (bordering Hertfordshire) in the north. It is well served by public transport, including Northern and Piccadilly London Underground lines and a main line to New Southgate Station. It is on the southern end of the M1 and the A406, North Circular Road, passes through.
Barnet’s population has risen at a steady rate. We are one of the most diverse communities in the UK and we pride ourselves on excellent community relations. The population is likely to rise even faster over the next decade. Barnet's projections show the borough's population rising to 355,200 by 2016. We are helping to create new, socially integrated communities and planning effectively for this growth.
For more detail about Barnet’s demography please see: http://www.barnet.gov.uk/index/council-democracy/statistics-census-information.htm
Health and wellbeing
Barnet Council and NHS Barnet share responsibility to improve the health and well-being of Barnet residents. Health data about the borough suggests:
- on most indicators, Barnet’s residents are healthier than the London and England averages and have a longer than average life expectancy;
- in some cases, more deprived areas of the borough have higher rates of poor health and a shorter life expectancy.
The Council has 63 Members and the balance of parties is 37 Conservative, 20 Labour and 6 Liberal Democrat. There is a Leader and a Cabinet of nine members. For more detail about the Council’s elected representatives please see: http://www.barnet.gov.uk/index/council-democracy/elected-representatives.htm
For information about the Council’s structure please see: http://www.barnet.gov.uk/index/council-democracy/council-departments.htm
Perfect Partners
To help us achieve our vision of choice and independence, we’re currently working in partnership with over 700 providers and encouraging family members, carers and individuals in the community to get more involved in planning and delivering services.
Our partners include the NHS Barnet, Acute Hospital Trusts and the Mental Health Trust and we have strong working relationships with users and carers and with residential, supported living, home care, day care and voluntary sector providers. We’re also building productive links with other council Directorates to improve access to universal services.
All this is helping us achieve unprecedented progress in commissioning first class care and support, delivering it cost effectively and measuring our success through effective performance and financial management.
Well Structured
Adult Social Services is organised around three areas, Strategic Commissioning and Transformation, Care Services Delivery and Performance and Supply Management.
Strategic Commissioning and Transformation is responsible for leading the programme of change to deliver self-directed services. Our commissioners focus on developing the care and support market in Barnet to deliver the services people want, which deliver greater independence and control at a price which is affordable for the Council.
Care Services Delivery supports all people who qualify for social care services funded in the borough. This could be by providing high quality information, or by directly helping them to set up self-directed care packages through Adult Social Services or Personal Budgets. We encourage an outcomes based approach promoting choice and independence.
Performance and Supply Management is responsible for a wide range of business and strategic management activities, providing support for the two service areas.
Senior
Management Team - Structure Chart
Strategic Commissioning and Transformation
The Strategic Commissioning and Transformation unit is responsible for leading on the delivery of the Council’s vision for Adult Social Services. It is divided into two teams.
The Strategic Commissioning Team is responsible for creating a service-user driven social care market in Barnet, within which people have a broad choice of types of support that increase their independence and quality of life.
The key changes that will generate this change in the care market are described in the service’s 5 major commissioning strategies.
Mental
Health Commissioning Strategy
Older
People’s
Commissioning Strategy
Physical
and Sensory Impairment Services Commissioning Strategy
Learning
Disabilities Commissioning Strategy
Supporting
People Strategy
The Strategic Commissioning Team provides a hub of commissioning expertise to make these strategies reality. It has strong links with our health partners, and with other service areas in the Council.
Strategic
Commissioning Structure chart
The Delivering Choice and Independence Programme Team leads on the internal transformation of Adult Social Services so that we support people to choose and direct the support they receive. This requires a range of project and change management activity and close links with our partners and the Council’s other service areas. We are currently engaging with staff on well developed plans to remodel our care delivery service to take on the personalisation agenda. We aim to deliver a new structure and model in 2009.
Care Services Delivery
Our division offers all the direct services to the public across all care groups excepting for mental health staff who are seconded to the Mental Health Trust under a Section 75 Agreement. We also have in-house learning disability services, a developing centre for independent living, and a transition team for young adults.
We have recently reorganised to take into account the independence and choice agenda. We are completing the rollout of personal budgets across the service. Our emphasis is on enablement and we work closely with brokerage and commissioning to ensure productive solutions for individuals. We pride ourselves on our relationships with the public, having the people who use social care services at the centre and working with them to achieve independence and quality of life.
Our new access team emphasises customer care and independence and is developing strong links with different services in the community so that we are known for being responsive and helping people to find their own solutions.
This division controls all the purchasing budgets for social care services and we are well organised to manage budgets so that they may be accessed in a timely way. We have rolled out mobile working to give social work staff flexibility and tools to work efficiently. There is good access to training across all roles.
Safeguarding vulnerable people at risk is prioritised across the council and we have excellent systems for delivering in this area.
Care
Services Delivery structure chart
Performance and Supply Management
The Performance and Supply Management Division is responsible for a wide range of business and strategic management activities, providing support for the two service areas to ensure that we are delivering effective outcomes.
The work of the Supply Management Team is focused on:
- working with the market to improve and extend the supply of adult social care
- increasing procurement capacity and capability within Adult Social Services
- introducing brokerage, and
- improving supplier performance
- managing our Direct Payments and Advisory Service
The Workforce Development Team lead on our workforce development strategy and our learning and development activity.
Our Customer Financial Affairs Team lead on providing financial assessments and advice to clients including maximising income, welfare rights advice, deputyship, appointeeship and protection of property .
We have just completed a restructure of our performance, business systems and customer care functions to strengthen further these high performing areas to enable us to meet the future challenges facing Adult Social Services as we move forward with our Choice and Independence Programme .
The new role of Customer Care and Business Manager brings together our teams focused on complaints, communications and consultation and business support.
We use SWIFT as our client database and social care information system and Wisdom to enable our implementation and use of Electronic Social Care Records. We are at the forefront of developments to make sure that our future systems support our move to much more extensive self-directed care. The Business Systems team lead this work and are linked closely with the Council's corporate IT service.
The systems that we have developed have enabled us to develop a strong focus on data quality and performance reporting. We have a performance team and business intelligence team who work with staff and managers in the service divisions to monitor, report and improve performance.