Archived decisions

Contact: Chandra McGowan (01962) 847790 [email protected]

1. Summary

1.1 The following decision is sought:

1.2 To award the invest-to-save grant of £600,000 received from HM Treasury as follows:

Agency	2007/08	2008/09	2009/10
One Community, Eastleigh	£20,000	£40,000	£40,000
Community First, East Hampshire	£20,000	£40,000	£40,000
Basingstoke Voluntary Services	£20,000	£40,000	£40,000
Havant Council of Community Services	£20,000	£40,000	£40,000
Rushmore Voluntary Services	£20,000	£40,000	£40,000
Community First, New Forest	£20,000	£40,000	£40,000

2. Reason(s)

2.1 To allow the employment of community development workers; and to help build the capacity of the community to promote the well-being of its older members.

3. Other Options Considered

3.1 None.

4. Conflicts of Interest declared by the decision maker or other Executive Member consulted

4.1 None.

5. Dispensation granted by the Standards Committee

5.1 None.

6. Reason(s) for the matter being dealt with if urgent

6.1 Not applicable.

Approved by: ....................................... Date: .................................

Councillor Felicity Hindson

Executive Member for Adult Social Care

Contact: Chandra McGowan (01962) 847790 [email protected]

1. Summary

1.1 In April 2006, a Flagship Initiative for older people was established under Hampshire's Local Area Agreement (LAA) to support older people who are beginning to experience difficulties staying independent. This `Community Innovations' Project built on pilot work undertaken previously for the LGA's Innovations Forum.

1.2 In six localities across Hampshire, nurses and social workers or OTs are working in `community innovations teams' (CITs) to identify older people at risk, and help them to stay independent within their communities. This project meets many of the requirements of the Government's White Paper `Our Health, Our Care, Our Say: a new direction for community services' and will provide the new Contact Centre with additional options to meet enquiries.

1.3 The project sits within Hampshire's commitment to work in partnership with the Voluntary sector, under the auspices of the One Compact. Adult Services has undertaken a series of workshops with the voluntary sector to strengthen our joint working. One of the priorities that emerged was the need to work together to build capacity in the voluntary sector. The use of this grant will directly address capacity issues the six localities.

1.4 The bid was successful, and the County has received a grant of £600,000 from HM Treasury over three years, with £120,000 available in 2007/08 and £240,000 available in 2008/09 and 2009/10. The proposal is that this grant should now be allocated to the local councils for voluntary service (CVS) in each of the localities who will hold the funds on behalf of the project, with six individual grants of £100,000, each consisting of £20,000 now and £40,000 in 2008/09 and 2009/10 when funds are received from HM Treasury.

2. Recommendations

2.1 That grants be distributed as follows:

Agency	2007/08	2008/09	2009/10
One Community, Eastleigh	£20,000	£40,000	£40,000
Community First, East Hampshire	£20,000	£40,000	£40,000
Basingstoke Voluntary Services	£20,000	£40,000	£40,000
Havant Council of Community Services	£20,000	£40,000	£40,000
Rushmore Voluntary Services	£20,000	£40,000	£40,000
Community First, New Forest	£20,000	£40,000	£40,000

3. Links to Corporate Strategies

3.1 The LAA Flagship Initiative for Older People has as its primary aim the promotion of the well-being of older people. The initiative will also allow a significant strengthening of the capacity of communities to support older people.

4. Impact Assessment

4.1 The aim of the Flagship Initiative is to:

· Increase the well-being of older people supported by the Initiative; and

· Reduce the use of emergency and other services.

As part of the Project, an evaluation is being put in place to assess the extent to which it achieves these aims. A form is being developed with the New Economics Foundation (nef) to assess the well-being of older people supported by the scheme before they start and after three months on the Project to monitor changes.

4.2 The cost-effectiveness of the Project will also be reviewed. In particular, the pattern of use of emergency and other services within the localities will be measured to see if there are any changes. The figures for each locality will be compared with other areas that act as controls. The aim is to demonstrate that the Project saves more than it costs, and is therefore self-sustaining - a key aim of the Invest-to-Save Programme. The outcomes for individuals will be reviewed, and the best schemes developed by the CVSs will be replicated in other localities. In this way, the learning and experience from the Project will help to promote well-being and reduce costs across Hampshire.

5. Management of the Invest-to-Save Funds

5.1 Just over half of each grant will then be spent on a half-time community development worker to help build capacity in the community to support older people. These community development workers will be integral members of the community innovations teams and it will be their job to be an active link between the team and the community and voluntary sector. It will also be their job to support, encourage and develop the community and voluntary sector organisations from within the CVS.

5.2 The other half will be spent on initiatives in the community to develop new ways of meeting emerging needs. The proposed method for distributing the funds for community development involves the following steps:

· The core members of the community innovations teams (the nurse, social worker/OT and community development worker working together) identify needs for support that cannot currently be met by agencies in the community. They are constantly meeting older people, assessing their needs, and drawing up support plans which set out what older people and their families want and need - so they are well placed to identify needs that cannot easily be met. The community development worker then devises solutions with local voluntary organisations to meet these emerging needs.

· The team as a whole then discusses and endorses the proposals that they think will best meet the emerging needs. They discuss these proposals with the project implementation manager who manages staff across all six localities, and get his or her endorsement. The proposals are then put forward for inclusion within a local Community Investment Plan. The invest-to-save funds will be used to `pump-prime' these new schemes, getting them started - but each scheme must then aim to become self-sustaining, continuing after the Project has finished.

· Each proposal will be considered by a range of local people who represent the community. This group will link with ( or be a subgroup of) the Local Strategic Partnership and /or the local Health and Well-being Partnership Forums when they are established, in order to avoid duplicating decision making forums. Their main aim will be to ensure that the proposals fit with and do not duplicate other local initiatives set out in local multi-agency older people's well-being action plans etc.

· If proposals are agreed as a sensible fit with the wider agenda in the locality, the funds held by the CVS will be released for implementation.

· The Community Innovations Teams Project Board, made up of representatives from the County Council, PCT, district councils and the voluntary sector, will periodically review the pattern of investment in each locality, and the emerging results of the evaluation programme, to ensure that best use is being made of the Invest-to-Save funds.

6. Conclusion

6.1 The grant will help strengthen the capacity of communities to help promote the well-being of older people.