Community social work, community assets and Neighbourhood Network Schemes

1. Community social work, community assets and Neighbourhood Network Schemes Putting Prevention First: Delivering the Vision for Adult Social Care and Health

2. Setting the scene – What we’re doing and why

3. Context Problems we need to address and solve: • Unsustainable costs and demand on social care and health services and the system as a whole; • Poor experiences for both citizens and social workers (as well as healthcare practitioners such as GPs); • Things are getting worse, not better – the system isn’t working; Opportunities to seize and assets to recognise: • Enthusiasm and support for change across all stakeholders; • Much of the demands on the social care and health system can be prevented through focusing on social isolation, loneliness, frailty and quality of life; • Lots of evidence about what works, it’s just not been implemented yet in Birmingham; • Valuing the important role of community groups, networks and organisations in neighbourhoods.

4. Prevention First: Our vision Citizens lead healthy, happy, independent lives within their own homes and communities

5. Prevention First outcomes

6. Our principles and pillars for delivery Principles: • Investing in prevention and community assets • Strengths and assets based practice – citizens and communities • Partnership approach across the Council and external stakeholders • Place based approach around neighbourhoods, Constituencies and localities • Evidence base for what works and the impact of prevention • Change of direction and culture to current ways of doing things – disrupting the current system Community Social Work: • Three Conversations Model to implement a more strengths, assets and community based approach to practice • Constituency and Locality based working and teams to increase the visibility and presence of social workers in the community and community networks Community Assets: • Places to go, people to meet and things to do • Developing relationships, support and joint approaches with individuals, groups or organisations who/which is doing something, delivering an activity, project or service in a neighbourhood setting which older people can benefit from

7. Neighbourhood Network Schemes – a brief summary They’re about older people and communities (not specifically including younger adults with disabilities at this stage) • Universally accessible assets and activities, which older people can benefit from • Assets and activity specifically for older people Constituency based networks • Bringing together voluntary, community and social enterprise sector organisations and groups, as well as statutory agencies to engage with, work with and support older adults and communities • Organised by a “lead facilitator” with delegated responsibilities and budgets from Birmingham City Council to implement and manage the Neighbourhood Network Scheme in each Constituency They will: • Invest in and support the development of community assets, as well as the individuals, groups and organisations who are delivering community activity • Connect, broker and link community assets to citizens and statutory agency practitioners (e.g. social workers and GPs) • Locally commission activity through a micro and small grants scheme – building the community offer and/or making it more accessible for older people Contracts and budgets: • Contracts awarded for Lead Facilitators for a minimum of two years , from December 2018 • Budget of £170,000 to £280,000 per Constituency to cover staffing, management, investment in support for community assets, as well as local commissioning of activity through micro and small grants Evidence based – building on: • Successful model in Leeds which is supporting 23,000 older adults per year (operating to a Ward model) • Evidence across community development, social prescribing, community investment and support, citizens, health and wellbeing

8. THE neighbourhood network SCHEME MODEL – how it will be delivered

9. Developing something around what works: • Being more creative and flexible in funding activities which can support care and health needs, particularly looking towards arts, culture, physical activities which people can enjoy; • Community networks, peer to peer opportunities and people’s connectedness to other people and places where they live (or communities of interest); • Coordination of activity across agencies and stakeholders within the prevention agenda. This is becoming an increasingly busy area of work with risks of duplication and counter-productive and/or competitive activity between agencies; • Coordinators, connectors, navigators, mentors and similar types of roles which can connect and encourage citizens to access appropriate and relevant support and activities • Coproducing models and approaches with citizens, communities and providers, taking an asset based approach for better outcomes and systems; • Digital inclusion and capability to provide accessible information about community assets, ideas, activities and groups for both citizens and practitioners working with citizens; • Evaluating and measuring the impact/value of community based activity on traditional social care and health outcomes, but linked to this both citizen and community wellbeing; • Individuals, assets, micro-enterprises, small charities and little ideas which can cumulatively make a difference and enable social action in neighbourhoods; • Places having different needs and dynamics, which require different types of support and investment. This is particularly acknowledging the differences between places with high social action and those with low social action; • Joint approaches with regional and national funders to address shared problems, outcomes and aspirations; • The trust and credibility issue between the VCSE sectors and the Council, particularly ensuring that strategic messaging is reflected in how the Council operates.

10. NNS activities – brief guide: • Find, map and engage community assets in the “Prevention First” approach • Support community groups and organisations to sustain and build current capacity and offer, as well as to build wider skills • Support community social work practice by linking community assets to older people and social workers • Support other agencies interested in linking community assets to older people • Commission community activity through micro and small grants (building the community offer and/or making it more accessible to older people) • Develop and support a partnership steering group to locally direct and drive NNS and Prevention First approach • Support the development of new ideas and ways of supporting citizens • Be part of the development of a citywide model for NNS

11. Design, development and specification

12. Who are the Neighbourhood Network Schemes for?

13. Community assets and activities Outcome driven: • Increase social participation • Encourage healthy lifestyles • Maximised income • Housing which supports independence • Carers feel more supported • Citizens have a better experience of the social care and health system Could be any of the following: • Arts & Culture • Clubs • Community events • Community groups and networks • Digital skills and capability • Enablement • Handyman and gardening • Physical activity • Social media networks • Sport

14. Investing in community assets and communities • Working with community groups, organisations and individuals to sustain and grow their offer • Directly supporting or funding support for community groups and organisations covering, e.g: • Governance • Fundraising and business planning • Marketing and promotion • Measuring and evaluating activity • Directly supporting or funding support for individuals, groups, organisations and communities, e.g: • Digital inclusion, culture and capability • Social enterprise • Coproduction • Volunteering • Safeguarding

15. Supporting community social work and the Three Conversations approach

16. Investing in activities not services • Approach being taken is about developing active participation not passive consumption of services • Developing aspiration, not servicing needs • Developing human and social capital , as well as independence • Citizens make communities, not consumers Definition of a service: the action of helping or doing work for someone Definition of an activity: a thing that a person or group does

17. Local commissioning • Local budgets of approximately £100K-£200K per year for each Constituency • Building a relevant and accessible community offer for older people: • New activity where there are gaps • Increasing the accessibility of existing activity for new people • Informed by ideas and intelligence from community social work practice • (Mostly) activities not services – supporting lots of smaller community activity for cumulative impact • £1-£10,000 with a proportionate process to match • A couple of examples from Leeds: • Handyperson activity to help with garden and house repairs to help people stay health and active in their own homes – as a small local service and/or a volunteer activity • DVD film club that was set up through investment in a DVD player which brought older people in the locality.

18. Stakeholders and partners • Arts and culture networks – from the local arts fora • Birmingham City Council Locality and Constituency Social Work Teams; Neighbourhoods & Communities (including Neighbourhood Development & Support Unit, Libraries, Community Centres, Advice); Cultural Development Service. • Citizens • Elected representatives including Councillors and/or MP (as a community representative) • Financial Inclusion Partnership and network members • Housing provider(s) – including Birmingham City Council Housing and/or Registered Providers (identified through Birmingham Social Housing Partnership) • NHS Birmingham & Solihull CCG Locality Team and GP Practices; NHS Birmingham & Solihull Mental Health Foundation Trust • Regional and national funders • Sport Birmingham and network members • The Active Wellbeing Society (TAWS) • Voluntary and community sector organisations • West Midlands Fire Service • West Midlands Police • Network of stakeholders and partners • NNS Constituency Steering Group/Partnership Board • Communications and engagement plan/activity

20. Places – priorities and opportunities to have the biggest impact

21. Analysis of three key areas Adult social care and health demand – potential impact and benefit • Contacts with ACAP which lead to assessments • Services provided to over 65s Community investment and assets – breadth and depth of community groups and organisations • Number of organisations accessing grants of £10,000 or less • Total value of grants of £10,000 or less Deprivation – capacity for citizens to invest in communities • By deciles and compared to the City and national average

22. Opportunities and priorities Older person demand on social care services • Acocks Green (Yardley) • Bartley Green (Edgbaston) • Billesley (Selly Oak) • Bournville (Selly Oak) • Brandwood (Selly Oak) • Erdington (Erdington) • Kingstanding (Erdington) • Lozells and East Handsworth (Perry Barr) • Shard End (Hodge Hill) • Soho (Ladywood) • Stechford and Yardley North (Yardley) • Tyburn (Erdington) • Weoley (Northfield) Combined: • Billesley (Selly Oak) • Stechford and Yardley North (Yardley) • Weoley (Northfield) • AcocksGreen (Yardley) • Bartley Green (Edgbaston) • Brandwood (Selly Oak) • Erdington (Erdington) • Shard End (Hodge Hill) • Tyburn (Erdington) • StocklandGreen (Erdington)

23. Funding formula The data analysis has been used to inform a funding formula, which identifies where the biggest impacts might be achieved, and where more funding might be needed to support the development of community activity. *excludes interim project activity, which was funded in the other eight Constituencies ** small grants budget pooled to £412,500 until March 2021 with £437,500 allocated to five sub-Constituency contracts and £90,000 allocated to Social Care partnership post

24. OUTCOMES – what impact and difference do we want the neighbourhood network schemes to deliver/contribute to

25. Citizens and communities

26. System, behaviours and culture

27. TIMELINE

28. Phase 1 Research and Development Projects – July 2018 to January 2019 • Edgbaston, Erdington, Hall Green, Hodge Hill, Ladywood, Northfield, Sutton, Yardley Constituencies • Grant awards of £40,000 per Constituency • Identify, map and speak to community assets to involve them in the Nhood Network Schemes and community social work; • Facilitate contact and relationship building between community assets and social work teams; • With the local social work teams reviewing and identify gaps in the community offer for older people; • With community assets reviewing and identifying support needs and gaps for community orgs and groups Lead Facilitators start in Selly Oak and Perry Barr, via SLA – September 2018 to August 2020 • Community assets • Connecting, brokerage and relationships • Local commissioning • Local partnerships Innovation Fund – September 2018-March 2019 and April 2019-March 2020 • Testing new ideas to Birmingham, the UK or in general (including new technology) • Developing the evidence of what can work and how • Options for scaling up and rolling out across Neighbourhood Networks

29. Phase 2 Procurement and contract awards for NNS Lead Facilitators – April 2019-March 2021 • Contracts awarded for “Lead Facilitators” in Erdington, Ladywood, Sutton and Yardley Procurement and contract awards for NNS Lead Facilitators – July 2019-March 2021 • Tendering between May and June • Edgbaston and Northfields based on Primary Care Networks model, with BCC retaining responsibility for small grants and local partnerships • Hall Green and Hodge Hill based on Constituencies model Enhancing local support systems via the NNS – Summer 2019 onwards • Assembling approved providers who can provide additional skills, expertise and infrastructure support to community organisations and covering issues like co-design and co-production to support local commissioning, digital inclusion, micro and social enterprise, measuring impact, value and outcomes, volunteering, safeguarding • Would be purchased /procured on an ad hoc basis through local Neighbourhood Network Schemes budgets or on a pan-Birmingham or pooled basis

30. A few opportunities to get involved Providing services and activities via contracts and grants: • NNS Innovation Fund for testing and trialling activity – until March 2020 • Procurement process for Lead Facilitators – until June 2019 • Local commissioning of community activity through micro and small grants – from early 2019 • Local support systems for community organisations and groups – from summer 2019 Stakeholder or partner: • Via Constituency NNS providers (Lead Facilitators or Development Projects) • Citywide NNS Forum • Constituency Steering Groups

31. Contact Austin Rodriguez Commissioning Manager Adult Social Care & Health Email: austin.rodriguez@birmingham.gov.uk Telephone: 07557287605 Visit the blog via https://brumnns.wordpress.com