Wakefield Metropolitan District Council has implemented its strategy to reduce in-house home care provision, and to commission quality independent sector home care provision in its place. The Council uses strong strategic commissioning at a whole-system level. This has secured tangible outcomes in terms of improved service provision and safety for individuals.
Outcomes of this work are:
- 'fair rate' strategies have been introduced across residential care and home care provision. These ensure the affordability and sustainability of quality services within available resources in a fair and equitable manner
- the Council has introduced a brokerage team to free up valuable social work resources from the micro-commissioning of community based services. This also ensures effective and efficient payment and budgetary control mechanisms
- an increase in the proportion of people with learning disabilities supported within community based settings. This includes the introduction of a Keyring scheme - a small extra care scheme for individual’s previously at home with older carers, and ten additional tenancies with support for 30 individuals
- securing substantial efficiencies through the re-tender of the contracts supporting the long-stay hospital re-provision for people with learning disabilities
The Council has a shared vision, created and guided by strong leadership. Strategic alignment has been achieved through the implementation of a clear line of sight of challenges, priorities and objectives. These flow from the Community Strategy and the Local Authority Agreement, through the Council's performance plan, into directorate business and team plans and inform individual's annual appraisals. In this way, the Council can ensure that all of its actions and resources contribute towards the strategic aims of the district.
Innovative approaches to commissioning have secured marked improvements in outcomes for individuals. These generate significant recurrent savings and efficiencies with which to invest in additional services. A strong value base places individuals at the heart of the commissioning processes. These are expressed and implemented via effective corporate engagement processes. They are underpinned by dedicated resources within the Family Services Directorate. This ensures that the views and wishes of service users are captured and acted upon.
The Council works effectively across boundaries by embracing partnership and collaborative working, both with and through partners.
The Council has a robust performance management culture. This is supported by regular corporate and service director review of performance. Budget clinics are employed to monitor and challenge performance and ensure necessary corrective action is implemented.
The implementation of an effective equality and diversity strategy promotes strong engagement. It is coupled with fair and equal access for service users. This helps to develop stronger, cohesive and sustainable communities where different backgrounds are valued.