The following outcomes align to Wakefield Council's priorities:

Improving awareness and access to information on both Direct Payments and Individual Service Funds, will allow people an informed choice in how they access care and support, when in the community. Both have the potential to shape underdeveloped markets and provide increased opportunity to promote a self-service and preventative approach to social care. Through the alternatives to respite programme, delivering emergency and intermediate, short-term, care can support people, and their carers, to remain independent of long-term adult social care for longer. Increasing what is available through our Tech Enabled Care and ensuring better connectivity to existing ‘mainstream’ devices, such as Alexa or Google Hubs, will provide a wider offer in our tech first commissioning approach. All leading to further development of our Home First objective, and meeting our ‘prevent, reduce, delay’ requirements under the Care Act.

Review of our approach to commissioning with our Voluntary, Community and Social Enterprise Sector, with the focus of stability and sustainability within this sector. Strengthening our VCSE will also strengthen our prevention offer, helping people avoid or delay the need for statutory care services. Promoting a system wide approach to prevention, with wider Council departments, such as Children’s and Public Health, but also external partner agencies such as the Integrated Care Board, will develop a connected Wakefield offer, maximising the resources to provide the best offer for people in need of support, or those supporting them, such as their carers, especially in areas in need of development, such as dementia and mental health.

Through development of our processes in sourcing care packages, we aim to approach a transparent and effective referral process, or brokerage function, across all service types, especially when searching for specialist or complex provision within supported living and care homes. Delivering outcomes for people will be a system wide objective, from care and support planning to care delivery, ensuring the needs, wishes and beliefs of the person are considered at every stage of their care journey. Through strategic workforce programmes, we aim to improve the career opportunities and awareness that social care roles have opportunities to develop and therefore retain skilled staff within the sector at all levels across the care market in Wakefield. Through need and gap analysis, we will engage with the care market to ensure that providers have all opportunities to help us in our requirement to meet people’s assessed care and support needs, proactively planning market shaping and development with care providers and people with lived experience.