Author: Stephen Willis, Service Coordination Project Officer, VOICES   Download the Care Act Toolkit here   The legacy project team who are responsible for promoting the use of VOICES Multiple Needs Care Act Toolkit have been busy with the development of bespoke workshops with colleagues from Adult Social Care.  We recognised an opportunity for Adult Social Care to join us in this project to communicate the value of the toolkit and to explain to the citywide partnership what happens following a referral to Adult Social Care.  Since January 2020 we have attended several online sessions together that have resulted in the co-design of learning content to be shared across the city ahead of a schedule of bespoke workshops to be co-delivered alongside colleagues from Adult Social Care.   The workshops are being aimed primarily at partner organisations who intend to incorporate the use of the toolkit into their daily working lives when working with customers. They will also benefit from regular access to the Project Team post- workshop for guidance and reflection on the Toolkit’s use. It is hoped that the Toolkit will prove to be, not only a useful document when making a Social Care referral but will also serve as a training aid and… Continue Reading

By Bruno Ornelas, Service Manager, VOICES and Dr Michelle Cornes, Senior Research fellow, Kings College London How we developed a toolkit to bridge the gap between individuals and the social care system. The aim of the Care Act 2014 is to ‘make the law fair and consistent’ and to remove ‘anomalies, which treat particular groups of people differently’ regardless of the provision they need or when they need it (DH 2013). The Care Act 2014 was introduced in England on 1st April 2015. It rescinds former legislation, including the NHS and Community Act 1990, with the aim of creating a single consistent route to establishing entitlement to publically funded care and support. This may mean that people who were frequently passed over by adult social care on the grounds that they did not come within a certain user group defined in legislation, such as homeless people, will no longer be excluded (Mandelstam 2013). For the VOICES coordination team, issues quickly came to light in relation to access to adult social care. Coordinators found it difficult to negotiate the initial customer services screening processes and to secure an assessment for their customers. A key lesson to emerge from VOICES early work, centred on the importance… Continue Reading