Social work services must become an integral part of a

whole public sector approach to supporting vulnerable people and promoting social well-being This requires:

● Effective community and

corporate planning incorporating social work services;

● Harmonisation of local service boundaries wherever possible; ● Services to be commissioned and

developed at the most appropriate level to ensure effectiveness, efficiency and best value;

● An integrated policy framework which rationalises information, planning and funding streams; ● Simplification of governance and

funding arrangements across the public sector to promote

integrated working.

Social work services cannot be effective without the active co-operation and partnership of other public services. Although service integration is a major policy driver, underpinning all branches of social work, this needs to be further developed if it is to deliver increased capacity. Taking a whole system

approach will require all agencies to take a shared responsibility for people in need. This philosophy underpins Getting it Right for Every Child (2005) and will need to be the foundation for future service design and delivery across all public services.

Effective community and corporate planning

Local authorities have a unique position as democratically elected bodies with responsibility for local service planning and delivery. Their role in improving social conditions and devising solutions to address social malaise must be fully exploited. However, they do not always make best use of their powers and duties in making connections between social work services and other local authority and wider public services. In particular, they could make better use of social work intelligence about the needs of communities to design, plan and deliver services to support

vulnerable people and communities at all levels. This is in keeping with the power to advance well-being, introduced

under the Local Government in Scotland Act (2003), which enables local

authorities to do anything they consider likely to promote wellbeing. This includes working with community planning partners to provide better, more joined up services to their communities. The creation of community health partnerships with a remit to promote health and wellbeing, provides an excellent opportunity for innovative joint local authority and health

approaches to promoting wellbeing in communities, as will the creation of community justice authorities.

Harmonising service boundaries

Consideration of local authority boundaries and their co-terminosity with other public services was outwith the remit of the review. However, we did conclude, that partnership working and collaboration at a local level was most effective when there was

harmonisation between service delivery boundaries. This may be, for example, between children and families teams, schools, health visitors and school nurses. Common boundaries assist the development of trusting relationships and effective integrated working around the needs of service users and carers.

Commissioning of services at local, regional and national levels

Providing specialist services and achieving economies of scale mean that it doesn’t make sense to replicate all social work services in every local authority. Some local authorities already work in partnerships across their

boundaries to develop joint services, bringing value for money and more efficient and effective services. We commend this approach and see scope to develop it further. Services can be designed and commissioned at local, regional and national levels depending on the nature and scale of the service. Different services will require different groupings of local authorities and public, voluntary and private sector partners, which must be reflected in a variety of planning arrangements.

A national integrated policy framework

Policy making within at least four Scottish Executive departments impacts on social work services as a whole. While there have been positive benefits from this approach in

promoting integration around the needs of different client groups, it has created some confusion of messages and unnecessarily complex funding, planning, reporting and inspection mechanisms.

People at all levels have spoken to us about the disproportionate

bureaucracy and systems in social work. Some of this is associated with Scottish Executive reporting

requirements, some with risk aversion, creating additional burdens on the whole system following something going wrong in one part.

If social work services are to respond flexibly and creatively to current and future demand, it is essential that a more integrated approach is

developed. This should reduce the administrative burden on local

authorities and their planning partners and ensure that the desired outcomes of current and new policy are met.

Simplified governance and funding arrangements

The ability of local authorities and their planning partners to integrate services around the needs of people who use services is constrained by overly complex governance and funding arrangements. In practice, this often means that success is only achieved through compromise and considerable

An older person with intensive care needs can have care funded from four discrete funding streams, each with its own audit and reporting process:

Assistance with personal care ➝ Free personal care monies

Practical support (housework, shopping etc) ➝ Housing support (Supporting people monies)

Day centre attendance ➝ GAE (mainstream social work budget)

Physiotherapy and overnight care ➝ Delayed discharge monies effort and goodwill to negotiate

complex systems. If integrated working is to become the norm, then greater clarity and direction on governance and funding arrangements is required at national level.

5. Social work services must