Community Builders

Tender description

This is a proposal that Torbay Council contributes to the Community Building project run by Torbay Community Development Trust (TCDT). This will be funded from the Adult Social Care Precept. This proposal will enable the continuation of the neighbourhood-based Community Building programme, which is supporting adult social care’s community led support change programme; developing community resilience; improving health and wellbeing and improving engagement with residents and others. Community Building also supports us to tackle inequality and assists in developing a child friendly Torbay. The existing team of Builders working within 30 neighbourhoods across the three towns of Brixham, Paignton and Torquay have been in place for over 6 years, building trusted relationships in community to stimulate social action led by citizens, to enable connectivity and support isolated people to engage. They use a range of engagement tools and techniques to enable citizens to be contributors rather than receivers of services around what people care about. Adult Social Care have been implementing a new approach to social care called Community Led Support, which shifts the approach away from care focussed assessments to strengths-based conversations in community settings. This approach has been proven to promote independence and reduce cost by taking a more holistic approach to supporting people to lead the lives they want. They do this by drawing on their own strengths, those of their own family and networks, those of the wider community and voluntary sector as well as addressing any care needs. Community Builders have provided the essential key link into the community sector for this approach. The National Development Team for Inclusion, in their report ‘Observable Impacts of Community Led Support: A summary of six opportunities of CLS Strength Based & Place Based working in Adult Social Care’ (September 2021) identify key benefits from Community Led Support: • Community Led Support increases use of signposting to community / 3rd sector and partners. • Community Led Support sites show a trend of increased rates of community contacts from new Request for Support • Community Led Support sites show reductions in the use of residential care • Community Led Support sites show a higher rate of self-reported Quality of Life in response to ASCOF questionnaires. • Community Led Support sites show consistently higher proportion of people who say they have control over their daily life when compared to the national average position • Community Led Support sites show a higher proportion of people who self-report that they have as much social contacts as they would like when asked as part of the ASCOF national questionnaire The report can be found at: https://www.ndti.org.uk/resources/publication/observable-impacts-of-community-led-support Using this evidence-based approach to improved experience and reduction of demand and cost; The Adult Social Care ‘front door’ has been re-designed based on Community Led Support – with calls going via the Community Helpline. Testing indicates that 25% of demand can met by the Community and Voluntary Sector, promoting a person’s own strengths and independence. Lot 1: In 2015 the Torbay Community Development Trust began a pilot project embedding Community Builders in neighbourhoods across the Bay. The initiative was launched in response to the continued challenges faced in our communities – despite numerous local and national ‘initiatives’ designed to improve the quality of life for our residents. A Community Builder builds on what is strong in the community, not what is wrong. In so doing they galvanise residents to become more connected and help each other. The work is subtle, nuanced, and skilled. Seeing the potential in local people, enabling them to work together, focusing on doing positive things, seeing the challenges – not moaning about them but doing something about them – contributing. Community Builders weave the community back together again. They release the goodwill inherent in all neighbourhoods, they make it ok for people to help each other and they encourage the community to celebrate what they do together. Why is this important? Our residents are the largest untapped resource we have in Torbay. We have always had a larger than average level of volunteering in the Bay – but this work has transgressed that. Community Builders do not ask people to be volunteers – they ask them to be good neighbours. They ask them to do small tasks for each other which build into solid support networks, which reduce isolation, keep residents mentally well and physically active, and substantially reduce calls on statutory services. It is the single largest preventative initiative we have in Torbay involving 4,849 people prior to COVID and a further 2,542 over the last 18 months. To deliver this pilot the TCDT secured funding from the National Lottery as part of the Ageing Well Programme. Due to the funding stream our Community Building has prioritised reducing isolation amongst over 50s in the Bay. But the approach can work effectively across all vulnerable people in our communities, building a sense of ownership, belonging and ‘place’ for all. The existing funding for the Community Building Team, made up of 15 full-time equivalent staff, finishes in March 2022. The support of the Council has both a monetary and strategic significance. The Council contribution will provide continuity of funding and leveraging power to secure additional funds. The work of the Community Builders has a huge potential to support all vulnerable people in the Bay, alongside the specialist support provided by the formal voluntary sector through the Community Helpline. The proposal is to continue Community Building for at least the next 3 years and use this to develop a fully integrated community support system that reduces the demands on statutory services, particularly those of Adult Social Care and Children’s Services. Community Building in Torbay is a neighbourhood-based approach. The methodology requires a ratio of 1 community builder per 5,000- 10,000 population to be effective, as demonstrated by all the impact cited above. For Torbay`s population this requires 15 full time equivalent staff to enable coverage across all Torbay`s 30 neighbourhoods (16 wards). Some consideration has been given to the possibility of reducing the Community Builder team. Given the model above the only way to reduce the cost of the team is to limit activity to certain areas, as the model does not work if the areas are expanded. An obvious approach may be to target just the areas of deprivation. But wellbeing and inequality issues are not exclusive to deprived wards and Ageing Well has found issues in all neighbourhoods. To achieve the Council`s aspirations for an engagement led preventative approach we need to ensure full coverage across the Bay. Without full coverage it would not be possible to fully deliver the Adult Social Care Front Door project. Without the links into the community provided by the Community Builders we would not be able to utilise the ‘free support’ of good neighbours and would return to a reliance on paid for services.