Adult care packages and social workers - Find a freedom of information request

1. With regard to your Local Authority's fiscal situation, how much do you need to save in the next fiscal year (23/24) in order to deliver a balanced budget?

2. How many Social Worker vacancies does your Local Authority have across all of its Adult Social Care Teams as of today's date?

3. How many Locum/Agency Social Workers are current in post across all of your Adult Social Care Teams as of today's date?

4. How many people are waiting for an initial adult social care assessment from your Local Authority as of today's date?

5. How many of those currently waiting for an adult social care assessment have been waiting longer than 3 months, and how many longer than 6 months.

6. How many care plan annual reviews are outstanding across all your Adult Social Care Teams as of today's date?

7. How many of these reviews are overdue by 0 - 3 months?

8. How many of these reviews are overdue by 3 - 6 months?

9. How many of these reviews are overdue by 6 months or more?

10. How many packages of care for adults (18+ years old) is the Local Authority funding at a cost of £750 or more per week, including supported living placements, care home placements and care at home?

11. How many adult packages of care are currently joint funded between your Local Authority and the NHS?

12. How many continuing healthcare screening assessments have been completed by your Adult Social Care Teams each month over the past 12 months?

13. What model of working do your Adult Social Care Teams currently use, i.e. 3 conversations model?

14. What case management system is currently used by your Adult Social Care Teams, i.e. Liquid Logic, Mosaic, AIS, Swift?

15. If a resident in your Local Authority area was on the waiting list for a Care Act (2014) assessment and instead of waiting for an assessment from one of your Social Workers, paid for an independent Social Worker to complete a Care Act assessment, would the Local Authority accept this as a complete assessment and arrange support as recommended in the assessment, or would a Local Authority employed Social Worker still be required to complete an assessment?

1. Lincolnshire County Council (LCC) 2023/2024 budget was approved at full Council in February 2023 and the document is published on its website via the following page:  https://lincolnshire.moderngov.co.uk/documents/b23697/Item%206%20-%20Budget%20Book%20202324%20-%20Amended%20folloiwng%20Full%20Council%20on%2017%20February%202023%2017th-Feb-2023%2010.pdf?T=9

Section 4 covers the Council’s overall Revenue budget and the table shown under paragraph 1.38 (also shown below) shows the amount of savings and additional income required (£11.381million) alongside other movements in expenditure to ensure a balanced budget.

Please see attached for budget information.

Should you require the attachments mentioned above please contact customerinformationservice@lincolnshire.gov.uk with the below reference number and this can be provided.

​2. LCC is currently unable to report this from its Human Resources system but expect to be able to do so in the next few months.

3. 14.

4. 170 people are waiting for an 'initial conversation' which is what we deem as our light touch initial assessment. This does not include Occupational Therapy (OT) conversations.

5. Out of the 170 people, 36 have been waiting longer than 60 working days and 23 have been waiting longer than 120 working days.

6. As at 03/04/2023, 3.1% of reviews were outstanding which is 166 out of 5351. 

7. 99.

8. 36.

9. 31.

10.

11.

12. This information can’t be extracted from the case management system.

13. Lincolnshire Conversations are a Strengths Based, enabling model of practice, focuses on helping people to achieve the highest possible level of independence and supporting them in the context of their own families and support networks. It promotes staff to work in partnership with a person and their loved ones to identify and meet needs. The conversation is much more person centered, rooted in the circumstances, the strengths of the person, what matters to them and provides the opportunity for a proportionate assessment conversation.

LCC’s Customer Service Centre is the front door for people contacting the local authority. Strength based conversations are initiated by customer service advisors and a further conversation is the area team practitioners first intervention. This approach is being recognised as the operating model for Adult Care and is instrumental in enabling and empowering people by providing them with information, advice and connecting them to support networks to live a good life, as independently and for as long as possible. We want to ensure that the person's journey, which starts at the front door, flows seamlessly through to area team who can provide specialist or local information or potentially an Adult Care Assessment.

If the conversation at the front door resolves the contact, then an Adult Conversation Record will be sent to the person and or representative summarising the information and advice and any actions for example onward referral for preventative services or low-level equipment. If additional specialist or local knowledge is needed the Adult Conversation will be sent to area team to enable a continuation of this conversation and planning. The conversation may happen over the phone or virtually (via video call), face to face where a person lives, in a hospital or place people stay on a temporary basis. However, if it is clear at any point during our conversation with a person that they need more formal support from the council, an adult care practitioner will complete a full Adult Care Assessment.  We will also explore any specific concerns or risks, which we may need to consider with other people to help a person/others stay safe.

This model allows for strength based, solution focused approaches to be taken at every point in the person’s journey. By celebrating positive risk taking, enable the person to retain control by setting their own goals and outcomes. This approach also provides continuity for individuals, especially when their conversation needs to be handed to another and therefore reduce the number of times, they have to tell their story. It gives the opportunity for urgent transfer arrangements to be put in place to provide timely interventions and provides individuals with every opportunity to maximise their independence before a more formal assessment is completed and formal support arrangements are made.

14. Mosaic.

15. LCC follow the Care Act 2014 requirements, there is a duty to carry out the assessment, free of charge and based on what we assess we work with the families to decide on an appropriate care and support plan. There is no requirement in the Care Act 2014 that requires LCC to accept and arrange care on the basis of an independent social work assessment.  Where directed by a court an ISW report would be considered where the court and the council have agreed to such an instruction within court proceedings and then that report would be considered alongside LCC assessment and care and support plan.