Information and Advice - getting beyond Care Act "compliance"

Improving people's experience of getting information and advice about social care is an important expectation of the Care Act. As April 2015 approaches, councils are increasingly wondering whether their arrangements will be "compliant".

For the past 18 months or so, I have been fortunate to work with TLAP, in researching ideas for improving information and advice, and producing tools and guidance for the sector related to information, advice and brokerage.

I think we have learnt four main lessons so far:

1. People almost never find it easy to find out about social care. But the solutions to this problem will vary from one place to the next. There is really only one way to for councils to start tackling the problem - ask local people what they find difficult about the current system, start tackling their priorities, and involve them in the solutions! The statutory guidance on the Care Act gives councils and their partners some clues - but people in local communities are the real experts.
   
2. A lot of councils are preoccupied about the content of the information and advice they offer - and especially about their own websites. This misses the point that people vary in the methods they use to find things out. Increasing numbers of people are skilled at researching on the internet, and using published information. And there is already a huge amount of information about social care online - for those who know where to look.
   
3. But many don't know where to look - and relatively few turn to councils as their first "port of call". We need to know more about the sources people actually use - focussing our efforts on improving access to information and advice, especially for those who are isolated, in a crisis, depressed, or who lack the ability to find and use information for themselves.
   
4. Research tells us that most people find things out via "word of mouth", and from their personal networks of family, friends, peers and community groups. This means that people (not websites or leaflets) are our most important assets. We need to build the expertise of all those professionals, peers and volunteers who work in communities - so that information-sharing becomes "everyone's business" and is not just the job of a few. And we need to reach people earlier in their journeys - helping people to resolve problems before they escalate, and connecting them to support that might help them keep their independence.

In this time of austerity, councils and their partners are inevitably worried about what these improvements might cost. But the provision of information and advice is an area where there is a lot of duplication and inefficiency. The sector is characterised by many specialist organisations, who have traditionally had to compete for small levels of funding. As a result, they too often work in siloes rather than collaborating with each other, and too often address some types of enquiry without recognising that many people have multiple issues and challenges. The Care Act rightly envisages a much more "joined up" approach. Arguably, the most important job of councils is to encourage and stimulate this - connecting people and organisations to each other, fostering a new culture of collaboration, and aiming for a system that works from people's own perspectives.

If councils restrict their vision to complying with Care Act requirements - and especially if they focus too much on the content of the information they supply - they may miss the point. Culture change is much more important than improvements to websites. So let's be "person-centred", not "information-centred" in the way we approach this challenge!

And finally, a request. Many agencies have been testing out TLAP's new Information and Advice Strategy Toolkit. We are really keen for feedback on whether this is helpful, so we can improve it during 2015. We are also keen for more practice examples, from councils and other agencies that are making good progress. So, please keep sharing your good ideas in our survey which can also be found via the toolkit.