Towards resilience: making community matter in social care

This report explores the fragility and fragmented nature of adult social care both before and during the pandemic. It highlights how community focused initiatives are key to a more resilient future for all those that draw on, provide or commission adult social care support.

“We recognise that community is not a place, it is the quality and diversity of our relationships with others that help define our purpose and place in the world; a theme amplified throughout this report.”

Key points

• The pandemic has shown how transformation can be achieved when state, communities and individuals work together. What we choose to do next with this opportunity is key.

• Services should take a person-centred approach and move away from being service led.

• We should invest in transformation by scaling back activities that don’t work.

• Convene and support a network of people developing asset-based areas:
making visible the myriad of skills, knowledge, connections and potential within a community (the assets); focusing on nurturing the strengths and resources of people and communities as basis of social care commissioning.

• Local Authorities (LAs) should actively engage with community groups, such as Big Local partnerships, to help accelerate trust and confidence in devolving more responsibility, funding and decision-making to local citizen led groups.