Westmorland and Furness Council: local authority assessment
Downloads
Overall summary
Local authority rating and score
Quality statement scores
Summary of people’s experiences
People could easily access care and support through the local authority Single Point of Access (SPA). Care Act assessments for people were person-centred and strength based. People told us their social worker understood what was important to them and they were listened to. Care Act assessments evidenced that they focused on the person and explored things that people enjoyed.
There were delays for Care Act assessments across all areas such as, reviews, occupational therapy and allocations of social worker. This saw people waiting longer for support to be implemented and could lead to deterioration of support needs.
Unpaid carers needs were recognised separately to the person with care needs and Care Act assessments were undertaken separately. There was a commissioned carers service in place and people told us they received positive support, advice and guidance through this service. Unpaid carers had access to respite shorter term respite services but there was a gap for weekend respite services or respite in rural areas.
People told us they received direct payment support from the local authority and direct payments were being used in innovative ways to support people. For example, people had received direct payments to support them with garden hobbies which provided respite from their unpaid caring role.
Care Act assessments evidenced that people’s communication needs were taken into consideration and people had been supported to access information in a range of formats. For example, a person whose first language was polish had been provided their care plan in their native language.
Partnership working was demonstrated through Care Act assessments for people to achieve better outcomes. Reviews had been jointly carried out between the local authority and health partners to coordinate care for people. People told us the local authority and health worked well together to support them with their care.
People were supported to be involved in section 42 safeguarding enquiries as much as they wanted to be or could be. There were positive examples of initiative ways to involve people in section 42 enquiries which involved people around them who knew them well. This supported keeping people safe whilst in control of their lives.
Overall, people were supported to access the services they needed from the local authority and had a positive experience, with some areas of service to be improved.
Summary of strengths, areas for development and next steps
Care Act assessments were strength-based and person-centred with multi agency collaboration which supported improved outcomes for people. However, there were delays identified for Care Act assessments such as, 491 out of date reviews for older adults with physical disabilities, 380 overdue occupational therapy (OT) reviews, 154 people waiting for a social worker allocation and 206 people waiting for Care Act reviews within the learning disability, autism and transitions team. Waiting times for OT support had significantly decreased since December 2023. Despite this progress, a number of OT reviews remained overdue. The local authority had a specific focus to address waiting times and priority work was ongoing around this.
There were health and wellbeing coaches who worked closely with social workers to provide proactive support aimed at preventing, reducing and delaying people’s needs for formal care. We heard positive examples of how the local authority worked with community organisations to improve health outcomes and reduce reliance on statutory services. Direct payments were also being used in innovative ways to enhance daily living support, which offered people greater flexibility and independence.
The local authority understood their local population needs and demographic well, with leaders and staff that had good knowledge of diversity within the district. However, there was a large geographical area with many rural communities where access to care could be challenging and there was risk of isolation for people.
There had been a gap identified to better understand and support the LGBTQ+ community. The local authority had sought and received training sessions led by individuals with lived experience and organisations who supported the LGBTQ+ community.
The local authority had identified a gap in specialist supported housing for people with complex mental health needs, autism or specialist high level support. The local authority had plans to address this working with housing and development partners over the next 12 months. The Market Position Statement had recently been published for 2025-2027 which demonstrated a strong understanding of the local demographics and outline the strategic priorities, which included the commissioning of a new supported living model to improve accessibility and reduce out of area placements.
Strong partnerships had been created with the Voluntary, Community, Faith and Social Enterprise (VCFSE) sector which played an active role in strategic development and collaborated on initiatives such as ‘take home and settle’ service aimed at reducing hospital delays.
There were challenges around securing Continuing Health Care (CHC) funding for people. The local authority were recruiting for their own CHC lead to support with this and had already undertaken a piece of work around CHC funding. There were 2 Integrated Care Boards (ICB) that covered the local authority area, which we heard could be challenging at times. The local authority was focused on developing further joined up working with the ICB’s and partnerships with the ICB worked well.
Delayed discharges continued to be a challenge in the local authority area. The local authority and health partners had collaborated on targeted initiatives to address the issue, which included the implementation of intermediate care beds in Barrow. Additionally, the local authority and health had joined up to develop the ‘standard operating procedures’ across discharge pathways, this aimed to streamline processes and improve patient flow.
There was a flexible and proactive approach to completing Care Act assessments for young people in transition. Assessments were started from the age of 16 which ensured early planning and support. There were positive relationships with partner agencies which supported a smooth transition from children to adults’ services.
A restructure of how section 42 safeguarding enquiries were carried out has been introduced to support continuity for people. Where people were already supported by specific teams they would carry out the safeguarding enquiry and where people were not known to specific teams the safeguarding team would carry out the enquiry. There were strong links between the local authority and the safeguarding adults board (SAB). The SAB operated as Cumbria wide and was continually under review of how this worked, but decisions had been made to keep the SAB working as it was as the local authority were already undergoing a lot of changes since the disaggregation.
The senior leadership team demonstrated strong visibility and support for staff, they were actively involved and prioritised engagement with both staff and people. The adult social care strategy was in development, however, there was a delivery framework model in place that set out the local authority vision. The local authority used the previous Cumbria adult social care strategy whilst the new one was being developed.
There was a greater focus on co-production, although, it was recognised that some areas of coproduction were in early stages. A co-production strategy was in development and the local authority commissioners were looking at the development of a co-produced commissioning board. There had been a group created in April 2025 called ‘Union of Choices’ which was led by people with lived experience to improve day care services.
Overall, the local authority had processes and practices in place to support people well. There was good support taking place for people across adult social care and a strong leadership team in place. However, there were further developments needed in areas such as, co-production, accommodation for people with complex needs and waiting times. The local authority recognised this and were taken actions to address this.