A presentation by Austin Rodriguez at the Creating a Mentally Healthy City Forum in october 2019

1. Community social work,
community assets and
Neighbourhood Network
Schemes
Putting Prevention First:
Delivering the Vision for Adult Social Care and Health

2. SETTING THE SCENE – WHAT WE’RE
DOING AND WHY

3. Context
Problems we need to address and solve:
• Unsustainable costs and demand on social care and health services
and the system as a whole;
• Poor experiences for both citizens and social workers (as well as
healthcare practitioners such as GPs);
• Things are getting worse, not better – the system isn’t working;
Opportunities to seize and assets to recognise:
• Enthusiasm and support for change across all stakeholders;
• Much of the demands on the social care and health system can be
prevented through focusing on social isolation, loneliness, frailty and
quality of life;
• Lots of evidence about what works, it’s just not been implemented
yet in Birmingham;
• Valuing the important role of community groups, networks and
organisations in neighbourhoods.

4. Citizens lead healthy, happy, independent lives within their
own homes and communities
PreventionFirst: Ourvision

5. PreventionFirstoutcomes

6. Our principles and pillars for delivery
Principles:
• Investing in prevention and community assets
• Strengths and assets based practice – citizens and communities
• Partnership approach across the Council and external stakeholders
• Place based approach around neighbourhoods, Constituencies and localities
• Evidence base for what works and the impact of prevention
• Change of direction and culture to current ways of doing things – disrupting the current system
Community Social Work:
• Three Conversations Model to implement a more strengths, assets and community based approach to
practice
• Constituency and Locality based working and teams to increase the visibility and presence of social workers
in the community and community networks
Community Assets:
• Places to go, people to meet and things to do
• Developing relationships, support and joint approaches with individuals, groups or organisations
who/which is doing something, delivering an activity, project or service in a neighbourhood setting which
older people can benefit from

7. NeighbourhoodNetworkSchemes–abriefsummary
They’re about older people and communities (not specifically including younger adults with disabilities at this stage)
• Universally accessible assets and activities, which older people can benefit from
• Assets and activity specifically for older people
Constituency based networks
• Bringing together voluntary, community and social enterprise sector organisations and groups, as well as statutory agencies to engage with,
work with and support older adults and communities
• Organised by a “lead facilitator” with delegated responsibilities and budgets from Birmingham City Council to implement and manage the
Neighbourhood Network Scheme in each Constituency
They will:
• Invest in and support the development of community assets, as well as the individuals, groups and organisations who are delivering
community activity
• Connect, broker and link community assets to citizens and statutory agency practitioners (e.g. social workers and GPs)
• Locally commission activity through a micro and small grants scheme – building the community offer and/or making it more accessible for
older people
Contracts and budgets:
• Contracts awarded for Lead Facilitators for a minimum of two years , from December 2018
• Budget of £170,000 to £280,000 per Constituency to cover staffing, management, investment in support for community assets, as well as
local commissioning of activity through micro and small grants
Evidence based – building on:
• Successful model in Leeds which is supporting 23,000 older adults per year (operating to a Ward model)
• Evidence across community development, social prescribing, community investment and support, citizens, health and wellbeing

8. THE NEIGHBOURHOOD NETWORK
SCHEME MODEL – HOW IT WILL BE
DELIVERED

9. Developingsomethingaroundwhatworks:
• Being more creative and flexible in funding activities which can support care and health needs,
particularly looking towards arts, culture, physical activities which people can enjoy;
• Community networks, peer to peer opportunities and people’s connectedness to other people and
places where they live (or communities of interest);
• Coordination of activity across agencies and stakeholders within the prevention agenda. This is
becoming an increasingly busy area of work with risks of duplication and counter-productive and/or
competitive activity between agencies;
• Coordinators, connectors, navigators, mentors and similar types of roles which can connect and
encourage citizens to access appropriate and relevant support and activities
• Coproducing models and approaches with citizens, communities and providers, taking an asset based
approach for better outcomes and systems;
• Digital inclusion and capability to provide accessible information about community assets, ideas,
activities and groups for both citizens and practitioners working with citizens;
• Evaluating and measuring the impact/value of community based activity on traditional social care
and health outcomes, but linked to this both citizen and community wellbeing;
• Individuals, assets, micro-enterprises, small charities and little ideas which can cumulatively make a
difference and enable social action in neighbourhoods;
• Places having different needs and dynamics, which require different types of support and investment.
This is particularly acknowledging the differences between places with high social action and those
with low social action;
• Joint approaches with regional and national funders to address shared problems, outcomes and
aspirations;
• The trust and credibility issue between the VCSE sectors and the Council, particularly ensuring that
strategic messaging is reflected in how the Council operates.

10. NNS activities– briefguide:
• Find, map and engage community assets in the “Prevention First”
approach
• Support community groups and organisations to sustain and build
current capacity and offer, as well as to build wider skills
• Support community social work practice by linking community assets
to older people and social workers
• Support other agencies interested in linking community assets to older
people
• Commission community activity through micro and small grants
(building the community offer and/or making it more accessible to
older people)
• Develop and support a partnership steering group to locally direct and
drive NNS and Prevention First approach
• Support the development of new ideas and ways of supporting citizens
• Be part of the development of a citywide model for NNS

11. Design,
development
and
specification

12. Assessed level of need/Different types of
support and approaches – for older
people dependent on services
At risk/Early intervention – preventing
older people from becoming dependent
on services
Everybody/Prevention – for people not
yet known to services but who could
benefit from being better connected and
more active in their neighbourhoods
Who are the
Neighbourhood
Network Schemes
for?

13. Could be any of the following:
• Arts & Culture
• Clubs
• Community events
• Community groups and
networks
• Digital skills and capability
• Enablement
• Handyman and gardening
• Physical activity
• Social media networks
• Sport
Outcome driven:
• Increase social
participation
• Encourage healthy
lifestyles
• Maximised income
• Housing which supports
independence
• Carers feel more supported
• Citizens have a better
experience of the social
care and health system
Community assets and activities
PAGE13

14. Investingincommunityassetsandcommunities
• Working with community groups, organisations and individuals to sustain and grow
their offer
• Directly supporting or funding support for community groups and organisations
covering, e.g:
• Governance
• Fundraising and business planning
• Marketing and promotion
• Measuring and evaluating activity
• Directly supporting or funding support for individuals, groups, organisations and
communities, e.g:
• Digital inclusion, culture and capability
• Social enterprise
• Coproduction
• Volunteering
• Safeguarding

15. Supporting community social work
and the Three Conversations approach

16. Investing in activities not services
• Approach being taken is
about developing active
participation not passive
consumption of services
• Developing aspiration, not
servicing needs
• Developing human and
social capital , as well as
independence
• Citizens make
communities, not
consumers
Definition of a service:
the action of helping or
doing work for someone
Definition of an activity: a
thing that a person or
group does

17. Localcommissioningandsmallgrants
• Local budgets of approximately £80K-£160K per year for each
Constituency
• Building a relevant and accessible community offer for older people:
• New activity where there are gaps
• Increasing the accessibility of existing activity for new people
• Informed by ideas and intelligence from community social work practice
• (Mostly) activities not services – supporting lots of smaller community
activity for cumulative impact
• £1-£10,000 with a proportionate process to match
• A couple of examples from Leeds:
• Handyperson activity to help with garden and house repairs to help people
stay health and active in their own homes – as a small local service and/or a
volunteer activity
• DVD film club that was set up through investment in a DVD player which
brought older people in the locality.

18. Stakeholders and partners
• Arts and culture networks – from the local arts
fora
• Birmingham City Council Locality and Constituency
Social Work Teams; Neighbourhoods &
Communities (including Neighbourhood
Development & Support Unit, Libraries,
Community Centres, Advice); Cultural
Development Service.
• Citizens
• Elected representatives including Councillors
and/or MP (as a community representative)
• Financial Inclusion Partnership and network
members
• Housing provider(s) – including Birmingham City
Council Housing and/or Registered Providers
(identified through Birmingham Social Housing
Partnership)
• NHS Birmingham & Solihull CCG Locality Team and
GP Practices; NHS Birmingham & Solihull Mental
Health Foundation Trust
• Regional and national funders
• Sport Birmingham and network members
• The Active Wellbeing Society (TAWS)
• Voluntary and community sector organisations
• West Midlands Fire Service
• West Midlands Police
• Network of
stakeholders and
partners
• NNS Constituency
Steering
Group/Partnership
Board
• Communications and
engagement
plan/activity

19. NNS and LAC role in engaging older people in community assets and activities, using strengths and asset based practice and an asset
based community development model
COMMUNITY SOCIAL WORK USING THE THREE
CONVERSATIONS MODEL
Focus and responsibility on social workers to
introduce older people to the community offer, with
knowledge of and relationships with community
assets facilitated and developed through NNS or via
LAC/locally commissioned “engagement and support”
Demand and interest in community assets and activities (places to go and things
to do)
Supply, access to and availability of community assets and activities (places to
go and things to do)
ACCESSIBILITY AND VISIBILITY OF COMMUNITY
ASSETS AND ACTIVITIES
NNS support and investment into community assets to
improve skills and capacity (e.g. fundraising, business
planning, marketing, volunteers and management), as well
as physical accessibility of places and activities
ENGAGEMENT & SUPPORT
Peer to peer support and/or community based
options to connect and introduce older people to
community assets and activities
 Local Area Coordinators (Boldmere, Lozells
and West Heath only)
 NNS role to locally commission everywhere
else (via grant funding)
GOOD INFORMATION AND ADVICE FOR CITIZENS AND
COMMUNITIES
NNS role to make information about the community
offer available to all stakeholders, including citizens,
NHS, police, fire, housing etc.
RELEVANT AND ACCESSIBLE COMMUNITY OFFER FOR
OLDER PEOPLE
NNS to locally commission (through grant funding) either 1)
new activity to address gaps in the community offer
identified through social work conversations or 2)
improvements or changes to existing offer to make it more
accessible to older people, as identified through social work
conversations

20. PLACES – PRIORITIES AND
OPPORTUNITIES TO HAVE THE
BIGGEST IMPACT

21. Analysis of three key areas
Adult social care and health demand – potential impact and benefit
• Contacts with ACAP which lead to assessments
• Services provided to over 65s
Community investment and assets – breadth and depth of community
groups and organisations
• Number of organisations accessing grants of £10,000 or less
• Total value of grants of £10,000 or less
Deprivation – capacity for citizens to invest in communities
• By deciles and compared to the City and national average

22. Opportunities and priorities
Older person demand on social
care services
1. Acocks Green (Yardley)
2. Bartley Green (Edgbaston)
3. Billesley (Selly Oak)
4. Bournville (Selly Oak)
5. Brandwood (Selly Oak)
6. Erdington (Erdington)
7. Kingstanding (Erdington)
8. Lozells and East Handsworth
(Perry Barr)
9. Shard End (Hodge Hill)
10. Soho (Ladywood)
11. Stechford and Yardley North
(Yardley)
12. Tyburn (Erdington)
13. Weoley (Northfield)
Combined:
1. Billesley (Selly Oak)
2. Stechford and Yardley North
(Yardley)
3. Weoley (Northfield)
4. Acocks Green (Yardley)
5. Bartley Green (Edgbaston)
6. Brandwood (Selly Oak)
7. Erdington (Erdington)
8. Shard End (Hodge Hill)
9. Tyburn (Erdington)
10. Stockland Green (Erdington)

23. Funding formula
Constituency/Locality Funding per annum
Edgbaston** £200,000**
Erdington £270,000
Hall Green £190,000
Hodge Hill £250,000
Ladywood £210,000
Northfield** £270,000**
Perry Barr* £240,000*
Selly Oak* £280,000*
Sutton £180,000
Yardley £280,000
The data analysis has been used to inform a funding formula, which identifies where the biggest
impacts might be achieved, and where more funding might be needed to support the
development of community activity.
*excludes interim project activity, which was funded in the other eight Constituencies
** budget split between four sub-Constituency NNS providers, Community Partnership Worker in
Social Care and the pooled small grants budget for the area

24. OUTCOMES – WHAT IMPACT AND
DIFFERENCE DO WE WANT THE
NEIGHBOURHOOD NETWORK
SCHEMES TO DELIVER/CONTRIBUTE
TO

25. Citizens and communities
Theme Prevention First Outcomes How we might measure this – quantitative and qualitative
Communities • Access to a relevant and diverse
community offer
• Access to more opportunities to
participate in neighbourhoods
• Positive changes to the accessibility of activities and
opportunities for people in or on the fringes of the care
system
• Relevance of the community offer to what citizens
require and would like to access through, e.g. social work
conversations
• Positive changes to the number of individuals, groups
and organisations active and contributing to “Prevention
First” citizen outcomes
• Positive changes to the number of people accessing the
community offer and participation opportunities
Citizens • Reduced social isolation
• Healthier lifestyles
• Maximised income
• Housing which supports
independence
• Carers feel more supported (as
people and as carers)
• Better experience of the social care
system
• Making safeguarding personal
• Positive changes to citizens in the locality, e.g. income,
health, citizens staying in their own homes
• Increases to the numbers of people participating in local
groups and activities, particularly men
• Positive outcomes from NNS commissioned activity in
the locality
• Positive changes to the breadth and depth of local citizen
networks and connections
• Positive changes to the attitudes of citizens to staying
active
• Positive changes to the attitudes of citizens towards their
local community

26. System,behavioursand culture
Theme Prevention First Outcomes How we might measure this – quantitative and qualitative
System • Reduced demand on statutory
services
• Financial savings
• Additional investment
• Happier, more productive
workforce
• Reductions in the contacts with the Adults & Communities
Access Point (ACAP) for advice and guidance and/or referrals
which don’t meet thresholds
• Reductions and changes to the projected need/demand for
social care services
• Reductions in the projected cost of providing adult social
care services
• Increases and changes to the levels of non-BCC investment in
the locality to support groups and organisations –
particularly those contributing to Prevention First and citizen
outcomes
Behaviours
and culture
• Better internal partnership
working across Council and NHS
• Better cross-sector partnership
working between the statutory,
voluntary, community and social
enterprise sectors
• Embedding of a culture which
focuses on and support the
strengths, assets and positive
outcomes for citizens
• Productive and collaborative local relationships between
BCC, NHS, Police, Fire, Housing Providers, Voluntary Sector
Organisations, Community Groups and other stakeholders
• Effective levels of engagement in the Neighbourhood
Network Scheme as stakeholders and partners – including
membership and involvement of the locality NNS
partnership, as well as referrals/introductions to NNS
• Adoption of asset and strength based approach by local
partners

27. TIMELINE

28. Phase1
Research and Development Projects – July 2018 to January 2019
• Edgbaston, Erdington, Hall Green, Hodge Hill, Ladywood, Northfield, Sutton, Yardley Constituencies
• Grant awards of £40,000 per Constituency
• Identify, map and speak to community assets to involve them in the Nhood Network Schemes and
community social work;
• Facilitate contact and relationship building between community assets and social work teams;
• With the local social work teams reviewing and identify gaps in the community offer for older people;
• With community assets reviewing and identifying support needs and gaps for community orgs and groups
Lead Facilitators start in Selly Oak and Perry Barr, via SLA – from September 2018
• Community assets
• Connecting, brokerage and relationships
• Local commissioning
• Local partnerships
Innovation Fund – September 2018-September 2019
• Testing new ideas to Birmingham, the UK or in general (including new technology)
• Developing the evidence of what can work and how
• Options for scaling up and rolling out across Neighbourhood Networks

29. Phase2
Lead Facilitators start – from April 2019
• Contracts awarded for “Lead Facilitators” in Erdington, Ladywood, Sutton and Yardley
Lead Facilitators start – from October and November 2019
• Edgbaston and Northfield geography based on integration with health services, with BCC
retaining responsibility for small grants and local partnerships
• Hall Green and Hodge Hill based on Constituencies model
Enhancing local support systems via the NNS – Autumn 2019 onwards
• Assembling approved providers who can provide additional skills, expertise and infrastructure
support to community organisations and covering issues like co-design and co-production to
support local commissioning, digital inclusion, micro and social enterprise, measuring impact,
value and outcomes, volunteering, safeguarding

30. Constituency Lead Facilitators
Edgbaston and
Northfield
 Age UK (Bartley Green and Weoley)
 Gateway Family Services (Edgbaston, Harborne and Quinton)
 Northfield Community Partnership (Northfield, Longbridge and Kings Norton)
 Model also includes a Community Partnership Worker in the Social Care Team
 Funding and grants managed by Heart of England Community Foundation Trust
Erdington Witton Lodge Community Association (in partnership with Compass Support)
Hall Green Accord Housing Group
Hodge Hill Pohwer
Ladywood
Birmingham Settlement (in partnership with Karis Neighbourhood Scheme, Nechells POD and
Soho Community Development Trust)
Perry Barr and
Selly Oak
Birmingham City Council (Neighbourhoods Directorate)
Sutton
Age Concern (in partnership with Compass Support)
Yardley
Disability Resource Centre

31. A few opportunities to get involved
Providing activities (via grant funding):
• Local commissioning of community activity through micro and
small grants – from summer 2019
• Local support systems for community organisations and
groups – from Autumn 2019
Stakeholder or partner:
• Via Constituency NNS providers (Lead Facilitators or
Development Projects)
• Citywide NNS Forum
• Constituency/Locality Steering Groups

32. Contact
Austin Rodriguez
Commissioning Manager
Adult Social Care & Health
Email: austin.rodriguez@birmingham.gov.uk
Telephone: 07557287605
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