Team of the Year, Adult Services

           RECOGNISE INSPIRING SOCIAL WORK

Community Offer Team

ORGANISATION: London Borough of Barnet

AWARD(S): Team of the Year, Adult Services

 

Barnet’s Community Offer Team was set up in 2014 with the aim of finding creative community alternatives to traditional care packages, in order to reduce financial pressures on the council’s adult social care department.

 

The team comprises social workers, occupational therapists, telecare advisers and assessment and enablement workers, who have gathered a wealth of information and knowledge about voluntary sector provision, preventative services and cost effective alternatives to main stream care.

 

Having worked with over 1,000 people and achieved £500,000 worth of savings and in the first year of operation, the team is well on the way to realising that aim and is now a permanent fixture in the directorate.

 

The team’s evolution has created a ripple effect across the department. New ways of working have been shared and community resources tapped into more frequently.

 

Despite facing criticism from some families for being “a cover for cutting services”, it has proved its worth by making a positive difference to its services users. The judges were particularly impressed by the ethos of the team, the multi-disciplinary approach and the shift towards social workers playing a key role in helping people to access services in the community.

WHAT THEY SAID:

It was good to see a team with that specific focus of pulling people away from traditional models of care. I liked the multi-professional element and thought it was a very positive way of working.

Jamie Stone, Newly Qualified Adult Social Worker of the Year Award Winner

This was a strong application and a good example of a team working to a community asset-based approach that achieves good, personalised outcomes for people in a cost-effective way. The work is creative and innovative and harnessed to ‘can do’ practitioners.

Lyn Romeo, Chief Social Worker for Adults

From the outset the team has embraced the challenge and demonstrated a strong work ethic. The creative solutions they have put in place have restored community engagement for local residents and improved the quality of life for some of Barnet’s more vulnerable residents.

Matthew Kendall, Director – Adults & Communities, London Borough of Barnet

This is exactly the kind of team that should be developed across the country. I love the idea of it.

Cait Vulliamy, Director of Adult Services, Skylakes Social Work

THE FINALISTS

Adult Safeguarding Team, Bedford Borough Council

SILVER AWARD WINNER

Accommodation and Support Team, Dudley Metropolitan Borough Council

Supported Living Team, Derbyshire County Council

Gateway Team, North Tyneside Council

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