- Our strategic direction and Improvement Programme supported by political and executive leaders
- Our internal governance structures, roles, and responsibilities
- Our practice and quality assurance frameworks
Leadership
Within the previous three themes we have described the direction of travel and specific activity for our improvement journey. Underpinning this is the progress we have made to put in place new leadership and governance to drive our services forward and continue our journey to provide high-quality adult social care across the county.
- Further development and embedding of performance and financial management frameworks at all levels
- Effective use of high-level outcomes, inequalities, and insight data
- Delivery of leadership development programme and workforce development strategy
Governance, Management and Sustainability
“We have clear responsibilities, roles, systems and accountability and good governance. We use these to manage and deliver good quality, sustainable care, treatment and support. We act on the best information about risk, performance and outcomes and we share this securely with others when appropriate”.
Governance, accountability and risk management
Adult social care leadership
Our senior leadership team is strong, visible, and stable with clear roles, responsibilities, and accountabilities. It is supported by the leadership of the Chief Executive and our lead councillor, the Cabinet Member for Adult Services. Our Directorate Leadership Team (DLT) comprises the Director of Adults and Health, Assistant Director - Adult Operations, Assistant Director - Improvement Assurance and Interim Principal Social Worker, Assistant Director - Commissioning, Assistant Director - Safeguarding, Planning, Performance and Directly Provided Services.
Our extended leadership team includes Heads of Service, who take responsibility for leading service improvement and financial accountability, and a Deputy Principal Social Worker and Principal Occupational Therapist. The extended leadership team come together regularly as a group to discuss issues such as strategic business planning as part of the council’s overall business planning cycle. Each Head of Service has their own service plan to deliver the directorate's agreed strategic priorities and they have a responsibility to ensure that these are reflected in team plans and performance conversations with individual members of staff within their service areas.
Our leadership team is engaged with the South East (SE) Association of Directors of Adult Social Services (ADASS) networks, with our Director of Adults and Health co-chairing the SE region. Our Head of Mental Health Service co-chairs the Mental Health Network and our Principal Occupational Therapist chairs the SE ADASS Principal OT network.
Officers from the council and NHS Sussex attend a monthly Joint Commissioning Strategy Group chaired by both organisations. The group oversees the delivery of joint commissioning arrangements and performance and makes recommendations on future joint commissioning. A key function of the group is to oversee the delivery and performance of the Better Care Fund.
Additionally, two other groups have recently been constituted. Firstly, a pan-Sussex 'joint commissioning group' initially met in July 2024 with a remit to co-produce a joint commissioning framework between NHS Sussex and three Sussex councils, with a focus on prevention. Secondly, a West Sussex 'efficiency planning group' started meeting in August 2024 to ensure that efficiencies from each organisation are understood and aligned across the system.
Since May 2024, the council has been working closely with officers from the ICB to review the Section 75 Agreement that contains budgets and delivery of services for people with mental health and learning disability needs. The work is sponsored by our Director of Adults and Health and the ICB Chief Delivery and Strategy Officer. By April 2025 the safe transfer back of delegated commissioning functions to both NHS Sussex and the council will have been completed. Furthermore, the work will identify and recommend areas within the existing scope of the Agreement that both parties may wish to continue to commission jointly and identify and recommend new opportunities for joint commissioning.
Political and cross-council leadership
Political leaders are regularly briefed on the service, through the Director of Adults and Health's weekly portfolio lead meetings and monthly briefings with the Leader. Regular reports are taken to the council's Executive Leadership Team (ELT) meetings and informal meetings of the Cabinet in relation to areas of strategic decision making and operational pressures. Scrutiny Committees, including the Health and Adult Social Care Scrutiny Committee (which is responsible for the overview of the Adults' Services portfolio) consider and provide challenge to performance, budget and risk through the Performance and Resources quarterly report, which is then overseen and endorsed by Cabinet.
Corporate support can also be evidenced by the additional investment of £28.4m (of which £14.1m is for inflation) to the Adults' Services budget (an increase of 12%) in 2023/24, accounting for demographic and market pressures, as well as significant corporate funding to support the Adults' Service's Improvement Programme.
Governance arrangements
Governance is well established at a senior level across the directorate. Meetings focussed on finance, risk, performance, and improvement have been established. These include senior leaders, the extended leadership team and key business partners. The responsibility of each meeting is clear and understood across the directorate.
The DLT routinely discuss and assess risk. Significant risks are managed by ELT and Cabinet via the Corporate Risk Register (CRR) and owned by the Director of Adults and Health with mitigations commonly owned by Assistant Directors within the service. There is a clear route for escalating directorate risks to the CRR and de-escalation back to the directorate.
Bi-monthly strategic DLT sessions allow senior leaders to focus on the delivery of the Adult Social Care Strategy and longer-term strategic ambitions. A tool to track the delivery and impact of the ‘we will’ statements included in the strategy is being developed. The Director of Public Health will be part of these sessions moving forward to ensure we work in partnership on our strategic intentions for the directorate.
The Performance, Quality and Practice Board (PQPB) provides oversight of our strengthened quality assurance of practice, to ensure this is embedded across the service and that the appropriate governance is in place.
Our Customer Relations Team ensure a consistent approach to complaints management and challenge Adults’ Services for learning and actions, so the complaint has as much value as possible and organisational lessons can be learned. The main themes of complaints relate to charging for care and financial assessments, followed by complaints about the assessment process. Charging for care and financial assessments are the main areas of focus by the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman (LGO). Complaints information is presented to PQPB and themes are linked to learning reviews, including those identified via our SARs and audit outcomes. Podcasts, thematic briefings and learning are shared across the service.
The PQPB enables senior leaders within the directorate to review performance in respect of Our Council Plan Key Performance Indicators (KPIs), with data and narrative collectively agreed before inclusion as part of corporate reporting. This also provides an opportunity to review our internal performance measures as listed in our business plan and to take forward any actions needed.
The Adults' Services Portfolio Board - Improvement and Assurance, has been established with clear terms of reference to manage and track the delivery of our Improvement Programme. The programme consists of seven key workstreams, with oversight of both projects and core business, identified through meetings with our Heads of Service.
Our newly formed Design Panel and co-produced guiding principles will ensure the experience of our customers, staff and partners remain at the centre of our improvement journey. This is following a review of our governance arrangements and re-prioritisation of our Improvement Programme 2023-25.
The Strategic Finance and Commissioning Board provides oversight and accountability for the budget and has enabled senior leaders to track the delivery of agreed efficiencies, securing just over £6m in 2023/24. The savings target for 2024/25 is £9.23m. The creation of a monthly savings reporting model provides the Board with oversight and opportunity to discuss mitigations if there are risks in delivery.
An internal audit of the Improvement Programme undertaken in December 2023 and January 2024 concluded with an opinion of 'substantial assurance', where a sound system of governance, risk management and control exists, with internal controls operating effectively and being consistently applied to support the achievement of the objectives of the programme.