2017 POET Report for Adults in Receipt of Social Care Support

By measuring people's experience of accessing support and featuring outcomes structured around the domains of wellbeing, the POET (Personal Outcomes Evaluation Tool) provides local authorities with a clear and simple framework to measure how well they're meeting the requirements of the Care Act and to demonstrate the impact they're having on the lives of local people who need support.

Key Findings

The report includes responses to the POET from 4,300 people, more than half of whom were over 65 years of age. Responses came from 18 local authority areas.
People received a broad range of support, including home care, personal assistance day and residential care.
Around three quarters of people reported the support they get as good or very good in terms of the amount of support they get (74%) and the choice and control they enjoy (72%).
Respondents were generally most positive about the impact of support on their quality of life (75%), health (72%) and feeling safe (71%). People were generally less positive about the impact of their support on everyday activity (57%), taking part in community (58%) and relationships (57%).

What's working quite well?

A large majority (80%) reported that their views were fully or mostly included when their support was planned.
A large majority (84%) rated their support as good or very good in relation to dignity.
A large majority (81%) rated their support as good or very good in relation to quality.

What's not working so well?

Around half the group said that they were aware of the amount of money in their personal budget when their support was planned (50%).
Only half the group said they could decide how the money in their personal budget was spent (51%).
Less than two thirds (63%) of people rated their support as good or very good in terms of information and advice.
A large proportion of people said key elements of wellbeing were not relevant to them and their support: 'Everyday activity: work, education, training, recreation' (42%) and 'Taking part in your community: Doing things in your local area' (30%).