by Vidhya Alakeson
Visit the Bevy on a Friday lunch time and you'll find 40 or so
older people tucking into a hot lunch and enjoying the company of
others. For too many, it's the only time in the week they get out
and socialise and it's possible because the Bevy minibus and local
volunteers collect those who can't get there themselves.
Friday
Friends is one of the many things that makes the Bevy, the first community-owned pub on a
housing estate in the UK, so special. Rescued by local
people after a period of forced closure due to anti-social
behaviour, the Bevy is in all senses a community pub.
Local people own it, they staff it, and they take care
of it. The Bevy serves much more than a pint; it
is a point of connection for people of all ages on the
Moulsecoomb estate in Brighton. The Bevy does not provide a social
care service in the formal sense. No one commissions it. But it,
and other community organisations like it, are critical to a
sustainable future for social care.
The latest estimates indicate that there is a
£1.3 billion hole in the social care budget that needs
filling just to stand still and we are right to clamour for
more funding. But without building a foundation of social
infrastructure that can work alongside formal services, we have no
hope of ever closing the funding gap. If we start from the premise
that need must be met by a service response, we will find ourselves
forever in a funding crisis.
Prevention and early intervention have been
victims of austerity, in social care as in other services, as
thresholds have risen and funding has focused on the most acute
needs. But communities are increasingly taking matters into their
own hands. Many are seeking to rebuild their own social
infrastructure, recognising that much of what we previously relied
on such as local authority-run children's centres, youth clubs and
community centres have gone. In some places, there is no longer
even a café in which to meet to plan a different, better
future.
Heart of Hastings is
a good example of the kind of community response we need. It's
first and foremost a community land trust, seeking to transform a
disused site in the Ore Valley, Hastings, into an affordable
housing development. While it raises funds and seeks planning
permission, it has drawn in volunteers from the local community to
clear and manage the site and create a sense of hope and
possibility locally in what is a highly disadvantaged area. Many of
those who volunteer have faced difficulties in their lives, from
mental health problems and addictions to long term unemployment and
learning disabilities. But through volunteering at Heart of
Hastings, they have found a sense of purpose and camaraderie that
has improved their well-being and, in a few cases, been quite life
changing.
Many of the people who are committed to Heart
of Hastings would not qualify for any kind of social care service
and would not set foot in one either. The support they need is best
delivered through informal, community connection. As the latest
Kings Fund report into realigning community services highlights,
there is a need to 'make the best use of all the community's assets
to plan and deliver care to meet local needs'. According to the
report, we need to draw on 'the full range of statutory services,
voluntary and community sector organisations, private sector
organisations, support groups, social networks, individuals,
buildings and community spaces'. [1]
Of course, social care more than the NHS has
long recognised the value, both in human and financial terms, of
informal support. In fact, the introduction of personal budgets was
for many people an attempt to use service money to access things
that weren't services but contributed to a good life: the ability
to go on holiday as a family rather than using respite care'; the
ability to go out with friends rather than attending a day service.
And many of the latest innovations in social care from Community
Circles to Local Area Coordination recognise the value of community
connection as a foundation for a more resilient social care
system.
However, we are still too focused on
services. To date, coproduction has tended to address the role that
those who use services can play in shaping the design and
implementation of those services. We need to go much further to
give communities real control to shape the way ahead and support
them to create inclusive futures in which those who need additional
support can find it within the community and not always in a
service, set apart. Unless we build a bedrock of community capacity
on which the formal system relies, our social care future won't
look too different from our past.
There are a lot of potential Bevys out
there; part of the answer to the future of social care lies in the
untapped potential of our communities.
[1] Charles at al (2018) Reimagining Community Services: Making
the most of our assets, London: The King's Fund.
Vidhya Alakeson is Chief Executive of Power to Change
#socialcarefuture
has been developed to create a space, including a gathering in
November, for a wide range of people and voices to debate and take
action for a positive future.
We want to get past just thinking about stabilising the
current system which isn't fit for the future. We want to make a
contribution to a much more positive vision, share what's going on
now that helps get us there, and find ways of supporting each other
as we build the future.
In Control is part of the informal group supporting
#socialcarefuture and as part of this we are hosting this blog
series. Many people will be blogging and their views are their
own.
Last Updated : 31 January 2018. Page Author: philippa.barker.