Executive Summary

West Sussex County Council has duties to meet the needs of and provide care and support to adults with lifelong disabilities which it works with partners, including the NHS to meet.

The numbers of individuals with lifelong disabilities eligible to have Council funded care and support packages, has increased by over 3.6% since 2020.

The costs of care have increased significantly, because of cost-of-living pressures and the increasing complexity of people needing care.

More people needing care alongside higher costs means spend has increased and this has placed significant financial pressure on both Council and NHS budgets which are already hugely challenged.

In addition, the right services are not always available in the right place at the right time. This means people may not be able to live as independently as they can or wait to receive all the care they need or move away from the places they are connected to or, including on occasion, outside of West Sussex.

In order to address these issues, the Council’s commissioning intentions for adults of working age with lifelong disabilities are therefore to:

• Support and contribute to a system wide response to optimise early help and prevention to remove, reduce or delay care needs.
• Ensure customers are being supported using a strength-based approach that reflects their individual and cultural needs, enables them to build self-confidence, learn life skills, have opportunities to access employment and volunteer, increase their independence and progress onto new services where appropriate.
• Ensure customers are supported to enhance their physical and mental wellbeing with support to access health services and access to a healthy diet and exercise.
• Ensure customers are supported to engage with their local community, to develop friendships and to stay mentally and physically well.
• Ensure customers have opportunities to access meaningful activities and opportunities to work and volunteer where appropriate.
• Ensure customers have a meaningful and positive experience of care and support, feel valued, staff understand their individual needs and always treat them with dignity and respect.
• Reduce the number of customers with lifelong disabilities placed in accommodation-based care outside of West Sussex.
• Reduce avoidable hospital admissions and the impact of placement breakdowns by exploring alternative short-term options.

In order to work towards achieving these intentions the Council will work collaboratively with the market to:

• Develop new and remodel existing local services to meet the range of current needs in the right environment with just the right amount of support.
• Create a culture where independence is fundamental in the design and delivery of services.
• Promote innovation to enable individuals to maximise their potential and quality of life with an expectation that individuals move through a pathway to greater independence when they are able to.
• Deliver high quality services by supporting with the right contracting and quality assurance frameworks.
• Ensure a partnership approach enables the right information is available to promote an effective system to meet individuals' outcomes, changing needs and offer value for money.

In addition, the Council is committed to developing relationships with providers and working collaboratively to consider and address challenges all parties are facing in a constructive and transparent way.