Making the Difference
This briefing is for Directors of adult social services and lead members. It draws together current information about young people and adults with multiple needs in contact with the criminal justice system. It describes the role adult social care can play in supporting these vulnerable offenders. People with multiple needs are not always clearly identified in public service information systems. Failure to respond to multiple needs has been shown to lead to greatly increased costs to the local public sector over the short and longer term. Adult social care has an important role in supporting this group so they can desist from crime and lead independent, fulfilling lives in their communities.
Recent developments in health and social care policy emphasise early intervention and strengthened local partnerships across public services, including criminal justice. They recommend supporting recovery and choice and promoting independence. While resources are currently constrained in adult social care departments, coordinating effective and personalised support for people with multiple needs represents good value for money. It should achieve efficiencies in local public sector spending, as well as improving the lives of an often-ignored group of people.
The briefing highlights three main ways that social care can make a difference:
- influencing local strategies to support people with multiple needs
- forming partnerships with other services to meet multiple needs more efficiently
- offering personalised social care support based on a person’s unique needs.
Directors of adult social services and lead members are uniquely placed to offer leadership to local efforts aiming to improve the lives of these groups. They can be the cornerstones of improved support to this group. Leading the way in preventing offending and reoffending, they can improve people’s life chances and hopes for the future and their place in our communities.
