Enhancing the role of councillors in social care

Summary

Many studies are done each year on social care. What is missing from most of those studies is the voice of councillors. Whilst councillors are the ultimate decision makers on most aspects of social care in their localities, they are barely mentioned in the academic or practice literature.

At the University of Birmingham, we have completed a study to understand the roles that councillors currently play in shaping adult social care practice and to improve support for councillors to undertake these roles most effectively.

The focus was on the executive, scrutiny and ward roles of councillors and identified seven ways that each might make a difference. In addition, we considered what organisational conditions, training and support might allow councillors to be effective in their roles. Whilst we did our fieldwork in England, findings have broader applicability to a number of countries and systems in which elected local politicians make decisions on social care.

Councillors are making interventions, making a difference

Our main finding is that councillors are making a difference through a variety of interventions in their different roles.

Elected councillors can play important leadership roles in the adult social care system although these roles might often be overlooked and officers may see councillors as ‘policy presenters’ rather than ‘policy makers’.

The executive roles identified through the research were:

• Strategy-shaper: Help shape the council’s adult social care strategy to focus on the right groups and priorities
• Story-maker: With citizens and staff, create a shared narrative about the council’s adult social care strategy
• Networker: Build good relationships with partners, including health, the voluntary sector and care providers
• Challenger: Support and challenge the council’s senior officers to improve services
• Enabler: Foster a culture that encourages innovation and co-production
• Champion: Promote adult social care as a key service for the council, for partners and for the general population
• Connector: Link different council departments to make sure services are more effective

Scrutiny councillors can play an important role in the adult social care system. In many ways, scrutiny of adult social care is similar to scrutiny of other areas. There are key differences, however, which include the inclusion of people with lived experience of adult social care and the highly complex and technical nature of services.

The scrutiny roles identified through the research were:

• Challenger: Provide constructive challenge to the executive councillors responsible for adult social care
• Assessor: Give feedback to help improve the performance of service providers and partnerships
• Investigator: Explore issues of concern in the community and bring things to light
• Ally: Involve people who use services and their carers in council scrutiny of adult social care services
• Innovator: Propose solutions through research and credible recommendations
• Watchdog: Monitor performance and risk across the care market and raise concerns where needed
• Advocate: Make sure that important issues for people who use services and carers are considered

Whilst ward councillors do play a visible role in the adult social care system, particularly through casework, ward councillors do not always recognise that they are doing this. Furthermore, ward councillors are involved in many activities in the community that have a preventative effect and are likely help keep residents out of the adult social care system. Ward councillors as local leaders also have the potential to support intelligence gathering and highlight service issues with officers telling us that more could be done to utilise ward councillors for this purpose. Overall, we found that ward councillors are an ‘untapped resource’ within the adult social care system.

The ward councillor roles identified through the research were:

• Partner: Help and support care service providers who are based in the community
• Caseworker: Support, advise and advocate for individuals and families
• Volunteer: Help local projects that improve the health, wellbeing and independence of citizens
• Connector: Signpost people to services and opportunities
• Advocate: Make sure that the needs of people using care services are reflected in service planning
• Watchdog: Raise concerns about services to the council and other organisations
• Sensemaker: Share messages with the community about how adult social care works

Providing an important connection between citizens and adult social care services

In addition, the research was able to shed light on how councillors are able to provide an important connection between citizens and adult social care services. Effective councillors in this space are able work with citizens in ways that officers cannot. They are able to be ‘on the same level’ and ‘on the same side’ as citizens, often as a consequence of being from the same place and being known in the community. Councillors are also able to employ effective conversation techniques to empathise and listen whilst being honest and not overpromising. At the same time, effective councillors are skilled at building relationships with officer to help them achieve benefits for citizens. They make informal connections before they need to ask for help, are respectful and accepting of what officers tell them, only make contact for the ‘really serious’cases and give feedback and thanks.

Features of a supportive culture

The research explored the conditions in which councillors were more likely to be able to make a difference. We found that councillors could be more effective where the organisation had a ‘convivial atmosphere’ and an ‘open door’ policy for councillors with value placed on the intelligence that councillors could bring. Plain language and clear messages were seen as particularly important given the sometimes technical nature of adult social care services – acronyms, jargon andjob titles make it harder for councillors to engage. Finally, councillors need to be kept continuously informed, ideally through regular, bite-sized briefings, seminars and conferences, and not just kept on the ‘who else do we need to tell?’ list.

Training and development – what works?

Gaining insights about what helps councillors to learn and develop in the context of adult social care was important bothto help improve the effectiveness of councillors in this space and to inform the development offered by the project. We found that, as well as being regular, sessions need to feature interactive debate and discussion and have a specific practical focus for example development days or policy forums looking at transfers from hospital or residential care placements.Informally, effective development for councillors is supported by in-person, informal meetings with officers and partners and by visiting services and frontline staff, for example “a cup of tea with the team”. Peer networks and mentoring were also seen as valuable ways to help councillors navigate through the complexities of adult social care.

We have free to download resources for councillors on our project website. We also run development sessions for councillors to improve knowledge, skills and confidence around social care. Councillors and Care – 21st Century Public Servant (wordpress.com)

Note:  Councillors and Care: Understanding and enhancing the role of councillors in shaping adult social care practicewas funded by the National Institute for Health and Care Research’s School for Social Care Research. The views expressed are those of the authors and not necessarily those of NIHR SSCR, the NIHR or the Department of Health and Social Care.