by Mithran Samuel
The publication of the annual star ratings is not quite the event in the social care calendar that it once was. For one thing, they now only cover adult services, while the spectre of zero-star authorities being dumped in special measures and facing intervention are, thankfully, behind us. Gradual improvement is now the name of the game, with the Commission for Social Care Inspection shining a spotlight on those councils which are not improving quickly enough rather than the proverbial basketcases, as in days of yore. Council leaders argue that this somewhat dull picture appears all the more creditable given the tough environment of recent years - rising demand, budgetary constraints and efficiency targets. But amid the celebrations of today, there are some potential pitfalls ahead.
The first issue is the comprehensive area assessment, which will replace star ratings, the annual performance assessment and joint area reviews for children's services, and other council performance management systems, by 2009. The idea is to provide a picture of councils' contribution to their communities as a whole, rather than through the "silos" of individual service areas. This will be accompanied by a ligher-touch inspection regime in which services are only visited if risks are identified. Expect some debate on how, if at all, a discrete focus on adults' and children's social care can be retained in this framework.
The second area of potential concern is local area agreements, under which councils and their partners must choose 35 performance indicators from a national set of almost 200 as their top priorities, from next year. It will be a matter of negotiation between councils, partners and government as to how strongly social care measures, for adults or children, will feature in the 35. Government agencies, including the Youth Justice Board and the social exclusion taskforce, are already lobbying for their indicators to be taken up at the expense of others.
Ideally, LAAs and the comprehensive area assessment may, as promised, usher in a more intelligent performance management regime in which councils and their partners are encouraged to work co-operatively towards shared aims, unnecessary burdens are minimised and local priorities are allowed to come to the fore.
More worrying is the Care Quality Commission - the super-regulator that will replace CSCI by 2009 and take responsibilty for regulating and inspecting health services and safeguarding those detained under the Mental Health Act as well. Parliamentarians from all parties voiced now well-worn concerns that social care would be marginalised under this structure in a debate on the bill to introduce the new regulator this week. This seems particularly pertinent given the ongoing dominance of the NHS in this government's political priorities and its current obsession with hospital hygiene at the expense of the new commission's many other functions.
These policy changes will form the background to the work of social workers and council colleagues in improving social care services in their areas over the next two years. It is to be hoped that they will make this already tough job easier, rather than harder.
Leave a comment