Somerset Council’s major adult social care transformation programme has won a prestigious Local Government Chronicle (LGC) award for its transformation of their adult social care service.
In 2023, Somerset Council commissioned consultant, Newton, to help them transform their adult social care service, recognising that due to a variety of contributing factors, such as a rapidly aging population, the service was facing increasing demand, which was at the time projecting a £13 million overspend to their budget. This was alongside significant operational pressures on their workforce.
The transformation programme focused on supporting, enabling and maintaining people’s independence to reduce the need to access Council support. By 2025, this has helped the Council avoid spending £10m, while providing support to more residents.
Key areas of the programme’s success so far include savings of £8.6m for older people (Residential and Homecare). These savings stem from the Council’s reablement service, which provides short-term support to individuals after changes in their needs, such as post-hospital discharge, and aims to help people regain their independence.
The improvements in this service were achieved through:
- Changing the way in which practitioners work with individuals so that there is a strong focus on helping them reach independence from the outset. This has allowed more people to be supported to reach their personal independence goals without any additional cost to the Council.
- Reduced delays, which have been achieved by improved communication and increased working with partners.
Due to these enhancements, more than 40 additional people per month can now access the reablement service. Furthermore, there has been a significant reduction in residential placements because of these changes, with 50 fewer than projected. This has contributed to savings for the Council whilst helping people remain at home.
Further savings of £1.4m have been achieved in Learning Disability (Supported Living, Homecare and Residential).
The transformation programme has also helped the Council improve how they support people with learning disabilities. These care packages are often more complex than those for older people, as they often involve helping individuals achieve independence for the first time, rather than regaining previously held independence. Nonetheless, the Council has made notable progress through strong partnerships with community providers.
Currently, over 40 individuals with learning difficulties in Somerset are actively engaged in progression plans aimed at achieving greater independence, which is also better for the individuals themselves.
The judging panel for the LGC Awards are said to have loved the breadth and impact of Somerset’s ‘My Life, My Future’ transformation programme, which has achieved impressive outcomes as well as significant savings across a number of organisations.
The judges were impressed with the systematic approach to change management, driven by a common purpose to improve outcomes and enabled by data-driven decision-making across teams and strong and passionate leadership. They said that Somerset clearly demonstrated local government at its best, working in a strong partnership with the NHS and voluntary, community, faith and social enterprise sector and delivering a truly impressive transformation programme with plans to extend this further.
Councillor Sarah Wakefield, Lead Member for Adults Services, Housing and Homelessness at Somerset Council said:
Winning an LGC Award is a testament to the hard work of our adult social care teams, who have, in collaboration with Newton, delivered exceptional results for Somerset residents which are already being felt in our communities.
Congratulations to our fantastic team for their achievement.
The programme is projected to continue making savings for the Council, with a report to Executive Councillors in February 2025 forecasting an additional £3m of savings in the next financial year.
The full list of winners for this year’s awards, including Somerset Council, is available via the LGC’s Awards 2025 page.
