North Somerset Council: local authority assessment

There was a passionate and dedicated directorate leadership team, determined and focused on delivering their vision of maximising independence and wellbeing for residents in North Somerset. The leadership team was well-established with clear roles, responsibilities, and accountabilities.

Staff told us leaders were visible, capable, and compassionate, with extensive experience in adult social care that enabled them to effectively support staff in their roles. Staff spoke highly of senior management, describing them as approachable and supportive. Data provided by the local authority in the Staff Survey Report (2023-2024) confirmed that staff across adult social care and housing, reported high satisfaction rates, at almost 90%. Categories included career progression, team working, line management and fair treatment.

The local authority underwent a departmental restructure in 2023, consolidating all housing services within the Directorate, including those previously overseen by Public Health. Senior leaders informed us that from the restructure ‘the significant change was that the Director of Public health now reported to the Chief Executive Officer (CEO)’. This had helped the CEO have more direct oversight on work with adults, supported by a Corporate Leadership Team and a Directorate Leadership Team (DLT) for Adult Social Services and Housing. North Somerset leaders were key to Southwest ADASS. The Director co-chairs the regional Directors group and connects key networks. The Assistant Director leads the Southwest TEC project and represents the region nationally, while the Business Intelligence Lead supports collaboration through performance networks. The Principal Social Worker (PSW) and Principal Occupational Therapist (POT) both co-chair their regional PSW and POT networks, which contribute to the workplans of South West ADASS. Their senior leadership involvement showed strong commitment to partnership and collaboration.

Although senior leadership roles such as the PSW and POT were integrated into the leadership team to provide strategic influence over quality assurance, some systemic challenges remained. Such as outdated policies and inconsistent use of tools like the Case Tracker. These issues led to the development of an action plan to address gaps, including creating new roles, but the outcome of the implementation of these measures was not yet clear.

Positive feedback from elected members highlighted the collaboration between adult social care and executive members, alongside recognition of leaders' efforts to raise the profile of adult social care. Elected members demonstrated a strong understanding of the challenges facing the sector, such as an ageing population, funding limitations, and inadequate public transport. However, they expressed the need to have been more involved and to have played a more challenging role in strategic leadership planning.

There was ongoing work to improve the local authority’s overview and scrutiny processes within adult social care. There were monthly meetings held within the local authority in which the members met frequently with the Director of Adult Social Services (DASS) and service directors. There were also reporting mechanisms in place to report to the Chief Executive and the local authority's senior leadership team to discuss anything pertinent with an oversight of current affairs linked to the adult social care work plan.

Leaders told us that scrutiny efforts had focused on reviewing the large membership of existing committees. Since the transition from conservative leadership to the newly formed alliance partnership, efforts had been directed toward establishing a robust vision to address key inequalities and the four political groups work collaboratively around shared priorities, reflecting a unified approach to tackling these challenges.

Leaders were actively engaged, working alongside teams, which fostered a culture where staff felt respected, heard, and valued. Staff told us the CEO had drop-in sessions where staff could attend and raise concerns.

We heard the new structure promoted clearer communication and better strategic alignment. However, strategies to reduce inequalities and improve outcomes required further development. For example, the extent of co-production in developing these strategies was not always clear from some of the feedback received from carers and providers, potentially limiting their effectiveness in fully reflecting community needs. The local authority were utilising equality impact assessments (EIAs) in decision-making, but improvements to the quality and comprehensiveness of the data and information could be improved to better inform these decisions.

The local authority also reported that the restructure had strengthened partnerships, transformation, and TEC services by integrating them into a single unit. The local authority was focused on embedding this culture change consistently across all service areas and within the wider directorate leadership, ensuring that every staff member understands their role within the broader vision and works collaboratively to achieve the best outcomes for people at risk using their services. To support this transformation, the wider directorate leadership team were actively engaged, and a joint governance board had been established to ensure all strategies were co-designed and inclusive. Their commitment to working with the community was demonstrated through engagement strategies such as regular meetings with providers and the establishment of a provider forum.

The local authority actively sought feedback from people, carers, and partners to help shape its strategies and for commissioning decisions. As a result of feedback received, there had been a new role developed to focus on expanding housing solutions, including supported living and extra care housing options. This role entailed monitoring supported living arrangements, collaborating with providers and landlords to uphold quality standards and inform policy development, identifying market gaps, and leading the development of new services to address housing needs. A pivotal position to broaden housing choices and enhance living conditions for residents in supported living and extra care settings across North Somerset.

There was mixed feedback from partners on whether they felt listened to or had opportunities to inform strategies and projects. Some non-commissioned partners felt they needed more opportunities to contribute to strategic decision-making.

The local authority had established a practice framework that outlined core standards aligned with the Care Quality Commission (CQC) quality statements. This framework created a structured pathway of audits and learning, connecting frontline teams, the Principal Social Worker, and the Principal Occupational Therapist to senior leadership and the Quality Assurance Board. One leader told us considerable work had taken place to improve the focus of scrutiny, and a positive impact was they now had clarity when issues need to be taken to the Health and Wellbeing Board. The Board chairs had been offered mentors through the Local Government Association (LGA) and had regular opportunities to develop and shape policy.

Governance structures included internal and external escalation procedures, with regular weekly, monthly and quarterly meetings, at both operational and strategic level, which would take place within the local authority and across the broader health and social care system. With a risk management strategy at both directorate and operating levels and a directorate-level risk register which was subject to ongoing monitoring and auditing.

However, while governance and accountability arrangements were in place at all organisational levels, they were not always effective in providing clear visibility and assurance regarding the delivery of Care Act duties, sustainability, and risks to service delivery. Leaders demonstrated a commitment to improving people’s experiences through strategies and action plans, despite the systemic challenges often limiting their ability to provide positive outcomes, particularly for unpaid carers and those awaiting assessments.

Staff told us they completed alongside managers and senior practitioners, various audits and supervisions, including monthly case file audits and thematic review audits. They described how the findings were shared at senior leadership meetings to help drive practice improvements.

The senior leadership team in North Somerset had acknowledged current challenges which impacted on delivery of Care Act 2014 duties, but the allocation of resources directly reflected their strategic priorities. Budgetary decisions incorporated detailed financial analysis and there were proactive grant applications to address emerging needs and service gaps. This approach ensured that funding was aligned with strategic goals to maximise positive impacts on people’s outcomes.

Most of the strategies were up to date and highlighted relevant key areas of development for the local authority, with the plan for delivering high-quality, sustainable, and responsive adult social care services.

The local authority actively managed their adult social care workforce through various strategies. These included investments in staff training and development to enhance skills and improve service delivery, alongside contracted providers paying retention bonuses to reduce turnover and ensure continuity of care. We heard feedback from providers and frontline staff about the benefits of the training academy. Workforce planning was being used to meet current and future needs and actively promoted social care as a career to attract new recruits.

The use of data and insight to inform on risks, performance and strategy had been developed. We heard data dashboards were created for leaders and managers. Leaders told us there had been major improvements since the change to a new data system and they were able to enhance their use of data to support informed decision-making, with valuable contributions from business intelligence colleagues. The implementation of Power BI system allowed real-time data analysis, empowering managers to take ownership of team performance. Ongoing support was being provided through performance forums to help team managers strengthen governance and effectively utilise data within their teams.

Information from various sources, including performance data, staff feedback, and people experiences, informed the development and annual review of key strategies. One person told us, co-production at strategic level was relatively recent. The role of a ‘Participation and Engagement Officer’ had been instrumental in reaching, recruiting and developing voluntary members of the co-production and review panel, there was still work to be done around aligning strategic priorities. For example, within the all-age carer's strategy and the all-age autism strategy where people had contributed their views and experiences of carers in North Somerset. The strategy was completed in 2024, and carers continued to play an active role in delivering the action plan. To support sustained representation of lived experience within the Carers Partnership Board.

These strategies were carefully aligned with the local authority’s overall objectives and national policy priorities.

The local authority worked collaboratively with individuals and partners to support innovative approaches that improved people's social care experiences and outcomes. For example, they actively promoted coproduction, embedding this approach throughout their work to ensure that services were shaped by those who use them. Despite these efforts, we did hear mixed feedback from carers, in respect of missed opportunities to be involved.

Strategic planning also guided service improvement initiatives in North Somerset. The local authority strategically designed and implemented new services, including those focused on technology-enabled care, specialist dementia support, and enhanced reablement programs. The authority priortised a person-centred, strength-based approach, and developed collaboration with community stakeholders to ensure that services were responsive to local needs. This integrated approach linked strategic planning, resource allocation, and service delivery to effectively improve care and support outcomes for the community.

The local authority ensured data security through clear guidance on record-keeping, which outlined how records should be maintained in compliance with the Data Protection Act 1998, the UK GDPR, and Caldicott principles. This guidance included an action checklist for staff to follow in the event of a data breach or cyber-attack involving external providers or partners. Staff and leaders were required to report such incidents to the information security team and the lead officer for the Information Commissioner’s Office, as required under the Data Protection Act 2018.

The assurance framework specified how information and advice about the local authority's services were published on its website. The Policy and Strategy team was responsible for overseeing information governance, while the Digital Communications team ensured accessibility standards were met. Information and advice regarding partner, community, voluntary, and faith enterprises were maintained on the North Somerset Online Directory, managed by the Service Development Manager with support from the Policy and Strategy team.

Staff at all levels understood their responsibilities in protecting personal information. Systems were in place to safeguard the security, integrity, and confidentiality of all data, records, and systems. Senior leadership described effective arrangements to ensure data protection and confirmed that staff had awareness of legal obligations. Plans were also established to identify, respond to, and manage risks, including those related to cyber-attacks, associated with the delivery of Care Act duties. The lead member told us of ‘the effective systems in place to ensure the confidentiality and integrity of data within the local authority and that elected members had awareness of their legal duties.