North Yorkshire Council: local authority assessment

The local authority placed equity at the heart of adult social care. Health and social inequalities were understood and used to identify and reduce disparities in care and support. There was evidence that actions taken made a difference for underserved populations and seldom heard groups.

The local authority fully understood its local population profile and demographics. It regularly collected and analysed equality data on people using adult social care services to identify differences in experience and outcomes. This data-driven insight informed its commissioning and strategic decisions, helping to reduce inequalities and improve access to care and support.

One example of this was a Social Justice workshop delivered by the Health and Adult Services Involvement and Governance Manager, whose role included responsibility for Equalities, and a senior Social Worker. The training explored local geography, population characteristics and the specific challenges faced by communities, such as the impact of rurality on access to services, particularly for ethnic minority groups. The session encouraged staff to examine the root causes of inequality and showcased steps the authority had taken in response. This included establishing an Equality and Diversity Group, signing an anti-racist practice pledge, facilitating peer support groups for women of colour, and running spotlight and awareness sessions on protected characteristics.

Senior leaders highlighted the significant variation in deprivation and inequality across the county. There were 11 neighbourhoods, mainly in the east of North Yorkshire, which ranked among the most deprived 10% of areas in England. The difference in life expectancy between neighbourhoods was substantial. High levels of rurality contributed to further inequalities, including difficulties accessing services, fuel poverty, limited affordable housing and digital exclusion. Office of National Statistics data confirmed North Yorkshire performed below average on indicators related to transport and broadband, and poor access to transport remained a significant barrier for many residents.

The local authority proactively engaged with people and communities where inequalities had been identified, to better understand and respond to the risks they faced. It recognised the impact of rural isolation, with remote communities needing to travel long distances or lacking digital access to essential services. To reduce this gap, social care teams were based in market towns, and the local authority was developing a network of 25 Community Anchor Organisations, each designed to reflect and meet the specific diverse needs of local populations.

Transport challenges remained a key issue in rural areas. However, a voluntary sector partner told us this was regularly discussed and ideas used to address these challenges. The local authority used creative outreach, such as engaging with the farming community at auction marts and country shows to ensure people could access support regardless of location.

Targeted work was carried out with communities facing significant inequalities. For example, a 2023 workshop helped the local authority, and its partners deepen their understanding of barriers faced by the Gypsy, Roma, Traveller and Show people (GRTS) communities. This work informed multiple equality objectives and created space for co-designed solutions and inclusive practice. Similarly, a health needs assessment for displaced populations identified risks such as limited cultural awareness, language barriers and inconsistent access to care. The local authority developed actions to improve outcomes for refugees and asylum seekers and monitored progress through a county-wide migrant health group.

The local authority’s work was further enhanced by engaging people with lived experience. Staff listened directly to people’s stories through collaborative projects such as the Healthwatch North Yorkshire study on LGBT+ experiences, disability awareness sessions co-led by the North Yorkshire Disability Forum, and spotlight events exploring racism, ableism, ageing and dementia in diverse communities. These experiences helped shape the local authority’s approach and informed its corporate equality objectives.

In 2024, during a Joint Forum Question and Answer session, a community member raised the issue of social lives, sex and relationships for adults with lifelong physical disabilities. This led to a new working group involving local people, the voluntary sector and local authority staff, which focused on exploring solutions such as flexible care hours to support fuller lives.

The local authority had regard to its Public Sector Equality Duty (Equality Act 2010) in the way it delivered its Care Act 2014 functions. There were equality objectives and a co-produced approach, with an adequately resourced strategy to reduce inequalities and to improve the experiences and outcomes for people who are more likely to receive poor care. Recruitment was inclusive with diverse stakeholder panels and targeted outreach having increased ethnic diversity in the leadership pipelines.

The Involvement and Governance Manager led best practice, while a cross-directorate Equality, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) Group supported action-planning and shared learning across services. The Health and Adult Services directorate also had an Involvement Team who promoted effective engagement techniques, helping staff to better include the voices of people with lived experience in all aspects of their work. This activity was coordinated through an EDI work plan, linked to the Equality Framework for Local Government and the local authority’s wider equality objectives. Equality impact assessments were routinely completed for key policies and projects, with peer support available to staff. Partnership working supported this further, for example, with North Yorkshire Disability Forum to co-design and deliver training, through active participation in the regional ADASS Social Justice & EDI group, and as part of the North Yorkshire Equality and Inclusion Partnership.

EDI leads made good use of data to identify inequalities and remove barriers to access. They focused on understanding community needs rather than just numbers and engaged directly with people from diverse backgrounds to hear their stories. People with lived experience were involved in training delivery, helping staff understand the real-world impacts of exclusion. Insights from these engagements helped signpost people to the right support and informed efforts to improve access, for example, by building trust and better outcomes with GRTS communities.

Weekly data reports were shared with the senior leadership team to track equity in access to assessment and to monitor waiting times across the county. Where inequalities were identified, resources were reallocated to create a fairer and more responsive offer.

The local authority also took a deeper approach to understanding disparities. For example, when data indicated that people from ethnic minority communities were underrepresented in adult social care, Healthwatch was commissioned to lead research with these groups. The work aimed to understand the specific issues people faced and to co-develop actions that would address them.

A partner told us the local authority worked effectively with NHS partners to reduce health and care inequalities. They gave the example of a jointly funded post created to support delivery of the local health and wellbeing strategy, which focused on tackling inequality across organisational boundaries.

Staff carrying out Care Act duties demonstrated a solid understanding of cultural diversity and the needs of different communities across North Yorkshire. They positively engaged with people from a range of backgrounds, including those from seldom-heard groups. For example, they worked directly with Fijian veterans and their carers, providing tailored support such as hobby equipment to help maintain wellbeing in complex caring situations.

Data collection on protected characteristics was comprehensive and extended beyond the 9 legal categories to include areas such as rurality, armed forces status, and low income. A voluntary sector partner told us the local authority recognised data alone did not present a full picture of inequality, and strong locality-based working allowed richer narratives to inform the data. An example of this was their work on homelessness, where the numbers of rough sleepers were low, but local intelligence highlighted significant hidden homelessness, especially in rural and coastal areas. The local authority presented this issue at a rural summit to raise awareness. A partner told us the Safeguarding Adults Board was a champion in this area, with a strong understanding of local issues.

Staff also carried out outreach to promote safeguarding awareness, including through National Safeguarding Week, colleges, and local networks. In areas with large travelling communities, staff actively engaged with people in trusted community spaces, such as food banks. In Harrogate, Living Well Coordinators supported GRTS communities by building long-term trust. One coordinator supported a person to access a carer’s assessment after previous professionals had denied them access, highlighting the value of sustained, respectful engagement.

Work to address health inequalities was strengthened through joint efforts between staff, involvement teams and data colleagues. This included mapping needs and developing creative solutions, for example, organising a tea party with veteran carers in rural areas, helping to tackle isolation and provide a platform for people to share their voices and experiences.

Inclusion and accessibility arrangements were in place so people could engage with services in ways that worked for them. Communication needs were proactively met during assessments, reviews, and in ongoing care and support. The local authority had taken positive action to improve accessibility by commissioning a range of interpretation and translation services, including for community languages, British Sign Language, audio and Braille. To make it easier and quicker for staff to access these services, a central directorate budget was established, and a translation library was developed to support wider use. The Health and Adult Services directorate also invested in improving communication by training staff in producing easy to read materials, using photo symbols, and set up a growing network of easy read champions. This work was strengthened by feedback and insights from co-production forums and networks, building on earlier easy read resources developed in partnership with the Learning Disability Partnership Board.

Leaders developed a communications plan to ensure all communication activity was accessible, diverse and inclusive, and promoted equality and equity. They also demonstrated their commitment to person-centred communication by joining the 8-month ‘Gloriously Ordinary Language’ programme, which began in December 2024. A cross-team group of staff from the directorate worked alongside other local authorities to rehumanise their language, reconnect practice with core principles, and reimagine approaches to care and support. In addition, a new ‘active ageing’ photobank, was created using images submitted by North Yorkshire residents, which offered a more positive and realistic portrayal of older people and supported the local authority’s efforts to challenge age discrimination.

Staff recognised a key area of focus was identifying and meeting the communication needs of people from seldom-heard groups, to ensure no-one faced barriers to accessing care and support. Interpretation, advocacy or British Sign Language (BSL) support was routinely offered at the first point of contact, where needed. The Sensory Support Team made sure people received information in accessible formats. For example, assessments were sometimes delivered in person and staff used BSL to sign the contents for deaf people or provided them in large print or Braille for visually impaired people. Staff shared a range of local opportunities which supported inclusion, such as clubs for deaf and visually impaired people, where they had built strong friendships and enjoyed fulfilling hobbies like canoeing, archery and walking.

Staff told us they worked hard to remove barriers by increasing their visibility and reducing reliance solely on digital systems. For example, the Living Well team met people face-to-face at a farmers’ market. Staff said they had strong access to translation services, including support from bilingual colleagues. One example involved a Ukrainian-speaking colleague supporting a social care assessment; another case involved a refugee whose wife had mental health needs, where assessment support was arranged through a telephone translator, with written materials provided in their language. Staff also used easy read resources, information in different languages, and clear signposting to connect people with further support.

Co-production Network representatives told us they had successfully trialled the use of photographs, to help people express their wishes where they struggled with language or being able to articulate their needs.