Agenda item

Members considered a report which updated the Board on progress on work with people with complex lives, one of two pilots for developing new ways of working between partners in Doncaster.  The report and appendix outlined the creation of a ‘Complex Lives Alliance’, a whole system specification and provided information on progress with the implementation of the new model.

In presenting this item, Chris Marsh and Pat Hagan gave an overview of how this pilot was being practically applied in Doncaster.  They explained that this work was set in the context of the partnership governance and delivery arrangements now emerging through the Doncaster Place Plan, as one of two more advanced areas of opportunity (the other being intermediate care).  In practice this meant the complex lives work would be used to model how the Place Plan conceptual frameworks and agreements would be applied to improve outcomes and reduce demand and costs.

The Board noted that this was an extremely challenging piece of work, due to the complexity involved in developing an integrated approach, including the strengthening of joint commissioning, integrated case management and establishing clearer routes into the homelessness and supported housing system pathways.  The officers explained that resulting from intensive case work focusing on Doncaster Town Centre, the number of individuals in the town centre identified as being in the cohort of people with complex lives currently stood at 97, while across the Borough the total number of people was estimated to be in the region of 4500.  Members noted that a key aim of this work was to develop a stronger multi-agency and proactive approach to helping these individuals, who typically were passed around between the various agencies. 

Members then discussed at length various aspects of the Complex Lives work and made a wide range of comments/observations on issues, including:-

• Concerns over the potential future impact of welfare reform and universal credit on individuals and the additional pressures this might place on this work;

• The intention to focus on working closer with Prisons in managing discharges in order to carry out more pre-emptive work with Prison leavers;

• Damian Allen stressed that a significant amount of collective working had gone into this initiative, which he fully supported.  Moving forward, he suggested that it would be useful to receive regular reports back on progress, as part of the developmental evaluation and learning strategy.

• Paul Tanney stated that he wished to thank the officers for the amount of time they had devoted to this project.  He then spoke of the challenges being faced from a housing perspective, and drew the Board’s attention to a number of issues, including the importance of being able to offer supported accommodation to individuals, the steps being taken to encourage people to engage with St Leger Homes in light of the changes to the housing allocations system, and his support for the proposed creation of a Complex Lives Team.

• It was recognised that the Complex Lives work would have implications for a wide range of teams, such as Stronger Families, so it was vital that there was a collective buy-in at the most senior level within the Council and across the partnerships;

• The Chair stated that people with complex lives often felt let down by various services and asked what steps were being taken to ensure that lessons were learned.  In response, Chris Marsh explained that the evaluation strategy allowed for ongoing learning and reflection, and a User Group would be established to provide regular feedback to service providers.

                  RESOLVED:-

(1)        to note the progress in developing the Complex Lives Alliance and whole system model; and;

(2)        to confirm the Board’s support for the next steps in full mobilisation of the model in the context of the Place Plan.