Agenda item

Report ACH20-068

The Committee considered a report which outlined the contract performance of the Advocacy Service, which was currently provided by Advocacy for All.

Advocacy for All were contracted by LB Bromley to deliver the statutory independent advocacy service function. The Advocacy contract provided statutory advocacy services for both adult and children's services.

The Council approved the commissioning a new single point of access Advocacy Service in April 2018, with the aim of providing a seamless, accessible Service, where different forms of Advocacy were delivered in a holistic way centred on the needs and requirements of Service Users. Advocacy for All provided the following advocacy services: Care Act Advocacy; Independent Mental Health Advocacy (IMHA); General Mental Health Advocacy (CMHA); Independent Mental Capacity Advocacy (IMCA); Independent Health Complaints Advocacy (IHCA); Children and Young Persons Advocacy (CYP); and Learning Disabilities Advocacy.

The contract with Advocacy for All supported the Council to fulfil its statutory duties in providing an Advocacy Service to those who had been assessed as meeting the eligibility criteria for care services. The contract was awarded following a competitive tender and had commenced on 1^st April 2018 for a period of three years, with the option to extend up to a further two years on a 1-year + 1-year basis. Advocacy for All subcontract the provision of Independent Mental Health Advocacy, General Mental Health Advocacy and Independent Health Complaint Advocacy to ‘The Advocacy People’ (previously known as ‘Support, Empower, Advocate and Promote/SEAP’).

In providing the Advocacy Service, the single point of access advocacy service delivered the following service outcomes:

§  Simple and accessible referral routes to the Service;

§  Ensuring all communities, including those who were traditionally difficult to reach, were aware of and able to access the services;

§  Work with Service Users through the use of Advocates so that they understood their rights and how to exercise them, e.g. how to make a complaint or challenge a decision;

§  Service Users should be allocated a trained and suitable Advocate, specific to the type of Advocacy required;

§  Encourage individuals’ voices to be heard through their own choice of language and expression and not through language that was standardised or using terminology that the Service User was not happy with or would not use of their own accord;

§  Actively work to produce solutions to problems that the Service may encounter and to overcome barriers both on a service level and in terms of individual’s cases;

§  Work in partnership with Service Users and their carers as well as the relevant organisations to develop and maintain the Service; 

§  Maintain effective working relationships with partnership organisations to promote the needs of Service Users so that regular channels of communication were open to ensure effective referral pathways and joint working arrangements were in place.

§  Partnership working with frontline staff in Health and Social Care organisations such as the Local Authority’s Initial Response Team, as well as the wider community, to facilitate a better understanding of Advocacy to improved access.

A Member noted the targets and numbers contained within the report and enquired if any quality or satisfaction outcomes had been recorded. The Head of Service for Community Living Commissioning advised that the provider was required to gather feedback from service users. This had not been included in the report, as the details provided related to the KPIs listed in the specification drawn up in 2018. It was agreed that further information regarding how they consulted on quality would be circulated to Members following the meeting.

RESOLVED that the Portfolio Holder note the content of the contract monitoring report on the performance of Advocacy for All in delivering the Advocacy Services Contract.