Within the project being led by Adult Social Care, there are 14 specialist packages of care for people with learning disabilities, mental ill-health, physical disabilities, sensory and social support needs. Five of these cases are in Supported Living, 3 in homecare, 2 with direct payments and 4 in residential and nursing care. These packages range in cost from £11,500 a week to £3,064 a week. Some of the packages are joint funded with the NHS through Section 117 Joint Funding or other ICB joint funding to meet health needs with an overall cost of £3.024m per annum spent on these 14 cases alone: 3.27% of ASC budget.
Market Position Statement 2025 to 2040 for Services for Working Age Adults with Long-Term Needs - Current Needs Analysis
Council Funded Supported Living Clients
There are 320 people in Walsall ASC commissioned Supported Living services supported by 60+ providers on the Supported Living Framework as well as some additional spot contract providers. 47 people also use their direct payment to buy supported living. The overall weekly cost of Supported Living to the Council is currently £529,802.
This section provides information on the primary needs of Walsall Council supported service users in receipt of supported living services.
The main primary needs of people receiving supported living 18+ is listed below in the table.
| Primary need | Number of clients |
|---|---|
| Access and mobility | 15 |
| Mental health | 66 |
| Learning disability | 195 |
| Social inclusion | 12 |
| Memory and cognition | 4 |
| Visual impairment | 2 |
| Substance misuse | 1 |
| Personal care | 25 |
| Total | 320 |
Demand for supported living services has grown recently with key sources of demand from Children’s Services (Transitions), direct payment clients, the NHS Trust, probation, residential and nursing providers, community social work teams, family and other referring organisations.
Age of Walsall Council Supported Living clients
| Age | Supported Living packages |
|---|---|
| 18-64 | 290 |
| 65+ | 30 |
Ethnicity Of Walsall Supported Living Clients
| Ethnicity of homecare users | Number of supported living service users |
|---|---|
| Asian/ Asian British | 27 (8.2%) |
| Black/ Black British | 6 (1.8%) |
| Mixed heritage | 17 (5.2%) |
| White | 275 (83.8%) |
| Other ethnicity/ not recorded | 3 (1%) |
This data suggests an under-representation of non-white service users in receipt of supported living compared to the broader demographic and ethnic profile of Walsall.
Geographic spread of supported living packages
This link is to be a map showing the geographical location of Walsall Council commissioned Support Living service users
View the map showing individuals placed in Supported Living
This map shows the predominance of Supported Living placements in the centre, south and west of the Borough with very few in the East and less in the North of the Borough. It also shows placements outside of the Borough.
Shared Lives
As of late 2024 as a whole cohort (include 65s+) there were 53 Shared Lives Carer Households and 61 Council service users supported in shared lives arrangements, including long-term, day opportunities and short breaks arrangements. The existing service primarily focuses on adults with learning disabilities.
| Primary need | % of clients |
|---|---|
| Learning disability | 74% |
| Autism | 5% |
| Mental Health | 5% |
| Physical disability | 3% |
| Abuse/ neglect | 2% |
| Sensory support | 2% |
| Social support | 2% |
| Dementia | 1% |
| Other | 6% |
Over the period of just over 6 years, there has been minimal growth of the service from 53 up to 69 as of late 2024 (this includes people with occasional care as well as ongoing care). There is a good cross section of ages of individuals, with 20-29 year olds making up the largest proportion. In terms of ethnicity, white British individuals make up the largest proportion and there are slightly more females within the service. Within many other Shared Lives services across the Country, individuals with a learning disability are the cohort of individuals that seem to access Shared Lives Support the most, which is also evidenced within Walsall as there are 74% of individuals with a learning disability accessing the service in a variety of ways. Over the last 5 years, of those service users who have left the Walsall Shared Lives service, 9 have gone into Supported Living accommodation, 4 had deterioration in their dementia and 3 individuals passed away.
Enablement In-House Service
The data below shows the primary needs of people using the Enablement In-House Service.
| Primary need | Number of clients |
|---|---|
| Physical support | 95 |
| Mental health | 73 |
| Learning disability | 93 |
| Social support | 62 |
| Sensory support | 3 |
| Memory and cognition | 5 |
| Children’s primary support reason | 46 |
| Unknown primary support reason | 46 |
| Total | 423 |
Age of Walsall Council Enablement Clients
| Age | In-House service referrals |
|---|---|
| 16-18 | 57 |
| 18-64 | 324 |
| 65+ | 42 |
| Total | 423 |
This shows that for in-house enablement services that physical support, learning disability, social support and mental ill-health are the key needs presenting and that the majority of clients are in the working age adult category 18-64 years of age.
Needs Of People Receiving Micro-Commissioned Bespoke Care And Support Packages
Needs of people using NHS commissioned Services
The NHS commissions services (Tier 2 and Tier 3 services) for a range of needs including learning disabilities, autism and mental ill-health, under a lead provider arrangement with Black Country Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust (BCHFT). Between April 2023 and the end of March 2024 there were 1298 people with a learning disability referred to the BCHFT Tier 2 Specialist Learning Disability Team (LD). These referrals came from LD Community Nursing, LD Acute Liaison, LD Behaviour, LD Physiotherapists and Occupational Therapists, LD Psychology, LD Transitions, LD Dementia, LD Single Point of Referral and LD Dysphagic Services. There is also a ‘crash pad’ provision for citizens in need for short-term crisis support. The main need using this crash pad is for autistic adults with additional mental health needs, although it is also available for people with learning disabilities and the age range of clients has been from 20 years of age to 47. The amount of time spent in the crash pad ranges from a few days to a couple of months. Tier 3 specialist services are the Black Country Healthcare Foundation Trust services– Forensic Community Team (FCT) and the intensive Support Teams: one for Learning Disability; one for ASD and one for Children and Young People.