Market Position Statement 2025 to 2040 for Services for Working Age Adults with Long-Term Needs - Market Status Pathways to Independence

Pathways to Independence is a new initiative led by Walsall Adult Social Care that aims to support adults who need social care services to achieve their personal goals and to live as independently as possible. The service is based on the principles of person-centred care, choice, control and prevention and early intervention. The service contains three components:

1. Prevention and Early Intervention
2. Community-Based Reablement
3. Enablement 

This MPS section is focussed on enablement and the potential to grow and re-shape enablement services to support younger adults with learning disabilities, mental health, autism and other life- long conditions and those transitioning from Children’s Services to Adult Social Care.

Market Context

The current enablement service run by Adult Social Care is an in-house provided service based at the Goscote Centre. Outreach services provide community- based assessments over a time limited period. The Enablement Team is able to assess in several areas in order to promote and maximise a person’s independence. The service covers Living at home safely, maximising Independence, Travel training and connectivity, Community Inclusion, Nutrition diet and healthy eating, cooking, shopping, money management, E-safety and Assistive Technology. A costed service is provided when periods of longer support are required to achieve a specific outcome. There is Independent Travel Training for children aged 16 years and over, as well as adults with special educational needs and/or disabilities giving the confidence and skills to travel safely on the bus, train, tram, walking. Current issues are lack of referrals from social work teams and some under-utilisation of capacity. There is also considered to be a lack of join-up with health professionals and services. Expansion of the service is being considered currently and different options to re-shape and grow the enablement offer in partnership with health and potentially with other providers

Vision for the Future

The vision is to have a Community Enablement and Community Reablement service that is positioned at the forefront of adult social care services. The enablement model should be catering for different skills sets to support our residents of Walsall.

• Alignment with reablement - Community reablement focus is functional ability. Community enablement will be focused on skills for people with learning disabilities and mental ill-health and for younger adult cohorts (including transitions from Children’s Services)
• Research is currently identifying what provision is provided today, for example, where current individuals are placed, where the gaps are and what is needed for the future
• A new business case will incorporate the existing provision at Goscote and other offers, areas which require developing and to address gaps in provision
• Joint-working with health - Forward looking and aspirational in regard to what a community enablement service would look like in the future with our health services in Walsall
• Cohort – all new adults or working age/ younger adults, learning disability and mental heath cohorts
• A focus on young people transitioning from SEND provision. Options are being drafted for a future service model for promoting life-long well-being and independence for 18 – 64 adults with additional needs (mental ill-health, physical needs and learning disability).