Members were profoundly concerned that the recently-announced Local Government Financial Settlement provided no new money for social services, despite increased demand and service costs in relation to children and older people. The position was made worse by financial adjustments such as preserved rights, free nursing care, new policies on charging and withdrawal of funds on the formation of the new Care Standards Commission. The net result is a shortfall of many millions of pounds across the region in social services funding.

Members called for a strong campaign to lobby MPs and Ministers, and to draw Press attention to the alarming state of affairs.

Approaches have been made to a number of MPs, and material about the financial position of each authority for 2002/03 is being gathered. Salford offered the support of their Public Relations team, who have collaborated with us to issue a Press Release to all the region's media. Already this has attracted the attention of the Manchester Evening News, and plans are being laid for a deputation to Westminster from Social Services North West member authorities within the next few weeks.

Hazel Blears MP will speak on the new plans for Involving Patients and the Public in Healthcare, whilst Peter Garland, Regional Director of Health and Social Care for the North of England, will talk on the modernisation agenda. Note the date now!

Our new logo, reflecting the dropping of our old NWASSA identity, features here and on our new-look website, redesigned in 2002 to be clearer, less 'fussy', and even easier to use for all your news of social services in the North West and nationwide.

Social Services North West has been working hard to keep up with the rapid pace of change in the NHS and the raft of new policy papers affecting both health and social care. We have responded to the consultations on Involving Patients and the Public in Healthcare and on proposals for three new Strategic Health Authorities in the region.

In reply to Involving Patients and the Public in Healthcare, we welcomed the principles and aims around public and patient empowerment, but had two key concerns about the means of delivering these aims. The first was that the PALS and Patients Forums would sit inside rather than outside the operational organisations of the NHS. Secondly, whilst we welcomed the concept of VOICE organisations across the country, we felt there should be many more of them, each serving only a small number of health economies and local authorities. We were pleased to see that these points were taken on board in the later document, and we shall focus again on these issues in the conference on 26 April.

We also responded to the consultation documents on the formation of new Health Authorities for Cheshire and Merseyside, Cumbria and Lancashire and Greater Manchester. Key points made included:

• commitment to supporting delivery at the front line, and to encouraging partnerships in health and local government to ensure integration between health and social care
• welcome the development of Primary Care Trusts and support the three key roles identified for them in the document
• welcome the document's recognition that Care Trusts will have a role "where local partners agree."
• look forward to further developing our joint work with the NHS, both locally through the PCTs and at the level of the Strategic Health Authorities

Keynote speaker at one of the sessions will be Hazel Blears, Parliamentary Under Secretary, Department of Health and MP for Salford, who will update us on the Government's proposals for Involving Patients and the Public in Health Care. Then a presentation from Salford, led by Anne Williams Director of Community and Social Services and Edna Robinson, Chief Executive of the Primary Care Trust will describe how some of the new approaches are being modelled locally.

The other session will be led by Peter Garland, Regional Director of Health and Social Care, Department of Health, focussing on the modernisation agenda affecting health and social care. We shall then focus on the innovative joint management arrangements across health and social care in the Knowsley/St Helens area, led by Anita Marsland, Director of Knowsley Social Services and NHS colleagues.

The new Chair of the Cheshire and Merseyside Health Authority is Mrs Judith Greensmith DL, currently Chair of Liverpool Health Authority. Chief Executive of this Health Authority is Christine Hannah, currently Director of Strategic Development at NHS North West.

Chair of the Cumbria and Lancashire Health Authority is Mrs Kath Reade, currently Chair of East Lancashire HA. Chief Executive will be Pearce Butler, currently Chief Executive of the Royal Liverpool and Broadgreen University Hospitals NHS Trust.

Chair of the Greater Manchester Health Authority is Mr Philip Smith, currently Chair of Stockport Health Authority. Chief Executive is Neil Goodwin, currently CE of Manchester HA.

Social Services North West has congratulated each of them and asked for a meeting in the near future.

Members were told that the region’s overspent social services departments will be under even greater financial pressure, and that ring-fenced grants inhibit local authorities' ability to respond to local need and develop joined up services.

Members called for a strong campaign in the New Year to lobby MPs and Ministers, and to draw Press attention to the alarming state of affairs. Salford offered the support of their public relations team, and a press release has been sent out to all regional media (see opposite). The Manchester Evening News carried the story prominently on 22 January: the full text of this is available via www.ssnw.org.uk

Contact has been made with several influential regional MPs, who have affirmed their sympathy with our case. We are also in contact with the LGA, who are continuing their own vigorous campaign to highlight various funding issues, including social services. Plans are now being rolled out for a deputation from Social Services North West member authorities to meet MPs at the House of Commons in the near future.

Social services departments across the northwest have hit out at their poor funding settlements from Government for next year, and say that lack of funds will imperil the quantity and quality of care they can provide for older people and other vulnerable groups.

Social Services North West represents 19 of the 22 councils with social services responsibilities in the region. It has found that all its members are experiencing a severe financial squeeze on their budgets for next year. They are deeply concerned about the effect this will have on people in need. As a result, they are planning to send a delegation to Westminster to voice their concerns to Health Minister Jacqui Smith, along with local government and Treasury ministers, and MPs from across the North West.

Member councils of Social Services North West are: Blackpool with Darwen, Blackpool, Bolton, Bury, Cumbria, Halton, Knowsley, Lancashire, Liverpool, Manchester, Oldham, Rochdale, St Helens, Salford, Sefton, Tameside, Trafford, Warrington and Wigan.

The group is angry about:

• changes to the allocation of ‘ring-fenced’ grant money - which will collectively create multi-million pound budget shortfalls for social services departments
• increased Government restrictions on how money is spent – meaning that departments cannot target resources at urgent local needs
• the responsibility placed on social services to pay increased nursing and residential home fees, which has not been matched with sufficient funds
• Government controls which limit how much social services can charge for services. This will cut part of the income that departments depend on to run their vital services
• Excess withdrawal of funds from councils on the transfer of their registration and inspection functions to a new national body

Councillor Cliff Morris from Bolton, who is Chair of Social Services North West, said: "The government is giving social services departments new things to do and not enough money to do them. These resources will not be enough to match the increased pressures in social services, which include rising costs of caring for children, older people and disabled people, and a growing number of service users. We will be lobbying Government and hope that we can get as many MPs as possible to help support our case."

Already several MPs have responded sympathetically, and Social Services North West representatives hope very soon to be attending a meeting at the House of Commons.

Page 4

Guests included Councillor Rita Stringfellow (North Tyneside), Chair of the Executive, Councillor Pat Case who represents Chorley on the Executive, and Jeni Bremner, Head of the Social Affairs Group at the LGA. Also in attendance were two senior North West MPs, David Crausby who is Chair of the North West Parliamentary Labour Party, and Ruth Kelly who is a Treasury Minister.

Presentations were made by leading members of Social Serbvices North West on each of our four main themes this year: Finance, Working with the NHS, Children and Learning Disability.

Councillor Stringfellow highlighted the issue of resources: there was a big gap, especially in Children Services. There had been more funding made available in early October of this year but this still does not "bridge the gap". The impact of delayed discharges was highlighted along with the fact that year-long capacity pressures on NHS and social care resources meant it was not just a seasonal problem. She said that the LGA was continuing to actively lobby Government on this issue. The £300 million additional funding for capacity planning was helpful but did not address the underlying severe financial deficit faced by authorities.

On working with the NHS, Councillor Stringfellow said that liaison between the NHS and Social Services was a critical area of work, and it was important to make maximum use of Health Act flexibilities, and to learn from each other and benefit from the skills developing around partnerships.

Addressing our presentation on children's issues, she commented that Sure Start – which had been a Treasury initiative - was an encouraging example of making a difference through good practice and the involvement of Health and Education. The main aim was to lift children out of poverty. She mentioned the work the LGA were doing as part of their 'Six Commitments' work focussing on support to the 13-18 years age group. She also mentioned the recruitment campaign for social workers that the LGA had been instrumental in developing and securing funding for. Sharing ideas and operating on every level was important but there were still huge pressures. After all children only have one childhood and if this goes wrong, there is not another chance to make things right for a child. She was keen that the work being done in the SSNW Region on joint commissioning should be shared with the LGA.

On learning disability, the LGA welcomed the lead that local government had been given for services to this group. The LGA will be carrying out a telephone survey to find out how the local Partnership Boards are fitting in with Local Strategic Partnerships. Councillor Stringfellow asked Ruth Kelly MP to take a strong message back to Government that the Spending Review projections revealed a shortfall of £20 million in this area.

The high profile approach to the current financial plight of local authorities, decided by members at their quarterly meeting in Warrington on 21 December, is dealt with fully on pages 1 and 2 of this issue of SSNW News. Members also reviewed progress on the other key policy issues. On Working with the NHS, they agreed to hold the conference announced on pages 1 and 3, and to seek meetings with the key players in the new NHS structure in the North West region. On Children's Services, they noted the forthcoming seminar for assistant directors, and information about Best Value reviews of Children's residential services. They also noted the formation of the Regional Task Force on Learning Disability, received the revised Constitution and Rules, and examined the income and expenditure position of the organisation.