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4. Local self assessment

Changing Lives sets some challenging goals, which will only be achieved by social work services working with their partners locally to re-design the delivery of services. The implementation process must, therefore, support locally sensitive change rather than imposing solutions, whilst also encouraging the sharing of learning. We propose to work with local authorities and their partners building on their own strengths and, focusing on their priorities.

Planning to implement Changing Lives should not be seen as a separate activity, but instead actions should be reflected across existing local plans such as social work services plans, children's services plans and ultimately the community plan.

Each organisation will have different priorities as well as strengths that could be used to inform others. Most will already have undertaken some form of self assessment against the recommendations set out in Changing Lives. In order for the collaborative approach to implementing Changing Lives to work, local authorities and social work service provider organisations will need to use their own self assessments to inform decisions about priorities and how they want to participate in the implementation process.

We are therefore asking each local authority and social work service provider organisations from the voluntary and private sectors to complete their own self assessment against the recommendations set out in Changing Lives. Self assessments should then be used to identify existing strengths and priorities for change.

The self assessment template in annex B provides a simple structure for organisations to use to assist this process. The template turns the recommendations into a series of prompt questions that can be applied across the range of local services (excluding those such as developing a research and development strategy, that require national action). It is intended to prompt discussion and thinking within organisations and with partners and can be used at the level of an individual service or at organisational level. Not all questions will be relevant to all organisations, indeed some are particularly addressed only to local authorities.

Use of the self assessment template is entirely voluntary and intended to be helpful. We do not require completed self assessments to be returned.

SELF ASSESSMENT RETURN

Having completed a self assessment, organisations should have the information required to complete a simple return, set out in annex C. This asks for strengths and priorities to be identified within each of the three main service branches (children & families, community care and criminal justice) and across social work services as a whole. Agencies that do not provide services to a full range of service users should only complete the relevant sections.

We propose to use the strengths and priorities identified to build networks of organisations with shared interests and to promote existing good practice. We will make resources and support available via the networks to undertake local service re-design, sharing the outcomes of the work to inform change in other areas using approaches such as collaborative networks. We will also use it to inform the priorities of the national change programmes.

The self assessment return is broken down into five sections. The first three sections cover the three main branches of social work (children & families, community care and criminal justice). The fourth section can be used to identify strengths and priorities that apply to the whole service, which may include issues for example around workforce development or leadership. Each section includes a breakdown of the recommendations for easy reference. It is likely that for sections 1-3, most actions will relate to recommendations 1-5 and for section 4, most actions will relate to recommendations 6-12. The final section gives an opportunity to identify priority issues for the national change programmes to address.

Self assessment returns should be signed off by Chief Social Work Officers for local authorities and by Chief Executives or Directors for independent sector providers and returned to

Moira Hughes

No later than 31 ^st October 2006.

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