Members of the Time to Act Reform Board, a group of leaders in the field of care and support, have come together to call for new investment in earlier action and support interventions to enable more people to live the lives that they want.

In a new briefing, they say that investing in earlier action and support will help to meet the government’s promise to shift towards ‘prevention’, and to deliver its health and growth missions.

The briefing, Earlier action and support: the case for prevention in adult social care and beyond brings together evidence on a range of interventions in a new Prevention Savings Model, which demonstrates that every £1 invested in earlier action and support interventions creates a social return on investment of, on average, £3.17.

Our Local Area Coordination approach is shown to create a £4.11 social return on investment.

The paper calls for investment in a programme of Earlier Action and Support Pathfinders to further build the evidence base to support a longer-term shift towards investment in these interventions across local authorities in England.

It defines ‘earlier action and support’ as including information, advice and advocacy services; connectors and navigators; technology to support day-to-day life; community and social groups; carers support services; and supported housing. It highlights the central role of peer and mutual support to many of these models and puts forward an assessment of the value of these interventions based on a sample of evidence-based interventions. These will be built on as more evidence emerges.

The Reform Board includes the Association of Directors of Adult Social Services, the Care Provider Alliance, the Local Government Association, Mencap, Skills for Care, the Social Care Institute for Excellence, Social Care Future, and Think Local Act Personal.