• Local Area Coordination and the House of Lords
• LGA Annual Conference
• What does Local Area Coordination mean to you?
• And much more…

Read all about it

A note from Nick

Hello, and thank you for stopping by to check out this month’s newsletter. As always, a massive thank you to Rachel Tait for putting this all together so beautifully – you’ll see this month is absolutely bursting at the seams with news and useful information and I hope you enjoy the read.

I always seem to say this but…it has indeed been another busy month in the world of Local Area Coordination. It feels like since I last wrote we are witnessing a rapidly growing interest in what we’re doing. I’ve been having several conversations with new potential areas who are exploring the approach and helping them see what Local Area Coordination could look like in the context of their communities and systems. I think this growing interest is in recognition of the fact our public services desperately need to change things up in the face of the significant pressures facing our society today, not least of course the serious problems within social care, our NHS and the impact of the cost of living. In the wake of these crises, it seems totally clear now that local people need to be helping each other more than ever, finding natural solutions and opportunities through local relationships and connection with community. The balanced, proportionate and simple to access resource of Local Area Coordinators working in a highly local, relational and connected way within a community is absolutely part of what this public service change needs to look like.

So, what have we been doing this month to try and further the overall cause of Local Area Coordination? Here are a few key highlights:

• We are pleased to announce that we were successful in appointing our new Local Area Coordination Network Manager who will be supporting our Network to grow and develop our shared work. The recruitment process was incredibly tough and competitive with over 30 people applying for the role. We’re excited to share more about them next month!
• Les Billingham from Thurrock and I participated in giving evidence to the House of Lords Adult Social Care Select Committee enquiry that took place online. The testimony about LAC will go on to shape this important enquiry into the visibility of people drawing upon social care and the importance of asset-based working.
• Our videographer Alistair has completed our videos project. This includes reflections from the Local Area Coordination Managers and Team Leaders as well as two with York Local Area Coordinator Penny Hutchinson and two people she is alongside, Steve and Glynn. The videos are powerful reflections and stories and we are excited to launch these properly soon. We will launch them in less than 2 weeks. Watch this space and Twitter!
• On the 29^th June, Sarah Bogunovic from Surrey and I will be sharing about Local Area Coordination at the Innovation Zone at the Local Government Association (LGA) Conference. More to follow on that next month.

A lot done, but a heck of a lot more to do as we continued in our mission to bring this way of working to more and more communities in England and Wales.

Thank you as always for your support and enjoy the newsletter.