Local Area Coordination in England and Wales
October 2023
Updates on Local Area Coordination, the work of the Network and
the areas implementing the approach.
In this edition we’ll be covering:
- Hello and Welcome
- ‘Meeting in Surrey’
- Publications
- Vacancies
- Events, Training & Campaigns
- Useful Blogs
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A note from from Tom Richards,
Manager of the Local Area Coordination Network
Hello and welcome to the Local Area Coordination Network Newsletter! 
I hope you are all keeping well. Throughout the past few months, we have been welcoming some wonderful councils to our Network, from up in South Tyneside down to Oxfordshire. With lots of exciting conversations happening with councils across England and Wales, and with more announcements about new members to follow, it’s given us lots of opportunity to reflect on the reasons why a council would begin their Local Area Coordination journey.
If you’ve read this newsletter before, you’ll have seen us write about the value of having well connected communities, and supporting people to be active citizens who feel able to share their gifts and skills for the benefit of the community. You’ll have seen us celebrate services that support people to achieve their vision of a good life, and the sense of pride, achievement, and growth that happens when people own the journey towards their goals, rather than services taking action for people, or attempting to force changes upon people, with or without their consent.
Now, as the Care Quality Commission (CQC) prepares to launch the new Single Assessment Framework across parts of the South of England, we see even more reasons for councils to bring Local Area Coordination to their area, as our shared principles and practices contribute to CQC’s new ‘I’ Statements and ‘Quality’ Statements. For example, one of the CQC’s new ‘I’ Statements is:
“I have care and support that enables me to live as I want to, seeing me as a unique person with skills, strengths, and goals”.
Local Area Coordinators invest in getting to know people, building trust and connection, taking time to understand what life is like now for the people they’re alongside and their ambitions for the future. Where people want or need support to realise their goals, this may involve friends, family, neighbours, colleagues, community groups, or more formal support services. If the latter, Local Area Coordinators will support the person to have their voice heard by services, build a relationship with the services that is complementary to their goals, and share their experiences of (and ideas for improving) local services to the Local Area Coordination Leadership Group. Attended by voluntary, community, and social enterprise sector groups, partners from the health and care sectors, elected members, and statutory service leaders, this group then drives positive, sustainable system change which is led by the experiences of people who use public services.
This is only one of many ways that Local Area Coordination contributes to the new CQC Single Assessment Framework, and one of many reasons to start a conversation about bringing the approach to your area! If you’d like to find out more, please reach out to LACN@communitycatalysts.co.uk and we’d be happy to arrange a chat. In the meantime, enjoy the newsletter!
Tom Richards