Social Finance

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We're delighted that the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) has seen and responded to our report, Independent advocacy for independent lives, on how access to specialist advocacy services supports people with learning disabilities and autistic people to live the lives they want to live. Thanks to BBC Woman's for covering the issue on today's programme and to Laura Kerr for her straight forward explanation of how advocacy services like People First Dorset not only transform lives, but also prevent people with learning disabilities and autistic people reaching crisis point - resulting in A&E admissions, extended stays in hospital, and other costly interventions. Laura's charity and 14 other specialist advocacy services across the UK received grants from The Henry Smith Charity Advocacy Fund, with Social Finance working alongside them as a learning partner. The final report based on 2 and half years of research by Social Finance, found that not only does access to specialist advocacy services support people with learning disabilities and autistic people to speak up about their needs and ask for the things they want - it also saves money. An independently verified financial analysis carried out for the report demonstrated that every £1 invested in advocacy services saved £12 (£7 for NHS & £5 for local authorities). When asked for a comment by Woman's Hour the DHSC said that they are “committed to championing the rights of disabled people, and we work with them so that their voices are at the heart of everything we do”. They also said that they’re “launching an independent commission into adult social care that will start a national conversation into what working aged disabled people and older people and their families should expect” In her interview, Laura said “I’ve been in the sector for 25 years, there’s been one review after another. … but our members - people with learning disabilities - tell it best about the difference that what we do makes to their lives... And I know Social Finance have put forward a case for an Advocacy Fund for the next spending review in March, and we’ve got a government who say they are really committed to a preventative and partnership agenda with civil society and charities. And this is it! This is what we’re doing. If you want a quick win this is how you can do this. The biggest message is we’re not going to be here if we don’t get that funding” Listen to the whole interview with Laura and her colleague Jo White, whose son is non-verbal and at 17 is about to transition into adult social care, on BBC i-player. The interview starts approx. 40 minutes into the programme. Find the link to our report in the comments. Nadine Smith Tanyah Hameed Fergus Hamilton Freuds+ William Jacks Jonathan Oppé Sara Jones Naomi Madden Tom Snell Helen Beevers catherine mundy Tom Davies Madeline Cooper

We're delighted that the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) has seen and responded to our report, Independent advocacy for independent lives, on how access to specialist advocacy services supports people with learning disabilities and autistic people to live the lives they want to live. Thanks to BBC Woman's for covering the issue on today's programme and to Laura Kerr for her straight forward explanation of how advocacy services like People First Dorset not only transform lives, but also prevent people with learning disabilities and autistic people reaching crisis point - resulting in A&E admissions, extended stays in hospital, and other costly interventions. Laura's charity and 14 other specialist advocacy services across the UK received grants from The Henry Smith Charity Advocacy Fund, with Social Finance working alongside them as a learning partner. The final report based on 2 and half years of research by Social Finance, found that not only does access to specialist advocacy services support people with learning disabilities and autistic people to speak up about their needs and ask for the things they want - it also saves money. An independently verified financial analysis carried out for the report demonstrated that every £1 invested in advocacy services saved £12 (£7 for NHS & £5 for local authorities). When asked for a comment by Woman's Hour the DHSC said that they are “committed to championing the rights of disabled people, and we work with them so that their voices are at the heart of everything we do”. They also said that they’re “launching an independent commission into adult social care that will start a national conversation into what working aged disabled people and older people and their families should expect” In her interview, Laura said “I’ve been in the sector for 25 years, there’s been one review after another. … but our members - people with learning disabilities - tell it best about the difference that what we do makes to their lives... And I know Social Finance have put forward a case for an Advocacy Fund for the next spending review in March, and we’ve got a government who say they are really committed to a preventative and partnership agenda with civil society and charities. And this is it! This is what we’re doing. If you want a quick win this is how you can do this. The biggest message is we’re not going to be here if we don’t get that funding” Listen to the whole interview with Laura and her colleague Jo White, whose son is non-verbal and at 17 is about to transition into adult social care, on BBC i-player. The interview starts approx. 40 minutes into the programme. Find the link to our report in the comments. Nadine Smith Tanyah Hameed Fergus Hamilton Freuds+ William Jacks Jonathan Oppé Sara Jones Naomi Madden Tom Snell Helen Beevers catherine mundy Tom Davies Madeline Cooper

People with learning disabilities and autistic people need access to specialist advocacy services if they are to live the lives they want. That was the clear message from our event at the Houses of Parliament last week. More than 50 people, many of them experts by lived experience, joined us from across the UK to launch our new report Independent advocacy for independent lives on Thursday. It was a truly inspirational experience for us at Social Finance, The Henry Smith Charity, and for everyone who was there. We want to say a special thank you to people who shared their personal stories with us and gave us the benefit of their expertise. Simone Aspis, Kerry Martin, From People First Dorset, Marshall Wilson and Amy Telford from Speakup - you are amazing! We need every MP and decision maker to listen to what you have to say. And thank you to everyone in the audience who asked a question or made a comment. Also thank you to Liam Conlon MP for Beckenham and Penge for hosting us. We'll have news of some exciting developments throughout the week, but in the meantime we wanted to share some photographs of the day. Percy Akudo Caribbean & African Health Network (CAHN) Nadine Smith Tanyah Hameed Fergus Hamilton Emily Barratt Brighton and Hove Speak Out William Jacks Sara Jones Laura Kerr Madeline Cooper Georgina Duck Jacqui Shurlock Helen Eyers Helen Beevers Hilary Paxton Tom Davies Naomi Madden Shout out to Maya Ziyu Ou Roberts for photography. #learningdisabilities #Advocacy #nothingaboutuswithoutus

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With record numbers in Temporary Accommodation the UK urgently needs more affordable rent #socialhousing. However, social housing development has always depended on government support, and worsening economic conditions mean the subsidy required per home has doubled in the past three years. A few years ago, 30% grant funding per home was viable, but today, 50-70% is required. With public finances stretched, new funding solutions are essential. Social Finance, with support from the Joseph Rowntree Foundation (JRF) , is proposing a new funding model: the Affordable Homes Acquisition Scheme (AHAS). This approach would raise long-term (30-year) institutional investment at a modest premium over the gilt rate, with debt repayments structured to match the long-term cash flow of affordable rent housing. Initially low and rising over time, this structure makes housing investment more financially sustainable. For more detail on how AHAS works, and how it could help to increase the supply of more affordable rent social housing, scan the QR Code to read the briefing paper by David Fletcher Jonathan Flory & William Damazer. Caroline Gadd Susan McDonald, CFA Nadine Smith Homes England Department for Work and Pensions (DWP)

Today 1.5 million people in the UK have a learning disability while around 700,000 adults and children have a diagnosis of autism spectrum disorder. This might be you, your family or friend, or this may be a disability that's less visible to you. But people with learning disabilities and autistic people do show up frequently in our crisis services and are then misrepresented as too hard to help or too reliant on the system. In our new report funded by the The Henry Smith Charity and published today we make a compelling case for growing independent person-led support, known as non-statutory advocacy. Without it, too many people with learning disabilities and autistic people risk ending up at crisis point at challenging times in their life. We gathered evidence from 15 advocacy services across the UK supported by The Henry Smith Advocacy Fund. We found that non-statutory advocacy had numerous benefits, including having a positive impact on wellbeing, relationships and the ability to speak up. In other words, people were able to get support which helped them live more independent and fulfilling lives. We also undertook a financial analysis which showed that for every £1 spent on advocacy, there were savings of approximately £7 to the National Health Service and £5 to local authorities. So wider society benefits too. Use the QR code to read the report - it's also available in Easy Read. Thanks to all our partners and grantees. People First Dorset SPEAKUP SELF ADVOCACY LIMITED Advocacy Alliance Advocacy Service Aberden Advocacy Support Cymru Brighton and Hove Speak Out CENTRAL ADVOCACY PARTNERS Coram Voice DARLINGTON ASSOCIATION ON DISABILITY GRAPEVINE (COVENTRY AND WARWICKSHIRE) LTD SWINDON ADVOCACY MOVEMENT Vocal Advocacy Devon Tanyah Hameed Nadine Smith Maya Ziyu Ou Roberts Suzi Roberts Sara Jones Fergus Hamilton Tom Davies Katy Saunders Caroline Gadd Freuds+ Impact Initiatives

News that REACT, the innovative palliative and end-of-life care service in Bradford, will be sustained, just happened to come out on the same day Social Finance hosted our learning event! The Responsive Emergency Assessment and Community Team (REACT) in Bradford has been operating since June 2022 as a partnership between Marie Curie UK & Bradford Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust (BTHFT) with social investment funding from Macmillan Cancer Support & Better Society Capital overseen by Social Finance; and grant funding from The National Lottery Community Fund. Last week BTHFT made a funding commitment which will allow the REACT service to continue to provide fast expert care for people with a life-limiting illness thought to be in the last year of life, beyond May 2025, when the social investments ends. The service focuses on delivering urgent support in the community to help patients remain at home.   The REACT learning event explored insights from each of the partners and was an opportunity to say thank you to the fabulous staff team. A summary report will be released later in the year when final service data is collected. Muskaan Biradar Michael Crowder Suzanne Woodman Janette (Jet) Powell Katy Saunders Heather McLean Richard Ball Giles Skerry, Sarah Holmes, Clare Rayment, Deborah Penfold Kevin Hunt Nadine Smith Caroline Gadd #socialinvestment #NHS #healthandsocialcare #virtualward

We're #hiring a new IPS Grow Regional Workforce Lead in England. Apply today or share this post with your network.