Making Space

A Message from Lord Pickles and Lord Blunkett, followed by Making Space's best practice article

The ability to listen and learn from one another has always been vital in parliament, in business and in most aspects of daily life. But at this particular moment in time, as national and global events continue to reiterate, it is uncommonly crucial that we forge new channels of communication and reinforce existing ones. The following article from Making Space is an attempt to do just that. We would welcome your thoughts on this or any other Parliamentary Review article.

Rt Hon The Lord David Blunkett

Rt Hon The Lord Eric Pickles

www.makingspace.co.uk

1MAKING SPACE |

BEST PRACTICE REPRESENTATIVE

Our community hub on Ashton

High Street

Andy Burnham launched

the partnership in Wigan

National charity and health and social care provider Making

Space employs over 1,000 staff and 400 volunteers to

deliver over 80 services across the country – from Cumbria

to Cambridgeshire. It provides care and support in people’s

own homes, delivering a specialised service for those who have

mental health or age-related illnesses, and for people with a

learning disability. It does this by providing housing, residential

or community-based services. CEO Rachel Peacock tells

TheParliamentary Review

about her team’s work in partnership

with a newly formed social enterprise, Wellbeing Teams, founded

by Helen Sanderson.

To deliver the services we do on such a scale, we must be innovative, responsive

and flexible to every individual’s needs and choices. Our homecare services span

everything from simply helping with daily chores to facilitating people getting out

into the community.

A big part of what we provide is connecting people to their community – when it

comes to working with the people that we support, the wider care network of an

individual is often comprised of relatives and friends. In many of these cases, caring

for their loved one or friend is often as time-consuming as a full-time job.

In order to continue to deliver contemporary and person-centred services with the

person who is being supported at the heart of everything we do, we believe it is

important to collaborate with systems partners – working in partnership is one of

the main themes of our strategic plan.

FACTS ABOUT

MAKING SPACE

»CEO: Rachel Peacock

»Established in 1982

»Based in Warrington

»Services: Health and social

care

»No. of employees: 1,000

»We have supported over

200,000 people since we

began

»www.makingspace.co.uk

Making Space

THE PARLIAMENTARY REVIEW

Highlighting best practice

2| MAKING SPACE

Staying at the forefront

Helen Sanderson of HSAUK, a leading

national and international champion

for change and transformation in

health and social care, founded

Wellbeing Teams in 2016. Their

purpose is to do whatever it takes to

support people to live well at home

and be part of their community.

Making Space and Wellbeing Teams

partnered in 2017 to deliver a

homecare contract in the North West

Borough of Wigan.

Wellbeing Teams have a system of

value-based recruitment – they only

find employees and volunteers whose

philosophies and values align with the

organisation. As with Making Space,

Wellbeing Teams make sure the service

user is involved in the recruitment

process to ensure the best outcome

for all parties involved. This process has

been recognised in our winning

The

Guardian

’s Public Services Award for

HR and recruitment.

Alongside this, Wellbeing Teams

cross-train employees to take on the

roles and responsibilities of a typical

managerial member of staff. Team

members take on tasks that reflect

their strengths, and weekly “tactical”

team meetings allow us to review

progress in this regard.

Traditional performance management

metrics have been replaced

with reflective techniques called

“confirmation practices” to ensure

that, for everyone at the organisation,

working constantly facilitates individual

growth and development. Finally, as

a technologically-aware organisation

Wellbeing Teams are paperless, well-

connected and constantly able to

support our service users and fellow

team members.

Making Space partnership

with Wellbeing Teams

Our commitment to a two-year

investment in Wellbeing Teams in the

Borough of Wigan is a great example

of collaborative and partnership

working in practice. In 2017, we

agreed to pilot the work of Wellbeing

Teams in an existing homecare service.

This has been achieved through a

contract with Wigan Council’s Ethical

Homecare Framework, where there are

ten local providers all committed to the

Wigan Deal.

The Deal for Adult Social Care and

Wellbeing underpins Wigan Council’s

vision and ambition to transform

resident’s experiences from a

traditional limited menu of services to

infinite opportunities, building self-

reliance and confidence, strengthening

communities and taking an innovative

approach to ensuring better outcomes

for residents.

The sector’s recruitment crisis

It’s no secret that health and

social care is suffering, as a sector,

with a lack of available staff

members. The use of agency staff

is also a contentious point for many

Doing our exercises can

still be fun

Our

commitment to

a two-year

investment in

Wellbeing

Teams in the

Borough of

Wigan is a

great example

of collaborative

and partnership

working in

practice

“

3MAKING SPACE |

BEST PRACTICE REPRESENTATIVE

organisations given that it is often

incredibly expensive.

Value-based recruitment processes are

an excellent way of addressing this issue

and drawing fresh talent to the sector.

Providers must also look at contributing

to the sector to ensure it becomes

a more attractive employment

destination for those who have not

previously considered it.

Self-management

The principles of self-management

piloted by Wellbeing Teams is a

massive priority for Making Space. As

an organisation with many services

across the country, we must ensure

that care is delivered properly and

effectively. To remain flexible and agile,

we believe teams that can self-manage

are an absolute necessity.

Our senior managers have worked

with Susan Basterfield, an international

leader and recognised author in the

field of self-management, to recognise

how to effectively manage large teams

up and down the country.

We are taking part in the first Royal

Society for the encouragement of arts,

manufacturers and commerce learning

programme in self-management,

Self-Management in Action, and are

constantly identifying Making Space

teams across the country who are

well-suited to the implementation of

self-management processes.

Regulatory requirements

We are also seeing an ever-increasing

amount of regulatory requirements in

the care sector. We understand the

need for compliance in a sector which

deals with something quite so personal,

and we believe that the government can

use legislation to make our work easier

and safer, rather than more complex.

The pilot work with Wellbeing

Teams has proven that regulatory

requirements can be met; their recent

CQC inspection found them to be

outstanding in three lines of enquiry,

including well-led, achieving an overall

CQC rating of “outstanding” in their

first year of operation.

Developing our experience and

home-growing our expertise

We are still developing our experience

of delivering homecare, and our

partnerships with organisations like

Wellbeing Teams will be integral as

thisgrowth continues.

We are now in the next step of our

journey, which will involve embedding

practices used at Wellbeing Teams in

all aspects of Making Space services.

Our ambition is to be a leading

nationwide provider of health and

social care – but we are aware that

this will be a journey of some difficulty.

However, we are ready to take on

the challenges the sector will present

us with, growing our expertise and

refining our mission along every step

of the way.

Providers must

alter the way

by which they

recruit people

“

Knit and natter groups

have connected people

to their community

Connecting

people with their

community assets

www.makingspace.co.uk

This article was sponsored by Making Space. The Parliamentary Review is wholly funded by the representatives who write for it. The publication in which this article originally appeared contained the following foreword from Rt Hon Michael Gove.

Rt Hon Michael Gove's Foreword For The Parliamentary Review

By Rt Hon Michael Gove

This year's Parliamentary Review comes at a momentous time for parliament, as we collectively determine the destiny of the United Kingdom.

On October 31, the UK will leave the European Union. The successful implementation of this process is this government's number-one priority.

Three years after a historic referendum vote, we will deliver on the decisive mandate from the British people. Trust in our democracy depends on it. Until that final hour, we will work determinedly and diligently to negotiate a deal, one that abolishes the backstop and upholds the warm and close relationship we share with our friends, allies and neighbours in the EU. But in the event that the EU refuses to meet us at the table, we must be prepared to leave without a deal.

As the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, it is my job to lead on this government's approach, should that scenario happen. Preparing for Brexit is my department's driving mission. But while I am leading this turbocharged effort, the whole of government is committed to this endeavour.

Ministers across Whitehall are working together to ensure that every possibility is considered, every plan is scrutinised and every provision is made. A daily drumbeat of meetings means that we are holding departments accountable, so that preparations are completed on time.

The chancellor has confirmed that all necessary funding will be made available. And we have mobilised thecivil service, assigning 15,000 of our most talented civil servants to manage our exit from the EU.

We will make sure that on November 1, there is as little disruption to national life as possible. Our trade relationships will continue to thrive, thanks to agreements with countries around the world worth £70 billion. Our country will remain secure, thanks to nearly 1,000 new officers posted at our borders. And the 3.2 million EU nationals now living and working among us can remain confident, with absolute certainty, of their right to remain in the UK.

Above all, our goal is to be transparent. Soon, we will launch a public information campaign so that citizens, communities and businesses are ready and reassured about what will happen in the event of “no deal”.

In my first few weeks in this role, I have travelled to ports and tarmacs, borders and bridges, all across the UK –from the seaside of Dover to the rolling green hills of County Armagh. I have heard from business owners and border officials, farmers and hauliers. They are ready to put an end to uncertainty. And they are ready to embrace the opportunities ahead.

Our departure from the EU will be a once in a lifetime chance to chart a new course for the United Kingdom. Preparing for that new course will be a herculean effort. But this country has made astounding efforts before. We can do it again.

Rt Hon Michael Gove
Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster