Richard Webb: a DASS perspective leading adult social care 

After 20 years, it’s a DASS-wrap for me on 6 March. Having started my social care career in Stockton on Tees and then been a director in Telford, Sheffield and North Yorkshire, I’m moving on to start a new working life as a chief executive at the end of March.  

20 years! A generational span which has seen massive changes in people’s lives, in our communities and across the UK and globally. Technology is way beyond where most of us expected it to be in 2005 – am I one of the few pre-iPhone DASSs still standing?! 

However, some things have not changed as much as many of us would have liked – one of those being the ever more urgent need for comprehensive social care reform which would set out clear and deliverable expectations for the public and be underpinned by a long-term funding settlement.  

I know there are many sceptics about another national commission to review the future of social care. However, in my eyes, this new commission is one with a difference, most notably in the fact that it’s being led by Baroness Louise Casey, who is renowned for not pulling her punches on issues such as homelessness and rough-sleeping, anti-social behaviour, misogyny in the Metropolitan Police and child sexual exploitation. What’s more, my hope is that she will shift the focus of the debate about what needs to be done and how.  

In my view, we need to move on from Dilnot: yes, how (and how much) people pay for care is a big issue but it’s not the only imperative for “getting social care done” and we need to look at new, more equitable ways of footing the bill which reflect the societal shift towards ‘Generation Rent’.

Back in 2007, ADASS led the personalisation revolution with Putting People First and we need to re-imagine that ambition for a new generation, so that social care promotes the expectations most of us have in our own lives: jobs, homes, health, friends. We need to get the bread-and-butter issues right, including reducing waiting times and improving how, as a nation, we support unpaid carers. 

Homes and housing need to be at the heart of social care reform and, as part of that, we need a greater focus on younger adults as well as older people. Too many people with disabilities and mental health issues are moving into what I increasingly call “security guard care”: over-restrictive, with variable outcomes and high costs. I started my career moving people out of long-stay institutions. Are we in danger of sleep walking into creating new equivalents by default? 

We need to recognise and value care workers – the Government’s Fair Pay Deal is a step in the right direction, but it needs to be fully funded, otherwise councils and care providers will struggle to meet the shortfalls and that could lead to hard choices in the future about how they plug the gaps.

And finally, we should continue to value local government as the best host for social care – it takes a whole community to support a frail or disabled adult to live independently and the best councils bring together local communities, voluntary organisations, housing, leisure and other services to make a difference in people’s lives. The NHS is a great British institution but it’s not the right home for social care and further organisational change would be a distraction rather than a solution.

ADASS has always had a unique and important voice in these debates. The Association has always felt like “coming home” to me: an essential part of being a leader in social care. It’s been great to see a much higher profile for assistant directors and Principal Social Workers – and I’d like to see more parity of esteem for Principal Occupational Therapists who, equally, play a key role in prevention and independence.  

So, all the best to all of you who will carry the social care baton on. I will be cheering you on. And a big thank you to ADASS colleagues (directors, ADASS HQ and many others) who have helped and encouraged me and been there in the good times and the tough ones.