Advocacy and Advice Review: Consultation Stage 2 Principles and Model
Overview
Cumbria County Council is reviewing advocacy and advice services. The aim of the review is to work out:
- Why people are using advocacy and advice services
- If there are any groups that cannot access a service
- What works well and what needs to change
- If the Council needs to change the existing way it contracts advocacy and advice services.
Why we are consulting
We began consultation in May 2011, which included an online questionnaire, translations of the questionnaire into different languages and an Easy Read Version that was done by People First. We also heard from a number of groups of service users and community groups.
From the stage one consultation we have come up with seven principles for advocacy and advice services and a proposed model for the services.
The seven principles:
- Early intervention and prevention
- Flexibility to meet changing demand
- Independencefrom public sector provision
- Targeting services to meet need
- Balancing specialist and general provision
- Informing public policy
- Reduction of back office and travel cost and maximise front line services
The three models:
- Option 3: Hub and Spoke (this is our preferred model)
- Option 2: Generic Advocacy Service
- Option 1: Greater working together between existing providers
We would like your views on the principles and models we are suggesting.
What happens next
When the consultation is closed we be asking Cumbria County Council's Cabinet members to consider the findings of the stage 2 consultation and agree on a model for advocacy and advice services.
The aim is for new services to be running after April 2012.
