Community based services

'My life, my ambition, my future', the co-produced Norfolk learning disabilities strategy, set out a vision for shaping and delivering opportunities for people with a learning disability and/or autism in Norfolk, which created the foundations for our new life opportunities model.

Read the full Norfolk learning disabilities strategy on the Norfolk learning disability partnership website.

Life opportunities and our day services for people with a learning disability and/or autism are an important part of people's lives, offering a range of different:

• Social opportunities
• Skill development
• Work experience
• Employment opportunities

For families and carers, our life opportunities services also offer respite from their caring role since most people attending live with their family or carer.

Our services are delivered across Norfolk through a wide range of delivery approaches and settings. For us, variety is key to ensuring successful outcomes for the individuals who access these services.

Current shape of the day opportunities market

In April 2023, we opened our new life opportunities framework. The framework replaced the previous contracting arrangements from 1995 and 2012 for providers delivering day services to individuals with learning disabilities and/or autism in Norfolk.

The new life opportunities framework will provide a much more robust set of contractual terms and conditions. Our key drivers for the introduction of the new framework were to ensure parity in the learning disability and autism market.

Following a tender process, providers who were successful are now aligned under a single set of terms and conditions (including payment terms) to support sustainability and encourage future innovation and transformation of services through the introduction of the life opportunities pathway model.

The pathways will be introduced following co-produced pilots, where providers will have the opportunity to tender for one or more of these focused delivery models. Each pathway will have its own specification, which will help providers understand expectations and outcomes for individuals.

Key data

The 2022-23 spend and the snapshot at the end of March 2023 of the number of people accessing day services for people with a learning disability and/or autism. This excludes travel costs but includes spending on independence matters and the personal assistant service:

• Our spend on day services for adults with learning disabilities and/or autism in 2022-2023: £17.6m
• The number of people accessing day services for adults with learning disabilities and/or autism funded by us in 2022-2023: 1,239
• The number of Norfolk County Council (NCC) accredited locations registered by March 2023: 71

Challenges

Challenges with life opportunities for people with learning disabilities and/or autism include ensuring the sustainability of our providers in a post-pandemic world, including:

• The long-lasting negative financial impact
• A vulnerable and unsettled workforce
• Workforce shortages
• An increased demand for placements

Read more about market sustainability challenges.

Supply and demand

39 providers have now successfully joined our life opportunities framework to deliver a day service to people with a learning disability and/or autism.

The life opportunities framework will now remain open to further support a vibrant and varied life opportunities market.

We hope to increase the number of successful life opportunities placements.

Market development opportunities

The life opportunities strategy for adults with a learning disability and/or autism will detail the model for day opportunities that we want to commission.

Learn more about life opportunities on the GOV.UK website. 

Commissioning intentions

Our intentions for commissioning life opportunities for people with learning disabilities and/or autism are:

• To introduce our three distinct pathways: Skills and employment, promoting independence and enriching lives
• Commence a pilot for our enriching lives pathway in early summer 2023
• Go to tender for our skills and employment pathway in late summer 2023
• Commence a pilot for our promoting independence pathway in autumn 2023
• Development of improved performance data collection systems to monitor outcomes being achieved for individuals
• Consider a distinct model of delivery to support our most complex cohort, and consider how our outreach services will be commissioned in the future

Key messages to providers

Our key messages to providers are that:

• We want to continue to work collaboratively with our life opportunity providers, people who use our life opportunities services, and their families, parents, and carers
• We want to ensure the delivery of good, quality, person-centred services that maximise people's independence and support people to lead fulfilling and varied lives

Feedback

We want people to say:

• "I am valued and treated with dignity"
• "I am treated as an individual and receive support that is person-centred"
• "I am supported to live as independently as I am able or wish to"
• "I feel that I have choice and control over the way my support is delivered"
• "I am supported to maximise my health and wellbeing"
• "My personal outcomes are achieved"
• "I am supported to take part in the local community and to develop and maintain friendships"
• "I am supported to move into work and maximise my economic wellbeing"
• "My safety and security are maintained"
• "Staffing and management arrangements enable me to receive a high-quality service"