Copy
View this email in your browser
London calling...

So, they recommend you are supposed to do 10,000 steps a day. Seldom do I do that many if I am honest during a workday, in fact any day, much to my shame. The last couple of weeks have been an exception though, 12,000 steps on average each day, mainly due to me being in London for a few days attending various meetings across the city.

One of the many meetings included attending a breakfast meeting held by Care and Support and Alliance (CSA). Read more...

Main stories

Last chance for ARC members to receive up to £5,000! 

Applications will only be accepted until 29th April 2016.
In 2015/16 RLO kindly offered ARC members the opportunity to apply for the David Wandless Training Bursary award of up to £5,000. This initiative has been offered again to ARC members in 2016/17. 
See here for more information and how to apply for the Bursary. 

Get your creative ideas down on paper and apply now! *Please note that to be eligible for this funding you must have paid your ARC membership for 2015/16, and you must renew your ARC membership for 2016/17 by the bursary closing date of 29/4/2016

ARC members New Directions Rugby and Heart of England Mencap
were both successful ARC applicants last year. 

Read more about how they have used their David Wandless Bursary here.
ADASS chief warns against social work being lost in ‘rush to integration’ 
"Our message about money is urgent and real and immediate. There may be more cash coming but even that is not enough and the problems are now,” - newly in post and in response to the government's treatment of the care crisis, Harold Bodmer sets out his priorities as president of the Association of Directors of Adult Social Services. Read more
CQC announce review of how NHS trusts investigate and learn from deaths  CQC is carrying out a review of how NHS trusts identify, report, investigate and learn from deaths of people using their services. This follows a request from the Secretary of State for Health, which was part of the Government’s response to a report into the deaths of people with a learning disability or mental health problem in contact with Southern Health Foundation NHS foundation Trust.

Professor Sir Mike Richards, CQC’s Chief Inspector of Hospitals, says CQC’s review aims to find out to what extent NHS trusts are learning organisations when it comes to investigating the deaths of people under their care and how well they support and engage with the families of people who have died.”

CQC will be writing to all acute, community and mental health trusts seeking information about the number of deaths in their services, how they decide which of these should be investigated and how they then carry out those investigations. 
Further information for families and members of the public can be found by joining CQC's online community for the public

The findings will be published in a national report towards the end of the year. For more information about the review see here
The Foundation for People with Learning Disabilities (FPLD) 
Disability Hate Crime Survey - FPLD is running a project to understand and evaluate what disability hate crime schemes work best.

ARC is supporting this work and is proud to take part in its Reference Group. 

One of the first steps of the project is to learn more about the the current hate crime initiatives around the UK. If you, or your organisation are involved in such schemes we would really appreciate 10-20 minutes of your time to complete the survey by 29th April 2016. Your feedback is crucial.
Mate Crime awareness and the Helping Each Other Project
ARC's Rod Landman, pioneering project worker in the field of Mate Crime and exploitation of people with learning disabilities, talks to the Ann Craft Trust about ARC's Helping Each Other Project -

"Now, as I am fed up of saying, when I started working with people with autism and learning disabilities in 1980 an abuser had to be in the same room as someone. Now, not only can you do it from the other side of the world, it is in your interests to do so, as the chances of being caught are remote."

Read more from Rod in the Ann Craft Bulletin (pg.3-pg.6). Also featured in the bulletin: 'Experts by Experience', 'Money Matters Conference' and 'Effective safeguarding in sport of adults at risk'.

ARC’s ‘Safety Net’ project was the first in the UK to identify mate  crime and spent three years raising awareness, developing  resources and providing training. ARC's mate crime workshops  can be delivered either to people with learning disabilities or to mixed groups of staff and service users, or exclusively to staff working at all levels. We are now taking bookings for a range of dates and locations.
Workforce intelligence - the National Minimum Dataset for Social Care:

As featured in our recent blog by Lee Stribling (Skills for Care Project Manager), the NMDS-SC is the leading source of workforce intelligence for adult social care and holds information on around 23,000 establishments and 730,000 workers across England.

NMDS-SC has recently published two briefings and three key sector reports, informing on a range of professions including apprentices, registered managers, social workers and registered nurses. You can read the key findings here.
CQC Trade Association meeting - 13th April 2016 
This meeting was attended by Lisa Lenton, ARC England Director. The key points are summarised below for your reference. 

Ratings – there has been a marginal change overall in Adult Social Care ratings. The current overall ratings by service type were presented. Community social care (744 inspected) having the best ratings (2% Inadequate, 19% Requires Improvement, 77% Good, 1% Outstanding). The least well performing was... read more

* Please remember, ARC England is there to represent you at the trade association meetings! We regularly attend, so do let us know of any inspection issues or concerns and we will feed these directly to the meetings and get back to you!
ARC members' news 
Congratulations to ARC member ROC who recently took home
the coveted ‘Most effective approach to integration and new models of care’ trophy at the Skills for Care’s Accolades.


The Accolades honour the best employers in adult social care. ROC picked up their award at the national awards ceremony in Birmingham for their work supporting 400 people with a learning disability in Devon and Cornwall, to do the things they want to do through person centred care ... read more
'Sam's Snappy Snacks'  - a story of micro-enterprise,
brought to us by ARC member Life Path Trust.
Gary Bye, Chief Executive, reminds us that "The number of people with a learning disability in employment is today still only 7%, whilst for the rest of the population 95% have work." - read Sam's story here and find out more about how he has been supported to set up his own successful business.
ARC membership - as all our members are aware, it is renewal time here at ARC. We truly value the on-going support and contribution of all our members - it enables us to continue to represent you through our lobbying activities, networking and involvement in consultations. Also we have worked hard over the last year to develop practical networking opportunities for members, focusing on priorities identified by them. By offering meetings regionally we can address national issues whilst appreciating regional difference, giving members across England greater opportunity than ever before to access ARC meetings and contribute to the ARC community.

The ARC England Annual Review 2015/16 highlighting some of the main areas of our work over the last year can be viewed here


We also welcome the opportunity to strengthen our membership base and would be very happy to hear from any providers of services to people with learning disabilities with an interest in ARC activities. If you have any enquiries about ARC membership and services, please contact Esther.Oddy@arcuk.org.uk
In brief
In other news....
Growing Support Gardening Challenge Competition for Care Home Open Day 2016 - do you work in a care home? would your residents enjoy gardening? get involved! 

Care Home Open Day, a UK wide initiative inviting care homes to open their doors to their local communities, and Growing Support, an award winning social enterprise tackling loneliness, social isolation and inactivity present an exciting project for care homes. Growing Support is running a Gardening Challenge competition, with the aim of creating lively hubs of community activity in thousands of care home gardens across the UK and care home residents can scoop great prizes by getting their green fingers working!

How to enter? Entrants are asked to submit a short description and photo of how residents have been active out in the garden by 24th June 2016. For more  information contact gardeningchallenge@growingsupport.co.uk or visit www.growingsupport.co.uk
For more information on Care Home Open Day and how you get take part, please take a look at our website  www.carehomeopenday.org.uk
Employment opportunity - NHS England, Housing Lead (London). 
As Housing Policy Lead, the post holder will work as part of a dynamic team in delivering an effective service supporting managers and staff across the Learning Disability Programme. In Building the Right Support (October 2015), NHS England and system partners published our plans for transforming services for people with a learning disability and/or autism and behaviour that challenges or a mental illness. The NHS England Learning Disability Programme is responsible for driving forward that plan. This role will support the Programme in that endeavour, with a particular focus on securing appropriate housing for this group.  
Salary: £40,028 to £48,034.
For more information and to download an application pack see here.
Closing date: 2nd May 2016
'Life in a Conservatory' - Jack was born with ATRX syndrome, which on its own has its difficulties. He attended a special school and had no issues there at all until it was time to leave at 16. Read Jack's story, told from the perspective of his family.

"Jack’s anxieties were heightened more and more on the transition from school to college. He only visited the college once and on starting there, he found things very difficult. By this time he was known to CLDT team and was put on antipsychotic drugs." Read more
Resources from Life Support Productions -
Bullying, abuse and manipulation online and in social media can be a problem for any of us. This is especially true for people with learning disabilities. Life Support Productions have compiled a list of some important resources for advice and support for people with learning disabilities to be safe. 
Change - Independence Pack and Leaving Hospital Planner - 
Two new resources to help patients in specialist learning disability or mental health hospital services plan for leaving hospital. For more information and to download see here.
ARC training courses and events
Based on feedback from our members, we are excited to offer you a 
comprehensive training calendar for 2016/17. 
As well as offering workshops on key operational topics such as MCA/DoLS, Care Certificate Assessment and Supporting Medication, we are proud to launch innovative training on Recruitment and Selection in Social Care, Mate Crime and Self-harm and people with Learning Disabilities.

Download the calendar here to view all the workshops currently open for bookings in 2016/17 and see the ARC website for more details PLEASE NOTE THAT SPACES ARE LIMITED ON ALL OF OUR COURSES AND DEMAND IS HIGH SO PLEASE BOOK EARLY TO AVOID DISAPPOINTMENT!
Consultations and other dates for your diary
Community Care - Live 16, Birmingham ICC on 10 - 11 May 2016. 

ARC England's very own Rod Landman will be speaking about Mate Crime and Sexual exploitation amongst people with learning disabilities. For more information, or to book your place please see here. 

ARC's Mate Crime workshops focus on a range of case studies, using small group work to lead to an organisational action plan. We are currently taking bookings for a range of dates and locations and expressions of interest for this workshop. Please contact us to register your interest.
Justice Together - 5th and 6th of June. 
Venue: Birmingham, Le Tour Hotel. 
NHS England Learning Disability Network
is hosting a joint event by Respond and Bringing us Together for families of people who are or have been in an assessment and treatment unit. Families attending will help to set the agenda for the day.
For more information please see here and for an application form please email Katie@bringingustogether.org.uk
Consultation: Adult Care Homes and Day Centres -
Derby City Council
is required to make cuts of £45m by 2019 and is therefore undertaking a review of its services. This includes looking at the Adult Care Homes and Day Centres that the Council directly provides. Council wishes to find out about the views of the public and stakeholders. They are asking you to take part in the consultation, to help make decisions about how to reduce costs while still protecting services that are valued by people across the city.  
 
This link will take you to an online version of the survey. Easy Read or Paper copies are also available on request by contacting Jodie Smith on 01332 642736
This consultation closes on 6th June 2016
Consultation: How can we improve support for carers? To help the DoH develop their strategy, they want to hear from carers, those who have someone care for them, business, social workers, NHS staff and other professionals that support carers.
It’s a simple question but it can have a lot of different answers – how can we improve support for carers? Find out more and contribute here.
This consultation closes 30th June 2016.
Job vacancies
ARC Membership includes free job listing on our website. We are currently advertising the following positions: 
  • Autism Support and Care - Support Worker - Sutton-in Ashfield
  • Encompass - various positions available in Dorset
  • Frontier - Support Worker - Croydon
  • Leeds Autism Services - Support Workers
  • Lifeworks - Support Worker - Totnes
  • Lifeworks - Project Development Manager
  • Lifeworks - Special Needs Teacher - Totnes
  • NCHA - Support Workers and Care Assistants - various 
  • Reach Learning Disability – Care Support Worker vacancies - Nottinghamshire
  • Robert Owen Communities - Learning Guide Support Worker, Registered Nurse, Support Worker
To view any of our Members' current vacancies, please visit our Vacancy Listing Page here
If you are an ARC member and would like us to advertise your job vacancies here and on our website, please email Esther.Oddy@arcuk.org.uk
We hope you enjoyed the latest edition of Real People. If you have a story you would like to promote or comment on, please get in touch with our team.
Facebook
Facebook
Twitter
Twitter
Website
Website
Email Us
Email Us
Copyright © 2016 Association for Real Change, All rights reserved.