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Time for reflections and celebrations!
I am sure the older I get, the quicker time flies by! We are only a few shopping days away from the big day now; I seriously cannot believe we are nearing the end of the year! And so here is the last edition of Real People in 2016.

And what a year – not only for us here at ARC England but also for the Adult Social Care sector as a whole in one way or another and in fact the whole of the U.K.

Let’s start with Brexit - the biggest upset since Leicester won the Premiership! Read more...

Main stories
The Social Care Precept - As you will know, the Government officially announced yesterday that they will be raising the social care precept. This 3% tax increase (and a further 3% the following year) will represent £240 million in funding for social care, but we know that this will still not provide enough money to deal with the true level of the crisis. We, as members of the CSA, would also question the imbalance associated with the increase in Council Tax in terms of how unfairly it will impact on poorer areas of the country.
  • Earlier this week Barbara Keely, Shadow Minister for Social Care tabled an urgent question on social care and David Mowat, Parliamentary Under-Secretary for Community Care acknowledged there are significant pressures on the system. Many MPs have also outlined the flaws with the precept, in particular that it would lead to geographic inequalities.
  • Vicky McDermott, Chair of the Care and Support Alliance, has said “This temporary injection of cash is a drop in the ocean and  does nothing to solve the long challenges facing the system." Read their full response here.
  • Health Secretary, Jeremy Hunt urges the younger generations to start thinking about saving for their own future care. Read more here.
ARC members' news 
'Bingo and blow-up boobs help women with
learning disabilities attend breast screening


ARC members, Yarrow, launched a breast cancer awareness initiative for women with learning disabilities amid evidence that their uptake of breast screening is below the national average.
In an attempt to make the titillating topic more accessible for women with learning disabilities, the charity hosted a Breast Awareness Tea Party involving bingo and blow-up boobs. Over 60 women and their carers got hands on at the Elgin Centre, Shepherds Bush, where they learnt about the need for breast check-ups and the process of screening. Read more here.
ARC member Daybreak has recently secured five
work placements for people with learning disabilities at 'Costa Coffee Drive Thru' in Newcastle. 

Over the festive season five different members of Daybreak will be working as 'Christmas Hosts' in the shop and gaining valuable work skills and experience. "So far the placements have been so beneficial to our people as well as members of staff
at Costa," said Adam from Daybreak.
Costa Store Manager, Tracy, said "This has brought the team together - it's really lifted everyone up and has been a great experience for everyone! ".
ARC member Community Integrated Care open state-of-the-art care service 
'School Close' officially launched on 8th December and is a brand new specialist care service in the heart of Kirkcudbright that offers tenants a homely and accessible living environment. By using both leading architectural approaches and assistive technologies, it promotes a more independent way of living for its tenants.
Read more about this fantastic development here.
Special Offer from Flint Bishop Solicitors LLP -
Discount of 38% on all Employment and HR services for all ARC members! 

Contact: Esther.Oddy@arcuk.org.uk for more details
ARC England Learning and Development Support Services
Happy Christmas from the Learning and Development Support Services team at ARC England! We would like to share with you what the Qualifications Centre, Disclosure Service and Workforce Development Fund have been focusing on and what we have achieved in 2016. Read the full newsletter here.
Workforce Development Funding (WDF) still available from ARC 
 
The ARC WDF partnership is open to new claimants, as well as existing ones, so why not join us? Here's what you need to know...
  • Adult Social Care employers can join a WDF Partnership to access funding
  • ARC is a WDF National Lead Partner, covering the whole of England
  • You need to update your NMDS-SC for 2016-17 (We will signpost you to guidance about this)
  • Up to £900 per learner is available
  • The Acceptable Units list includes QCF units from a range of qualifications at levels 1-5, including Diplomas, Certificates, Awards
  • You can claim-as-you-go, so you don't miss out at the end of the year when funding is low.
  • You can submit  either copies of certificates, or unit summary sheets signed of by the IQA or IV 
Would you like to claim some funding? Need to know how to join the ARC WDF Partnership to claim your units? If so, we are here to help you, so please do not hesitate to contact us! We offer guidance by phone, email, face-to-face (where feasible) and using Skype. To get started, please get in touch initially by phone on 01246 541671, or email wdf@acuk.org.uk.

You can read an introduction to WDF here 
and our processes page guides you through how to claim. On the page, it's the top for how to join, the middle for general guidance/checklist, the bottom of the page for all documentation and further links. Our FAQs may also help you.
 
We have now distributed 65% of our total grant for 2016-17, so we hope to hear from you soon! - The ARC WDF Team
ARC training courses: January - March 2017
Training Budget - Use it or lose it!
Book your training now for January - March 2017 and make full use of your remaining training budget. 
 
At ARC England, we have put together a comprehensive training calendar covering a range of popular topics in social care.  Whether you are keen to increase knowledge of MCA and DoLS within your organisation, raise awareness of self-harm or diversity, or brush up on safely supporting medication in social care settings - we can help you with all this, and more! 
  • View the Training Calendar here.
For more information or to discuss any of your training requirements, please get in touch: contact.us@arcuk.org.uk or telephone 01246 555 043
Makaton Safeguarding Workshop -  We are excited to once again present this specialist training opportunity on behalf of Course Beetle. The two-day Makaton Safeguarding workshop provides step by step guidance about implementing Makaton at exactly the right level for each individual user, and also explores action planning and prioritisation from a safeguarding perspective.

ARC have negotiated a discounted rate for our members!
  • Full course price: £230
  • *ARC Member and Real People subscribers - discounted rate £207*
Due to high demand, Course Beetle are now offering the following date:
Venue: The Greenfield Centre, Park Avenue, Winterbourne, Bristol BS36 1NJ
Dates: Tuesday 24 January 2017 & Wednesday 25th January 2017 
Time: 9:00am - 5:00pm

Find out more and book your place here!
Reports, resources and reviews
Submission to the House of Commons Health Select Committee - 
The Cavendish Coalition, of which ARC England is an active member, has submitted written evidence to the Health Select Committee to inform its new inquiry on Brexit and health and social care. Find out more about this here. This submission follows on from the committee’s pre-referendum inquiry and aims to enable it to identify the priority health and social issues that need to be addressed during Brexit negotiations as well as the risks and opportunities arising from the UK’s withdrawal from the EU. Read the Coalition's full written submission here.
Learning, candour and accountability -
A new report from CQC reviews the way NHS trusts review and investigate the deaths of patients in England. This report describes what CQC found when it reviewed how NHS trusts identify, investigate and learn from the deaths of people under their care. It concludes that many carers and families do not experience the NHS as being open and transparent and that opportunities are missed to learn across the system from deaths that may have been prevented. Many of the NHS staff we heard from shared this view, together with a commitment for this to change. You can download the report here.
Vanguards care homes film - A new film has been developed, based on the learning from the Enhanced Health in Care Homes (EHCH) vanguards, and was launched on 6th December at The King’s Fund care homes event. Lisa Lenton, ARC England Director, sits on the Social Care Providers Reference Group for the Vanguards Programme. 
The film can be viewed here and highlights how the small ‘big’ changes put in place are making a real difference to the lives of residents and staff. This includes making better use of new technology, improving the support and training staff receive, and working more closely with local voluntary and community groups.  
Beyond Words Story App - picture stories to enrich the lives of the people you care about - 
The 'BW Story App' is a fast and simple way to access pictures that will help enable the people you care about to explore and understand their world and their health. It is a unique and easy to use mobile tool, which aids understanding, communication, decision making and self-exploration, to support people who find pictures easier to understand than words. Find out more and try the app here.
NHS Digital - Health and Care of People with Learning
Disabilities: Experimental Statistics 
  • On average, females with learning disabilities had around an 18 year shorter life expectancy than the general population, and males had around a 14 year shorter life expectancy than the general population
  • 1 in 2 females with learning disabilities received breast cancer screening; over 2 in 3 females with no learning disabilities received breast cancer screening
  • Obesity is twice as common in people aged 18-35 with learning disabilities, being underweight is twice as common in people aged over 64 with learning disabilities, compared with patients with no learning disabilities.
Find out more and download the report here.
In brief
Voices and Views
A service user perspective of the social care crisis - by Simon Stevens, Independent Disability Issues Consultant. Simon brings the perspective of a service user, rather than an organisation or provider, to the table, with talk of the complexity of the issues at play in the 'social care crisis' and argues that significant user-led reform is just as important as an increase in funding. Read more from Simon here.
'Was it only when I was well again that he saw me as a
useful and valued member of society with a reason for being kept alive?' -
a former social worker and disabled service user tells her story of agreeing to a Do Not Resuscitate (DNR) order, and the issues her experience has raised around safeguarding vulnerable people. Read more here.
Consultations and dates for your diary
Care Quality Commission (CQC) Regulatory fees for 2017/18 – consultation
CQC’s proposals follow the plans they set out in 2015 to continue to meet the Treasury’s requirement to recover their chargeable costs in full from providers. See the CQC website here for more details. 
Consultation closes at noon on 11th January 2017.
Monday 16th January 2017 - Workshop on Producing Easy Read Information 
Venue: Birmingham Voluntary Service Council (BVSC)
Time: 9.30am to 12.30pm
Cost: £65 for 1 place; £60 each for 2 or more places
Building Bridges are offering a half day workshop for staff that need to produce written information and letters for people with a learning disability.
For more information please email: vanessa@building-bridges-training.org
Telephone: 0121 559 9197.  You can also download the booking form here
Mental Health Autism (MHAutism) - first annual stakeholder workshop 
Date: 27th January 2017, 12.30-4.30pm
Venue: Coventry University 


MHAutism is a research project funded by the Economic and Social Research Council showing that up to 66% of adults with autism contemplate suicide​. The MHAutism project will develop the first tools to enable clinicians and service providers to effectively assess depression and suicide risk in adults with autism. This free event will bring together members of the autism community, charities, clinicians, policy makers and service providers, to discuss how the findings from the research could be implemented in practice. 

For any questions please email mhautism.hls@coventry.ac.uk and for more information, visit the event on the web here.

Special focus workshop: HR issues in the social care sector
Date: 14th February 2017, 9.30am - 2pm
Venue: 134 Edmund Street, Birmingham, B3 2ES

Join Anthony Collins Solicitors at this free workshop that will address some of the most common and important issues that HR professionals in the social care sector currently face. These issues include:

  • CQC inspections and rating  how can HR help to identify the need for change and make it happen?
  • Working Time Regulation  how can you ensure compliance with your rest break obligations?
  • Employment v Safeguarding obligations – when is the right time to suspend and/or make a referral to the Local Authority Safeguarding Team, the DBS or the Police?
  • New General Data Protection Regulations – what are the new obligations and what should HR professionals be doing to prepare?
  • National Minimum Wage – are you compliant?
For further details and to book your place see here.
Job vacancies
ARC Membership includes free job listing on our website. We are currently advertising the following positions on behalf of our members: 
To view any of our members' current vacancies, please visit our Vacancy Listing Page here
  • Encompass - Night and Community Support Workers, Dorset
  • Frontier - Permanent, Bank and Domiciliary Support Workers, Croydon
  • Heart of England Mencap - Social Support Worker, Stratford-upon-Avon
  • Heart of England Mencap - Registered Manager, Worcestershire
  • Homefield College - Support Workers
  • NCHA - Support Workers, various
  • NCHA - Care Assistants, Worksop & Retford, Derbyshire and Notts
  • NCHA - Cleaner, Nottingham
  • New Directions Rugby - Support Workers, Warwickshire
  • Orchard Vale - Support Worker, various and maternity cover
  • Robert Owen Communities - Relief Support Worker, Torbay
  • Robert Owen Communities - Support Workers
  • Reach - Business Operations Manager, Southwell
  • Reach - Care Support Worker, Newark and Southwell
  • Somerset Care - Learning Disabilities Support Workers
  • Sunhealth Care - Support Worker, Sutton in Ashfield
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.
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Copyright © *2016* *Association for Real Change*, All rights reserved. This publication is sent to you by ARC England, part of ARC UK which is a national charity with offices in Scotland and Northern Ireland. 

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