“Focus on the Opportunities that face us”
Inaugural Address of Glen Garrod, President of the Association of Directors of Adult Social Services
Remarks delivered 10.00 AM, Thursday 12 April, 2018
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A few months ago, a colleague encouraged me to have
“a bit of swagger” about what we do, and how we help
people in social care. So, despite the challenging and
uncertain world in which we live, allow me to begin my
presidency with a statement of pride and hope.
To the people who currently work in social care, those
who have worked in it and those who will follow us: you
know the difference you can make, what you have
achieved and what you can and will achieve in the
future. Not just for individual people - but for a society
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which is so badly in need of our values, our ability to
help bind society together.
So, colleagues: when you leave this room, let's have a
bit of swagger about you.
When I sat down to write this speech, I began to worry. I
worried I did not have enough time to write anything
meaningful or profound. As I sat trying to put pen to
paper, I realised that I have actually been writing this –
my first Presidential speech - for over 40 years.
In many ways, today represents a point of reflection. In
remembering what brought me here, I see the influences
that will guide my presidency, and the opportunities I
hope to set out for ADASS in the year ahead.
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My first experience of caring for others goes back to
when I was very young indeed. As a child, I was the
chief “splinter puller-outer” for the Garrod household.
My father, who worked in a factory, would often come
home with brass filings embedded deep into his hands.
He would arrive through the door, soak his hands in
warm water and sit patiently as I worked on removing
the filings. He died nearly 40 years ago and it is his
hands I can still see most clearly - calloused and badly
scarred.
When my grandfather, who spent his working life “down
the pit”, came home, he used to sit in a tin bath in front
of the fire, covered in coal-dust and coughing. When I
saw the dedication to their families that both my father
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and grandfather demonstrated, I began to think that the
term “hero” could apply to a lot of different kinds of
people. It certainly applied to them, as it did to so many
of their generation – men and women - who sacrificed to
provide for their families.
Later, when I was a teenager, I read “heroes” by John
Pilger. In these pages, I would find the description I was
looking for: “It is in ordinary people’s lives where
heroism is to be found.”
We saw that so vividly just a few weeks ago when the
extraordinary weather conditions brought out the very
best in people who work in our sector. Not least on my
home patch in Lincolnshire, where at one point all the
county’s major roads were blocked, people – “ordinary
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people’’, 'social care workers’ went to astonishing
lengths to ensure that the most vulnerable in our
communities received a visit and care and support
services were maintained. Truly they were heroes.
And we see this heroism, too, day in day out, in the
essential contribution made to our society by unpaid,
informal carers. In the time, care and attention they pour
into helping others live independent lives in the
community, in the daily sacrifices they make,
representing the very best of all of us. Let us
acknowledge that today, and pledge to find as many
opportunities as possible in the coming year to support
carers live the lives they wish for, and have the
recognition they deserve.
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But caring effectively has to involve looking at the whole
person – and that means that their background and life
circumstances, hopes and dreams cannot be ignored.
After University, I worked as a Community Service
Volunteer with young people and poor families in
Manchester. It was here that I witnessed the impact that
being locked out of society can have on a life. I
witnessed first-hand the riots in Moss Side, which laid
bare the dangers of leaving an area to disaffection and
dissonance.
In an area where so many people had been left to fend
for themselves, it seemed to me the most important
thing to do was get close to people, to listen and
understand. This has been a guiding influence on my
professional life and will be in my presidency.
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I have had the privilege of “getting close to” lots of
incredible people throughout my career – most often
people overcoming extremely difficult circumstances and
choosing nonetheless to enjoy life. Most people
confronted with poverty, disability, or illness – regardless
of age, are still determined to live as fulfilling and
meaningful a life as possible. Let us remember that as
we move forward into the next year, and use that to
keep us motivated.
As I continue to outline the influences on me, I am
especially mindful of my experiences working in what
was then Bombay, in India, immediately after I qualified
(CQSW for those who can remember what that means).
I practised “social work” helping people in a slum
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clearance area that housed over 100,000 people on a
plot about the size of two football pitches.
The homes were about 4 square metres, and were
made out of plastic sheets and whatever other materials
could be found. This time profoundly shaped my views:
despite the extreme poverty and challenges they faced,
the people who lived there were proud and passionate
and lived life as fully as possible. That spirit humbled me
at the time, continues to inspire me now, and will help
motivate me to be as effective a servant of social work
and social care in this country as I can be.
And now for the radical part – where I outline my
priorities for the coming year.
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There are none.
It is not my intention to focus on any particular priorities.
Instead I want to present you with a series of
opportunities, and this is a year that should provide
plenty of them. The calendar for the coming year is filled
with sector-defining agendas; the forthcoming Green
Paper, any moves the Government may or may not
make to support Carers; and the Fair Funding Review,
will all rightly concern us.
Making sure we get what we want out of these
developments will be a challenge, but I am an
incorrigible optimist, as my family will tell you. I always
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look for a silver lining, and I am determined to focus on
the opportunities that face us.
Supported Housing is one of those opportunities. We
can achieve much more in this area.
Housing is the place where one begins to provide a
chance for a more independent, dare I say 'ordinary', life
for people with profound disabilities, irrespective of
whether they are young people transitioning to
adulthood or part of the Transforming Care Programme.
It is my view that upper-tier councils must take the lead
in constructing strategic plans that encompasses all the
supported housing needs in an area. With our District
Council, housing providers and health colleagues we
can achieve much more but only if we work more closely
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together. ADASS will continue to support authorities in
putting such plans together, and encourage the very
best practice in this area.
The next opportunity stems from how digital technology
can enable care and support to be more heavily
influenced and shaped by those who need it and, to be
truly personalised. We need a transformative digital
offer, which affords people the information and advice to
self-assess and commission online.
We need to make it easier for people buying their own
services, or who wish to connect with others seeking to
do the same irrespective of whether they need state
funding or have their own means using their own
creativity and entrepreneurial instincts.
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Shifting society from thinking about social care when
people are in need of it to a situation where they can
pre-empt their care needs ahead of time is essential.
Digital platforms that enable people to plan are
essential. This is a huge, potentially transformative
opportunity for social care, and ADASS will play its part
in encouraging local councils and the wider sector to
harness digital technologies to support people to find
their own solutions and, for those who do not or cannot
do this then to manage their needs as effectively as
possible.
My third opportunity lies in telling our story. Those of you
who were here last year will remember what Sir David
Behan told us – that social care can not afford to be
seen through the prism of the NHS, and that a greater
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understanding of social care by the wider public is
essential. All too often Social Care is lost in the
language of DTOCs, Critical Pathways, and
Commissioning, when what it is actually concerned with
is the aspirations and wishes of people who need our
help, advice and support to achieve. Whether it’s the
young adult with a profound disability or the grandparent
with dementia, social care is there for us when we are at
our most vulnerable. Helping the public to understand
our contribution is perhaps our single most important
task over the next year. They are the force for change to
be reckoned with, the power to be harnessed.
This means encouraging the people who benefit from
our services to talk, about the impact – at times in a truly
transformative way that social care has had on their
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lives. This is a major opportunity for the next year –
campaigning for the change social care needs through
engaging the wider public.
My fourth and final opportunity surrounds what I
suppose I must call integration. Only when we provide
care, in combination with our colleagues in housing,
health and care, that sees people in the round, can we
truly ensure we are honouring the things that bring us
into social care: a better chance for people who would
not otherwise have one, care for the most vulnerable
and, a society that understands the importance of what
we do.
We’ve heard recently about the level of ambition that
there is for personal budgets within the National Health
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Service. Personalisation is our space, we cannot
stagnate and watch other areas pass us by. There can
be no excuses. This explosion of opportunities to
expand personalisation is within our gift to reinforce and
rejuvinate and it is essential that we deliver.
The potential for people with their own budget, whether
solely or in groups, to have a positive and disruptive
impact on the market for social care has not yet
happened at any sort of scale as it must. We
desperately need to see 'creative disruption' in social
care, and in order to do that, we must encourage many
more people to manage their care according to their own
needs and desires.
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Accordingly, it’s essential that over the coming year we
figure out what we are going to do about integration. It is
now part of the familiar language we all use though I do
not like the word.
It’s too easy to say, and it says too little about why it is
important. Progress is possible however, even between
the two “leaky buckets” of health and social care. It
seems to me the best way to approach this issue is to
look at it from the point of view of the person who needs
us. After all, isn’t that what we are all trying to achieve?
We must look through the telescope from the other end
to succeed. I myself have taken the message of
integration between health and social care to heart,
literally, by marrying a GP!
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However, any relationship, personal or professional,
depends on differences being respected, working
alongside one another, and recognising that sometimes
disagreement is helpful. This “critical friend” relationship
is one that ADASS will develop with the NHS over the
course of my presidency.
I hope that sets out some of the opportunities that I see
for ADASS over the coming year.
It has been a privilege to work in the social care sector
for over 30 years. It has given so much to me, from my
first steps as a community service volunteer to my role
as a director of social services, and I hope now to repay
that debt through my service to you as your president.
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I stand before you today honoured to be an ambassador
for the sector and as a determined campaigner, hoping
to influence those with the power to make decisions
towards wiser, longer term, and more sustainable
solutions for the very many people in our country that
truly need social care to be the best it can possibly be. I
am immensely grateful and humbled by the privilege of
this responsibility, and I will work hard every day over
the next year to ensure that your trust is well-placed.
And now a message for those of you who will go back
to face serious resource and funding challenges and do
the best you can to square the circle in meeting needs
within limited resources. This role is challenging. But
local government in general and social care in particular
have the advantage of being close to communities,
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being of those communities and able to take decisions
where the consequences are clear to us because of our
perspective and our roots.
We have the ability to 'shape place', to coordinate and
lead in our communities to deliver bespoke solutions
that best reflect local needs.
These are outcomes that national government and
national bodies are less well placed to deliver – or even
imagine. Let us seize our advantage with both hands:
celebrate our successes – yes, let’s see a bit of swagger
– and campaign positively and confidently for the
changes and the resources we so desperately need.
As I come into this office, I am humbled by the work of
those who have previously occupied it. It has been an
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honour and a pleasure to support the President during
this last year. Margaret has been an exceptional role
model. From moving social care into the media limelight
to progressing the areas she cared deeply about, her
impact cannot be overstated. As a person, she has also
been an incredibly useful guide to me, and the joy I have
found in her company has made what can be
challenging work so much more enjoyable.
However, this organisation is about so much more than
its President. Cathie, you really are the glue that holds
ADASS together. We Presidents are here but one year,
but you and the team you lead, from Andriana to Julie to
Hilary to all of you who support the organisation, keep it
running and campaigning over time. Thank you for your
service, support and wisdom.
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I would also like to thank the Leader, Executive
Councillors and all my colleagues at Lincolnshire County
Council for supporting me so that I can take up this
Presidency, and perhaps most of all my PA, Katrin, who
over six years has managed to make me look far more
organised and capable than I actually am!
Finally, I’d like to thank you. If you’re in this room,
whatever your role - be you consultant, correspondent or
campaigner, you are making a choice to make a
difference to the development of social care in our
country. As we move into the next year and look at the
opportunities we face as a sector, let us remember the
impact effective social care can have on the people we
serve and our communities. By focusing on the
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