Title

Social services directors will have to find innovative ways of working to make up for a lack of resources, the leader of local government has warned.

The impact of limited resources was one of the key issues raised by chairman of the LGA, Sir Simon Milton, at the National Children's and Adult Services conference in Bournemouth this week.

‘We have been saying for some time that there needs to be a mature public debate about who pays for social care, and how that provision is funded,' he said.
‘As things stand, in children's and adult services we will have to use all our ingenuity to make the progress that is being demanded of us, and that we need to demand of ourselves.'

He said the increased cross-party focus on children, young people and families, and the developed role for local authorities following last year's local government White Paper, were major opportunities for those in children's and adult services.

And delegates heard how local government was now the ‘highest-performing' and most efficient part of the public sector, but were warned this was not a prompt for councils to rest on their laurels. ‘If we do not continually work for improvement gains, there is a risk that performance stagnates.

‘So not only is there no room for complacency, there is a strong imperative on us to redouble our efforts to improve,' he said.

Sir Simon promised the LGA would work with councils and their partners, the IDeA and central government to promote ‘sector-led' development. This would include bringing a National Improvement Strategy to life. And later this week, the LGA will sign a concordat with NCVO to promote stronger joint working between councils and the third sector.