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Explicit plans can be drawn up to ensure the benefits of reorganisation will be realised. These specific areas include:
Integration with housing : New unitaries will have responsibility for both homelessness and general needs housing, and social care services. Considering the operating model for these services and early priorities for integrated working, well in advance of reorganisation, will enable opportunities to be maximised. Initial areas of focus could include supporting access to general needs housing for care leavers and adults living with learning disabilities, leveraging increased scale and leverage in procuring temporary accommodation, and offering a more holistic, multi-agency response to support homelessness prevention. Prevention: New unitaries will have access to a wider set of resident data, including benefits, council tax and other revenue collection, social care and housing data. Connecting this data within a single organisation can support more effective identification of vulnerability, financial challenges, homelessness, involvement in violence, breakdown in carer relationships, crises requiring social care support for people of all ages, and physical and mental health deterioration. This will provide new authorities with a powerful asset to work proactively and preventatively to intervene earlier and prevent or delay the need for formal council services. Early thought can be given to how this data will be managed, how it might be analysed, and where the capacity might be found for proactive outreach. Strategic use of assets: New unitaries will have a wider range of assets, from libraries to day centres, housing, and office space. Forming an early strategy for how these assets might be used to fulfil the breadth of services provided by new councils will also enable early decisions to develop or dispose of assets, generating capital funding to invest in further service development or transformation.
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