Hello ,

As we near the end of the financial year, thoughts turn to the year ahead and areas for improvement. Of course, we're always looking to improve the work we do but it's not until you reach a milestone that you're able to get some perspective. Now's the time to take stock of everything and plan for the next 12 months.

Towards excellence in adult social care

Many local authorities are now heavily focussed on adult social care, the costs of which are increasing as people live longer in general, but everyone involved is faced with improving services with less available funds. Financial cuts in the public sector mean that sector-led improvement and peer review could be key to establishing decent social care frameworks – but how does one go about it?

Alongside the local adult social care profile that can help you identify groups in need, the LGA has recently published its social care priorities report. It notes that a lot of the transformation of adult social care in recent years can be attributed to the increased personalisation of services.

If you've used the social care profile or any other LG Inform Plus report to help improve adult social care in your area, please let us know as we'd love to feature your story.

Adding your own metrics to LG Inform and LG Inform Plus

Some users have expressed an interest in adding their own personal metrics to our database for use in LG Inform and LG Inform Plus report writer. These metrics would only be visible to people in your organisation, and would obviously not be comparable with other authorities, but would allow you to present bench marking data alongside your own local data. Is this something you would be interested in?

If so, please let us know using the group poll on the LG Inform Knowledge Hub group.

Articles from the web

• What is open data and why should we care?
• Comparing the 5-star scheme with Open Data Certificates
• 6 facts about pension membership

What's included in my LG Inform Plus subscription?

Events

• LG Inform Plus training day, 6 May 2015, Cambridge
• Making use of open data (for non-experts), 27 March 2015, St Albans