Who are we?

Indepdence Advice Hub (IAH)
IAH is the first point of contact for Adult Social Care in Bradford. The Independence Advisors act as a guide, mentor and coach to help callers find tailor made solutions that meet their individual needs. They will discuss with you the available opportunities such as digital offers, self-service possibilities and community alternatives to paid-for services by looking at a person’s strengths, skills and the resources that they have in their life.

This invaluable support service provides a lifeline to many people in the district, where the team assists callers to find the best outcomes for their needs, so that they can live independently at home.

IAH consists of-

• Information & Advice
• Social Workers
• Social Care Practitioner
• Early Help & Prevention
• No Recourse to Public Funds
• Occupational Therapists

Time Out Service
Time Out is a service which provides support to carers and the people they care for, for a few hours at a time.

Time Out staff:

• provide relief to carers on a regular basis
• visit people in their own homes
• provide companionship and support so that carers can take 'Time Out'
• help people to remain in their own homes
• support those who live alone
• provide person centred support
• promote well-being

Time Out is for people that needs support and for carers who may need a break from caring. For more information please see; Time Out | Bradford Council.

Community Based Social Work Teams
A team of Social Workers and Social Care Practitioner who ensure the assessed social care needs of individuals are met within statutory requirements. The team also offers advice and guidance around Community Led Support options for people with a disability, Older adults, and for Carers. The team will focus on the strengths that an individual might have and will aim to maximise personal independence sustained by a network of support, that might include help from family or the community itself  in which they live. A team member will work with you to coordinate that support and review if agreed outcomes have been achieved.

Hospital Teams
If someone is admitted to Hospitals (BRI and AGH) and then needs social care support before discharge, they would be referred to social care staff within the discharge team. The individual would then be assessed by either a Trusted Assessors or a Social Workers/Social Care Practitioner, depending on nature of support required and complexity of need.

Mental Health
A team of Mental Health Social Workers, supporting individuals on their journey towards recovery following a mental health crisis. Community Mental Health Teams (CMHT) Acute services (psychiatric hospitals), specialised services, Integrated Outreach Team (IOT) and Early Intervention in Psychosis (EIP) team. We work under a generic title known as care coordinators and work in collaboration with health colleagues to provide seamless mental health services.

Preparation for Adulthood and Community Learning Disability Team
The PFA (Preparation for adulthood) and learning disability team, work with adults with a learning disability and are a team of community social workers, occupational therapists and social care practitioners whose aim is to ensure the rights of individuals are upheld and any support is offered to connect to their local community in order to participate and thrive in Bradford as equal citizens. The team principally work within The Care Act (2014) and The Mental capacity Act (2005) and fundamentally The Human Rights Act (1998).  The team have a duty telephone number (01274 438837) and available Monday-Friday 9AM-4.30PM.

Autism & Neurodiversity Team
The Neurodiversity team is a hub of Social Workers and Occupational Therapists who are dedicated and skilled to work with people aged 18 + with autism and/or other Neurodiverse conditions. The team is based within the Learning Disability and Preparing for Adulthood Service and sit alongside the existing Learning Disability Locality Teams.

The overall focus of the Neurodiversity Team is to work with people to enable them to live a good life, by working in a neurodiverse friendly way to understand the person, their strengths and what is important to them. The team will work creatively, to find solutions to make a positive impact on people’s lives. 

Adults Strategic Commissioning
The Adult’s Strategic Commissioning Team are responsible for the process of deciding what care and support services are required in the District and putting these into place.

• We look at what care and support is needed in the District.
• We talk to people who use services, their families and carers about the type of services they want
• We find organisations to deliver the care and support and buy services from them.
• We review services to make sure they are still meeting need and to look at how services might need to change.

Adults Contract and Quality
The Adult's Contract and Quality Team ensure that the organisations we commission to provide care and support for adults in the Bradford District are delivering good quality care. To do this, the team carries out the following tasks:

• Service Improvement - we work with the organisations to make sure that they are providing the best service possible for the people they support.
• Communication with professionals and public - we regularly update people in receipt of service, family members and professionals to any information about the care and support being delivered by organisations.
• Regular support to organisations - we are in constant contact with the organisations that provide support, to make sure that they are aware of useful training and guidance updates that may impact them.
• Data capture and analysis - we work alongside organisations to ensure that the information that they gather for the care and support they provide is an accurate reflection of the service they are delivering

Financial Support Services are based at Britannia House in Bradford’s city centre is made up of four teams with specific functions linked to the Departments responsibilities set out in Sections 14, 17 and 69-70 of the Care Act 2014.

Some of the key responsibilities of the Financial Support Service are making payments to providers that deliver adult social care and support services in the district, ensuring people receiving those services are financially assessed to contribute towards the cost of their adult social care funded service, which could be delivered in their own home, in residential and nursing home settings or purchased by the individual using a Direct Payment.

The Financial Support Service is also responsible for completing annual financial reviews of Direct Payment accounts and supporting people who are assessed by a social worker as requiring support to manage their financial affairs. The four Teams that make up the Financial Support Services are; The Specialist Financial Team, The Contributions and Payments Team, The Contracts Team and The Financial Protection Team.

The aim of the Occupational Therapy Department is to maximise a person’s independence and/or improve their quality of life. Occupational Therapists/Therapy Assessors undertake a functional assessment of a person’s mobility and identify any barriers that impact on their engagement in activities of daily living. Therapists then work with the individual/family to minimise/remove these barriers to enable a person to remain safe in their home.

For more information on the various OT teams across Bradford District, please click HERE.

Adult safeguarding is defined as ‘protecting an adult’s right to live in safety, free from abuse and neglect’ (Care and Support Statutory Guidance).  The CBMDC Safeguarding Adults Service provides a front-door through which all adult safeguarding concerns reported to the council are received and then screened against the Care Act 2014 section 42 statutory decision-making criteria. The service operates district-wide covering all service user groups. 

    What we do:

• Promote wellbeing in all that we do
• Screen all adult safeguarding concerns received by the council
• Make safe, legal, and defensible decisions
• Undertake statutory adult safeguarding enquiries
• Undertake non-statutory or discretionary enquiries
• Assess risk and ensure that immediate safety needs are met
• Promote and uphold the rights of citizens using the service
• Ensure Making Safeguarding Personal underpins all of our interventions
• Appropriately share and obtain information and intelligence from partner agencies such as the police and NHS bodies
• Provide good quality advice and guidance, and direct people towards appropriate sources of support
• Engage with people who use services and service providers to help raise awareness of safeguarding issues

       Our mission statement:

Our response to safeguarding concerns will be timely and proportionate.  We will strive to reduce risk by engaging with those at risk of abuse and neglect and those with the potential to abuse and neglect others.  We will collaborate and work in partnership with people, communities, services, and organisations to help citizens within the Bradford district to live safer lives.