Early Help and Prevention

We continue to provide a programme of events and webinars to help our communities understand the work that we do and provide opportunities for them to get information and advice to support them and effectively plan for their future.

To date sessions have been delivered on Carers Assessments and support, care and support planning and a series of webinars including financial assessments for care funding.

Our Care Choices webpage and Social Care and Support directory gives comprehensive information to our communities regarding services in Somerset along with guidance on paying for Care and Support.

We have co-designed an ethos of early help called Connect Somerset, which is a commitment of how we will work with our partners to improve our prevention offer. We know that Somerset’s families and residents are going through challenging times and that Somerset’s services are finding it difficult to meet demand. Connect Somerset is a strong partnership that includes Somerset Council, NHS Somerset, our Voluntary, Community, Faith and Social Enterprise (VCFSE) sector, schools, colleges and early years settings, and more. Together we have developed an early help system that works well across all communities that need it.

The Blueprint for Connect Somerset outlines the culture that we have adopted across adults and children’s services, ensuring our communities get more help, personalising care and enabling a more efficient way to manage increased demand and complexity of needs.

Help4all is part of our universal offer with easy to access information about how to get free advice and support.  Somerset families and residents who are struggling during the cost-of-living crisis could be eligible for support. This support could also include funding towards the cost of food, energy, water and other essentials over the coming months.

Some of our communities will need a bit more help to identify the right support to meet their needs. We therefore commission a Community and Village Agents Service through the Community Council for Somerset (CCS) that works directly with our Adult Social Care service and are based within communities to help people find community solutions.

In-person Talking Cafes, run by CCS Village and Community Agents, operate across Somerset and provide invaluable free advice and support to the public.

In Somerset, Social Prescribing is delivered by the Community and Village Agents which helps people to improve and maintain their health and wellbeing by connecting them to local community services.