Service specification

Involvement and co-production on Adult Social Care Issues (Lived Experience)

Introduction

This specification outlines the requirements for a service focused on engaging individuals with lived experience of adult social care issues. The aim is to ensure their voices are heard and influence service delivery, improvement, and policy development, in alignment with the Adult Social Care Practice Quality Framework and to support CQC inspection visits.

This is in line with our commitment to developing and delivering co-production in North Tyneside and in line with our strategy “Stronger Together”.

Aims

The service described in the specification is being put in place to ensure that:

• People with lived experience of adult social care in North Tyneside are appropriately engaged and given the opportunity to participate in a co-production approach.

• Involvement and co-production happens across a range of service users accessing adult social care services.

• Involvement and co-production includes people with protected characteristics under the terms of the Equality Act 2010.

• Involvement and co-production involves two-way communication and representation between service users, commissioners and adult social care on adult social care issues.

• People who wish to be involved in a co-production are able to influence policy, processes and adult social care provision.

• People have the advice and information they need to be effectively involved.

• Those who are involved in co-production receive the training, development and/or support they need to be involved effectively.

• People who have been engaged understand how their views have been used to inform planning and decision-making within adult social care.

Local Context

Geography

North Tyneside is one of five metropolitan districts within the Tyne and Wear conurbation, with an area of 82 square kilometres. It has the North Sea to the east, the River Tyne to the south, and Newcastle City to the west. Northumberland County forms the northern boundary. The borough is bisected east/west by the A19 and north/south by the A1058 Coast Road. The Coast Road provides a direct route through to Newcastle city centre, whilst the A19 goes north to join with the A1 in Northumberland and south through the Tyne Tunnel to provide a route through the North East region to North Yorkshire.

Population Profile

The last official estimate of North Tyneside’s population was produced by the ONS for mid-2022 and showed that North Tyneside had a population of 210,487.

Table 1: Mid-2022 population estimate, North Tyneside Population

				Percentages of Total
	Female	Male	Combined	Female	Male
North Tyneside	108,184	102,303	210,487	51%	49%
North East	1,368,898	1,314,142	2,683,040	51%	49%
England	29,123,108	27,983,290	57,106,398	51%	49%

The population of North Tyneside is growing and by 2032 the number of residents will have increased by 4.5% this is in line with the national proportion. Life expectancy has been increasing at all ages and especially in older people in the population. There are estimated to be a total of 95,794 residents aged 50 years or older in North Tyneside by 2032. The borough also has higher rates of premature mortality than England. The all cause male mortality rate under 75 years in North Tyneside was 477 per 100,000 population in 2020-22, compared to 438 per 100,000 for England. A woman can expect to live 57.2 years in good health at birth (compared to 63.9years in England) compared to 61.6 years for a man (63.1 years in England) in North Tyneside.

Ethnicity

Culture and ethnicity may influence health beliefs and behaviours and may therefore impact on health and wellbeing. Based upon the 2021 Census, Black and Minority Ethnic (BME) groups account for 5.2% of North Tyneside’s population (when mixed/multiple white ethnic minority groups are included). This population represented 4.6% of the population in the 2011 Census and 2.7% of the 2001 Census. This compares to 7% in the North East and 19% in England. The largest minority ethnic group in North Tyneside is the Asian/Asian British group, constituting 2.6% of the resident population.

Deprivation

The link between social and economic deprivation and poor health has long been recognised. People living in areas with higher levels of deprivation tend to have poorer health than those living in more affluent areas of the borough. Areas that experience higher levels of deprivation also experience higher levels of crime, unemployment and other adverse social-economic factors.

Although the borough of North Tyneside is now one of the least deprived in the North East, stark inequalities persist within the borough.

Strategic context

This service will support the vision for the borough as set out in:

Our North Tyneside Plan - The vision for North Tyneside is set out in the Authority’s ‘Our North Tyneside Plan’. Appendix 1 provides a brief description of the Plan.

Equally Well – A Healthier, Fairer Future for North Tyneside - The vision for a healthier, fairer future for North Tyneside is set out in the North Tyneside Health and Wellbeing Board’s strategy ‘Equally Well’. Appendix 2 provides a brief description of the Strategy.

ASC Strategy - A new Adult Social Care strategy for the two years from 2025 is under development. Workstreams will be gathered around four key priorities, reflecting the outcomes we want for the people we serve:

Staying well and independent
Having a voice and choice
Excellent support
Being safe

The current ASC Strategy can be found at Appendix 3

Stronger Together – This outlines our approach to:

Our commitment to developing co-production with people with needs for care and support and carers
A practical guide to principles and ways of working
An overview of recent action undertaken, and work in progress
Our plans to develop co-production in line with the Adult Social Care Strategy

Stronger Together can be found at Appendix 4

Service Objectives

As part of this grant arrangement the provider/s must be willing to develop the resources needed to give a range of support to commissioners and adult social care that might include:

Design, administration and analysis of surveys.
Recruitment of people with lived experience of adult social care who can participate in ‘in-depth’ co-production groups with commissioners and adult social care officers.
Recruitment of people with lived experience of adult social care who can articulate those views at informal or formal meetings with commissioners and adult social care officers and wider partners e.g. Healthwatch North Tyneside, CQC.
Supporting individuals to take part in involvement and co production approaches.
Sharing of commissioning and adult social care information with the public and interested parties/key stakeholders (around involvement and co-production opportunities, progress and outcomes).
Event organisation.
Arranging and conducting focus groups.
Facilitation of discussions.
Support for individuals to be involved in decision-making groups in co-production approaches.
Data analysis (both qualitative and quantitative).
Reporting (producing reports which can be easily understood, and which directly answer the questions posed by commissioners and adult social care managers).
Any other activity that will support commissioners and adult social care to develop co-production approaches effectively in North Tyneside.
Collect and document lived experiences of individuals using adult social care services.
Provide a platform for these individuals to share their stories and feedback.
Ensure this feedback is utilised to inform and improve adult social care services, policies, processes and commissioned services.
Foster collaboration between service users and adult social care providers to co-design and co-produce solutions.
Act as a critical friend, bringing an independent view to support the views of those with lived experience to Adult Social Care.
Support the implementation and enhancement of the Adult Social Care Practice Quality Framework.
Integrate lived experience input to support CQC inspections or peer review / visits.

Scope of Services

To respond to such wide-ranging demands, the successful provider will have to maintain relationships with a range of organisations that can represent groups or perspectives, such as condition-specific support or campaign groups, and groups which represent people with characteristics protected by the Equality Act 2010.

It is expected that the successful provider will establish a presence and work closely with Adult Social Care. It is expected that they will report to Senior management teams on progress of the work and work closely on opportunities to develop co- production and ensure the voice of those with Lived Experience is included in all areas of Adult Social Care.

The types of work the provider will be required to undertake to support effective engagement and co-production will be wide-ranging. It could include strategic approaches and strategies, particular change projects and changes to processes, procurement activities, and the monitoring / feedback of ongoing commissioned services. The service will engage with individuals across diverse backgrounds who have direct experience with adult social care services, including but not limited to:

Older people
Individuals with a learning disability
Individuals with mental health issues
Service users
Carers and family members
Individuals from marginalised and under-represented groups
People with characteristics protected by the Equality Act, who may also use adult social care services.
Other vulnerable or ‘hard to reach’ groups (in addition to those with characteristics protected by the Equality Act 2010), including:
Asylum seekers and refugees.
- Economically challenged.
- Travellers.
- Carers.
Develop positive collaborative working relationships with relevant local organisations and groups who can be approached to give insight into adult social care issues or working already with people who lived experience.
Develop strong links with key partners to ensure targeted engagement and co-production with groups of service users can take place.
Develop strong links with organisations that can ensure specialist communication needs are catered for if required.
Be able to source quality translation of material into a range of accessible formats.
Ensure a timely flow of information that informs adult social care service improvement and service redesign and a feedback loop to people who have been involved so that they know the impact that their involvement has had.
Evaluate satisfaction with engagement and co-production activities and the quality of the service provided and results achieved.
Share intelligence to relevant partner agencies like Healthwatch North Tyneside, Healthwatch England and CQC.

Values and standards

Engagement and co-production activities will be underpinned by the following values and standards:

The service provider will:

Operate a zero-tolerance policy to unacceptable behaviour at meetings and co-production work.
Ensure that enough staff of appropriate ability, skill, knowledge, training or experience are available in order to properly provide and to supervise the provision of the service.
Consider and take on board new best-practice developments in the field of involvement and co-production, as appropriate.
Have in place a system for assuring the quality of the service, which enables managers, staff and people to evaluate the service.
Evidence that they involve people in the development and delivery of the service at every level of the organisation, building on national guidance and ensuring that the provider operates within a governance model which is independent, and user led.
Use the full range of accessible communication resources to ensure messages are always tailored appropriately for diverse audiences.
Seek to reduce the ways in which people are marginalised and subjected to discrimination and will promote independence, empowerment and inclusivity.
Ensure that they and all their staff are committed to anti-discriminatory and anti-oppressive practice and seek to examine their own beliefs and attitudes, and address any prejudice identified. The service provider shall ensure that any key partners have policies and procedures which have equality and diversity embedded in them.
Deliver the service in a ‘person-centred way’, respecting the rights of people to make decisions about their own lives.
Adhere to confidentiality policies where appropriate with service users.
Ensure that the privacy and individuality of all people is respected by listening to people and providing them with choices that treat people as equal citizens.
Ensure that people are involved in decision making processes.
Ensure that key information about the service is available in accessible formats to all stakeholders, such as their organisation’s complaints procedure and their quality standards.
Be transparent in its financial and governance processes.
Be responsive to changes in local needs and national legislation.
Have due regard of and comply/support all of the commissioning organisations’ approaches to safeguarding.
Must prepare and maintain a robust Business Continuity Plan with a clearly defined risk assessment, strategy for resilience and for recovery of usual service provision and must notify the commissioners as soon as reasonably practicable of its activation, and in any event no later than 5 business days from the date of such activation.

Key Activities

Outreach, involvement and co-production: Actively reach out to and engage with individuals who have lived experience, with a particular focus on older people, individuals with learning disabilities, and those with mental health issues.
Data Collection: Gather qualitative and quantitative data through interviews, focus groups, surveys, and other methods.
Analysis and Reporting: Analyse the collected data to identify trends, issues, and opportunities for improvement. Produce regular reports for stakeholders.
Feedback Loop: Ensure there is a mechanism for service users to receive feedback on how their input has influenced service changes.
Advocacy and Representation: Represent the voices of individuals with lived experience in relevant forums, meetings, and decision-making bodies.
Critical Friend Role: Act as a critical friend, providing an independent perspective to support and amplify the views of those with lived experience to Adult Social Care.
Support for Adult Social Care Practice Quality Framework: Integrate feedback and insights from individuals with lived experience to support and enhance the Adult Social Care Practice Quality Framework.
Support for CQC Inspections or Peer Visits: Provide lived experience input to support CQC inspections and peer visits, ensuring inspectors have access to real-life experiences and feedback from service users.

Expected Outcomes

Enhanced understanding of the needs and experiences of service users, particularly older people, individuals with learning disabilities, and those with mental health issues.
Improved adult social care services that are responsive to user needs.
Increased trust and collaboration between service users and providers.
Evidence-based recommendations for service improvement.
Strengthened Adult Social Care Practice Quality Framework through continuous user feedback.
Informed CQC inspection visits through the inclusion of lived experience input.
Effective independent oversight and constructive challenge provided to Adult Social Care services.

Performance Indicators

Number of individuals engaged, and types of involvement activities conducted.
Quality and impact of the feedback provided.
Changes or improvements made to services based on the feedback.
Satisfaction levels of individuals engaged in the process.
Contributions to the Adult Social Care Practice Quality Framework.
Number and quality of lived experience inputs provided to CQC inspection visits.
Effectiveness of the critical friend role in influencing Adult Social Care improvements.

Performance Monitoring

This grant is for a service of a developmental and innovative nature that will be revised in partnership with the service provider/s, commissioner/s and adult social care over the duration of the grant agreement.

Regular (usually quarterly but reserve the right to call extra) performance monitoring meetings will be held between the commissioners and service provider/s, and commissioners reserve the right to directly ask service users, carers or the public for their views on the performance of the provider/s.

To support effective discussion of performance, the provider will make available, at least one week in advance of each monitoring meeting, a report covering the following performance monitoring requirements:

• Record of what activities have been undertaken detailing methods, systems and tools used for engagement and co-production.

• Number of people who have been engaged in each monitoring period, broken down by type of involvement/co-production, location and the protected equality characteristics.

• Evidence of feedback mechanisms used.

• Case studies to evidence how people’s views have been used to influence change.

• Evidence of any gaps in service provision or co-production activity.

• Cost and expenditure reporting.

There may be additional performance requirements for specific pieces of engagement work, but this will be negotiated on an individual basis.

In addition, throughout the duration of the grant period, the service provider/s will:

Comply with any monitoring activity undertaken by the commissioning agencies.
Manage a database to capture details of the people who have been involved in the co-production activity and make that available to commissioners on request (operating within the requirements of the Data Protection Act 2018 and General Data Protection Regulation).
Ensure there is an annual report on service user satisfaction with the involvement and co-production they have experienced, using a best practice methodology that involves service users.
Report on the number of service users, organisations and groups that have been approached for partnership working and the results of these approaches.
Report on the nature of support given to service user and carer organisations and groups used for local involvement and co-production.
The service provider shall submit to the commissioners’ details of complaints, compliments or issues received about the service, in the format required and at intervals notified by the commissioners.
The service provider, commissioners and other relevant officers will commit to learning and improving through an open, collaborative dialogue including at performance monitoring meetings.
This specification will be reviewed on an annual basis to make sure it remains fit for purpose.

Roles and Responsibilities

Service Provider: Responsible for planning, executing, and monitoring involvement and co-production activities, analysing data, and reporting findings.

Additionally, support the integration and enhancement of the Adult Social Care Practice Quality Framework, provide lived experience input for CQC inspection and peer visits, and act as a critical friend.

Service Users: Actively participate and share their experiences and feedback.

Commissioners and Providers: Act on the feedback provided to improve services and inform policy, ensuring alignment with the Adult Social Care Practice Quality Framework and considering feedback for CQC inspection and peer visits.

Governance and Accountability

Establish a steering group with representatives from service users, providers, and other stakeholders to oversee the implementation and progress of the service.
Regularly review and update the involvement and co-production strategy to ensure it meets the needs of the community and aligns with best practices and the Adult Social Care Practice Quality Framework.
Regularly report to Adult Social Care Senior Management Team to update on involvement and co-production activity
Ensure accountability and transparency in providing lived experience input for CQC inspection and peer visits.
Maintain an independent stance to provide effective critical friend support.

Budget and Resources

Outline the financial resources required to deliver the service effectively.
Detail any additional resources needed, such as staffing, training, and technology.

Evaluation and Continuous Improvement

Implement a robust evaluation framework to assess the effectiveness of the service.
Use the findings from evaluations to make continuous improvements to the involvement and co-production process, the Adult Social Care Practice Quality Framework, and the input provided for CQC inspection and peer visits.

Legal and Ethical Considerations

Ensure compliance with relevant legislation and guidelines, including data protection and confidentiality.
Uphold ethical standards in all engagement and co-production activities, ensuring respect, dignity, and inclusivity.

Grant Period and Value

The Grant Period is from 1st October 2026 to 30th September 2029. The value for the term is £150,000 (£50,000 per annum).

Appendix 1 – Our North Tyneside Plan 2025-29 where everyone has the opportunity to live well and succeed

Our North Tyneside Plan was built from the commitments of the Elected Mayor of North Tyneside, first shared in May 2025.

From June to September 2025, the council and its North Tyneside Strategic Partnership, carried out the Big Community Conversation and listened to over 1,300 people, businesses and partners about their aspirations for North Tyneside and this Plan.

The vision of the Plan is to create an even better North Tyneside, where everyone can live their best life – rooted in strong, vibrant neighbourhoods, fair access to opportunity and public services that work for all.

The Plan sets out five bold ambitions;

The Five ambitions are

Better lives for all
The best start in life
Places to be proud of
Good work and economic growth, and
Housing and neighbourhoods that enhance lives.

Each ambition has a set of priorities that will help deliver the ambitions

Priorities How we’ll deliver our ambitions and what you can expect to see.

Better lives for all

• Working with local people and partners and the Institute of Health Equity, to become a Marmot place, helping everyone – no matter their background, live a longer and healthier life

• Modernising our Council Tax Support Scheme so that it cuts bills for over 15,000 households

• Tackling poverty by working with people to prevent them from falling into hardship and providing them with timely support when they need it most

• Supporting those who need care and those who care for them, with the best possible personalised and quality services, as close to home as possible

• Collaborating with the community and voluntary sector as true partners, who know their neighbourhoods and communities best

Best start in life

• Introducing Best Start Family Hubs to provide even more joined-up approaches for health, parenting, early education and wellbeing; making it easier for families to get the help they need close to home

• Supporting our schools to deliver world-class education, and ensuring there are opportunities and activities for children and young people outside of the school day

• Developing employment pathways and post-16 support for young people, including working with schools and colleges to review and improve sixth-form provision in North Shields

• Directly delivering more of our care services, so our children and young people are supported close to home and stay connected with their communities

• Investing in the talent, skills and training of our young people, including a unique work experience offer

Places to be proud of

• Increasing opportunities for households to reuse - including opening a new household waste recycling centre, and new food waste recycling for every home

• Continuing to work with partners towards North Tyneside being carbon net zero, minimising the negative impact of the lived environment on our communities

• Making sure our neighbourhoods and streets are safe and secure for everyone, by tackling anti-social behaviour with the Police and promoting zero tolerance of harm and violence to all

• Continuing the investment in our beautiful open spaces, with sustainable travel options and care for our parks, wagonways and beaches

• Acting on the concerns of residents, ensuring streets, roads and pavements are regularly cleaned and cared for, showing pride in our neighbourhoods and communities

Good work for all and economic growth

• Bringing more jobs to North Tyneside by supporting businesses, established and emerging, to thrive

• Championing good quality work and a decent level of pay for all • Investing in skills and training, making North Tyneside a leader in offshore wind and renewable energy along the Tyne

• Working with the North East Combined Authority to improve transport connectivity, safety and reliability in North Tyneside

• Working with communities to complete the regeneration of the Borough

Housing and neighbourhoods that enhance lives

• Building a further 3,000 houses, on top of the 2,500 already committed, providing affordable and good quality homes that meet the needs of our growing communities

• Spending an additional £2m of council funding each year on fixing roads and pavements, enhancing the quality, accessibility and appeal of the Borough

• Making North Tyneside somewhere that works even better for older people, by becoming part of the World Health Organisation’s Age-Friendly network, supporting better health, connection and independence

• Keeping our libraries and leisure services open, and delivering a vibrant mix of cultural events and activities

• Securing funding to help households improve energy efficiency and reduce fuel costs

The Authority’s Organisational Business Plan describes how the Plan is monitored, including key strategies and plans used to monitor delivery and track progress. A set of measures linked to the priorities in the Plan, North Tyneside Resident’s Survey and national Local Government Outcome’s Framework, will track and share progress of the Plan. Progress will be shared with residents and partners.

Appendix 2 – Equally Well Strategy

The Equally Well strategy aims to reduce health inequalities by breaking the link between people’s circumstances and their opportunities for a healthy, thriving, and fulfilled life. This high-level plan outlines the approach to tackle health inequalities in North Tyneside from 2021 to 2025. It builds upon existing work and sets the direction for improving the health and well-being of the population. The strategy emphasises that addressing health inequalities is everyone’s responsibility and focuses on creating a fairer future for all residents.

Adult social care small grants