Work with IMPACT in 2024-25

We are looking for organisations that will work with us in 2024-2025. These organisations will host one of our IMPACT Demonstrator or Facilitator projects, or take part in one of our IMPACT Networks (each Network is made up of five local groups).  We call these organisations IMPACT ‘sites’.

Application information

Full details on the application process and potential projects can be found below. The closing date for applications is Thursday 30 November. To talk through this information and answer questions, we ran two briefing sessions. You can watch them both back here.

IMPACT ‘Sites’

An IMPACT ‘site’ could be

  • An individual service (from a community organisation to a local authority),
  • a local ‘system’ (where all the services in one area come together to express an interest),
  • or even a whole region.

We will be seeking a real mix of sites across the country and in terms of diversity.

All are welcome to apply

We’re encouraging sites to put themselves forward even if they are struggling and finding things difficult – these sites might benefit most from the funding we have.

We want this process to be transparent but simple. We know that we will get more sites coming forward than we can work with, so we’ll have some difficult choices to make – but we want to avoid large amounts of wasted work for sites that aren’t chosen on this occasion.

Possible topics

We are asking sites to apply to host one of our delivery models on some of the topics listed below. We are also open for sites to suggest alternatives in case this identifies other ways of delivering on IMPACT’s priorities. The longlist is therefore illustrative rather than prescriptive, and not all topics may be addressed. Final decisions will also depend on us checking the available evidence to make sure that there is enough material for us to work with – we work with evidence from research, from lived experience and from practice knowledge – and all projects bring together people who draw on care and support, carers, front-line staff and senior leaders to work on changes together.

NB – lots of local groups can join each of our Networks – so we’d like to see lots of areas come forward for these.

Projects and Submission

You can scroll down to learn about each delivery model and how to apply. Alternatively, you can use these buttons to skip to the section you are interested in.

Demonstrators

Possible Demonstrators include:

  • Involving people with lived experience in making decisions about local services (‘strategic commissioning’) – our Assemblies have fed back that there feels a real gap between senior decision-making and the reality of people’s lives; helping to ensure co-production in more strategic spaces is one way of narrowing this gap
  • Re-balancing services away from a crisis focus towards greater prevention, community-based support and early intervention – this has been a longstanding aspiration and is fundamental to developing a very different kind of social care offer – but has proved very difficult to achieve in practice
  • Transitions between children’s and adult services, focusing on outcomes that matter to young people and their families
  • Changing public perceptions of adult social care/raising its profile
  • Improving day opportunities for people with learning disabilities/supporting people to lead fulfilling lives
  • Ways to support social workers who work with older people to do a really good job (supporting more autonomous, high quality professional practice)
  • Developing new models of home care – focusing on outcomes not on ‘time and task’
  • Supporting more of a research culture in adult social care – there is lots of work underway in Councils, but there may be scope to do more here, or in other settings, such as a care provider or an OT service
  • Reducing violence, discrimination and abuse experienced by social care staff

Learn more about Demonstrators

IMPACT employs a pair of senior improvement coaches to work with a local area to support a strategic, evidence-led change project. Each coach will work 50% full-time equivalent for one year.

Between them, the coaches bring skills in terms of strategic change management, lived experience and/or practice knowledge. They also support a local evaluation and work to influence national policy and practice. More information on the model, including current projects and an explainer video, can be found here.

IMPACT will recruit and fund the coaches, who will be based in your local service. Staff are typically employed by one of our partner universities (Ulster, Cardiff, Stirling, Birmingham or Sheffield). However, we also actively welcome secondments from people in policy and practice or from user- and carer-led organisations.

Whilst supervision and management are provided by the relevant IMPACT delivery lead, we ask for a named contact in your organisation for discussion and support with any day-to-day issues. Salary and expenses will be paid by IMPACT. A laptop can also be provided for each staff member if one isn’t available locally.

Each project also has a budget to enable additional participation of people whose voices are seldom heard, and to get lessons learned into national policy and practice.

The site that hosts the Demonstrator

  • provides office space and enables access to local IT/systems,
  • commits to principles of co-production/staff engagement,
  • will have senior support and agrees to learning be shared with others
  • carries out an evaluation with support from the Demonstrator team

This can be a really good opportunity for a local person to develop their CV and gain new skills, working with the full range of expertise available within IMPACT’s partners.

Facilitators

Possible Facilitators include:

  • Supporting staff to deliver compassionate care – this could either be about delivering care, and/or about commissioning more compassionate care
  • Boosting employment for disabled people
  • Joint working with housing – this might include housing-based approaches to other topics (such as hospital discharge), supporting people with dementia to stay living at home, working with multi-generational families in large houses and/or increasing choice/options in terms of specialist accommodation with care and support etc
  • Improving support for people with dementia and their families/supporting more people to stay living at home
  • Developing whole family approaches via ‘family group conferencing’
  • Making sure that ‘supported living’ genuinely enhances choice and control, rather than still feeling like an institutional setting
  • Support for carers of people with mental health problems or older people

Learn more about Facilitators

Facilitators work within a local organisation, leading a more bottom-up, evidence-informed change project. One Facilitator is appointed to each project (working 50% full-time equivalent over one year). A Facilitator from another area helps evaluate what’s been achieved.

More information on Facilitators, including previous projects, findings, and current projects can be found here.

IMPACT will recruit and fund the Facilitators, and each project has a budget to help share learning locally and nationally.

Each Facilitator is based locally within the site organisation. Staff are typically employed by IMPACT via one of our partner universities (Ulster, Cardiff, Stirling, Birmingham, or Sheffield). However, we also actively welcome secondments from people in policy and practice, or from user- and carer-led organisations.

Whilst supervision and management are provided by the relevant IMPACT delivery lead, we ask for a named contact in your organisation for discussion and support with any day-to-day issues. Salary and expenses will be paid by IMPACT. A laptop can also be provided for each staff member if one isn’t available locally.

The site that hosts the Facilitator:

  • provides office space and enables access to local IT/systems,
  • commits to principles of co-production/staff engagement,
  • will have senior support,
  • and agrees to learning being shared with others.

Networks

Possible Networks include:

  • Providing support to people who fund their own care
  • Promoting anti-racist practice
  • Using technology to promote independence/greater prevention
  • Delivering social care in coastal communities
  • Recovery-based approaches to mental health (i.e. making sure that services help people to live chosen lifestyles, regain control of their lives and work on things that enable them to lead good lives – not just on reducing symptoms)

Learn more about Networks

Local groups meet together over 6 months to work on the same practical local issue, with their experiences and learning shared across all the local groups who are taking part (all working on the same issue locally) after each meeting. A video with more information is available here.

IMPACT works with the local site to identify and train a ‘Local Network Co-ordinator’. This Co-ordinator is often a local leader, who takes responsibility for bringing together key stakeholders and chairing local meetings.

We pay an honorarium to the Local Network Co-ordinator’s organisation and cover any venue/refreshment costs. We can also pay for things like travel, replacement care, PA support etc if this helps people participate.

The group commit to developing an action plan and working together on practical changes locally. They also commit to sharing lessons with the central team to share with others

Some local groups decide to carry on meeting and/or linking to other Network members after the project finishes. This allows them to keep learning from each other – but is entirely voluntary. However, we ask Local Coordinators to stay in touch with us so we learn about the practical changes you make.

Apply to host a project

We want to get a mix of different sites in different parts of the UK – so please don’t be put off engaging with IMPACT if you aren’t successful on this occasion, and please don’t be put off engaging if you were unsuccessful last time. To make sure that we have enough time to recruit staff and to have all the practical arrangements in place for September 2024, the deadline for applications is Thursday 30 November.

To submit an application, you’ll need to be someone within your organisation who has the authority to do this and/or to have support from a relevant senior leader. Our short form asks you some brief questions about why you’re applying and about your thoughts on the topic, and checks that (if you were successful) you’d be happy with what IMPACT could offer and what we’d need from you. It’s designed to be very quick and simple – we hope you could complete it in 5-10 minutes if you’ve thought through and talked over the questions in advance, and if you have senior commitment to the potential project.

If you have any practical queries or want to explore further informally and in confidence, please contact: [email protected]