Foreword and purpose
Adult Social Care is about people, relationships, communities and the ability to live a good life.
Across Westmorland and Furness, people draw on care and support at different points in their lives:
- sometimes for a short period to recover confidence and skills
- sometimes because of disability or a long-term condition
- sometimes because they need ongoing support to live safely and well
There is much to build on.
Our communities are rich in local knowledge, voluntary action, neighbourliness and practical support. Our workforce brings skill, compassion and professional judgement. Families and unpaid carers make an extraordinary contribution.
Many organisations work together every day to help people remain independent, connected and safe. This includes:
- the NHS
- voluntary, community, faith and social enterprise (VCFSE) organisations
- independent providers
- council services
Residents in Westmorland and Furness have an overall higher life expectancy. This is based on both regional and national averages. This also means that more of us will live for longer with disability, frailty, dementia or other long-term conditions.
Alongside this, adults rightly expect to live ordinary, fulfilling rewarding lives, with choice and control. As do young people preparing for adulthood. This includes people with:
- learning disabilities
- autism
- mental health conditions
- physical disabilities
- complex needs
For some people, the need for support emerges gradually, over time. For others, it arises suddenly in an event that changes their life and affects those closest to them. Such as an accident, injury or major health event. Adult Social Care has a vital role in helping people adapt, recover, remain independent and live well when these unexpected changes occur.
Our challenge is therefore not simply to respond to rising demand. We need to design support around what matters to people and the strengths of our communities. Our council plan sets out our vision for Westmorland and Furness to be a great place to live, work and thrive.
For Adult Social Care, this means helping people live in a home they love, with the people and things they love. It is about being part of a community where people look out for one another and doing the things that matter to them. This strategy is a key part of delivering our Council Transformation Plan.
The strategy reflects our commitment to being:
- community focused
- digitally enabled
- financially sustainable
It aligns particularly with our transformation programme for People, Place and Prevention.
Adult Social Care will play a significant role in our wider transformation ambitions. This will be through a greater focus on:
- prevention
- independence
- community resilience
- technology
- sustainable services
This strategy sets the direction for Adult Social Care from 2026 to 2030. It describes:
- the outcomes we want to achieve
- the principles that will guide decisions
- the priorities around which we will organise improvement and investment
It is deliberately strategic. We will have a separate delivery plan that can be updated as circumstances change. The plan will contain detailed actions, milestones, owners and measures.
The strategy has been shaped through engagement with people with lived experience. Their feedback and recommendations have informed changes to the document. That matters because co-production must be part of how we work now, not just a future goal. It should shape this strategy and guide the decisions that follow from it.
The direction of travel
Our direction of travel involves:
- prevention and earlier help
- stronger independence
- more support at home and from within communities
- safer, higher-quality care when it is needed
- harnessing technology to improve outcomes
- a sustainable care and support system that is built with people, not around them
- wellbeing and quality of life for the people we support, and for carers
Our vision, values and principles
People living in a place they call home, with the people and things that they love, in communities where they look out for one another, doing the things that matter to them.
The following principles come first because they are the test we will apply to everything that follows.
We help earlier where we can
Prevention is not a single service. It means:
- making good information available
- identifying risks and strengths early
- supporting wellbeing and connection
- helping carers
- enabling timely access to technology, equipment and advice
- coordinating support before difficulties become crises
We start with people’s strengths, relationships and aspirations
People are not defined by diagnosis, age, disability or eligibility. We will begin with:
- what matters to the person
- what they can do
- the relationships and community around them
- the outcomes they want to achieve
We support independence, recovery and Home First
We will help people retain or regain skills, confidence and control.
Reablement is short-term, goal-focused support that helps a person rebuild everyday skills. Intermediate care is time-limited support. It can prevent an avoidable hospital admission or help someone recover after hospital.
Home First means that if it is safe and appropriate, a person should be assessed and recover at home or their usual place of residence. They should not be automatically moved to long-term bed-based care.
We safeguard adults and support positive risk-taking
Safeguarding is everybody’s business. Safety and independence are not competing priorities.
Good practice helps people understand their options. It also involves assisting people to make informed choices and manage risk positively. At the same time, we will respond decisively to abuse, neglect, exploitation and self-neglect.
We work with people, not do things to people
Good social care is built on relationships.
We will:
- listen
- communicate clearly
- respect rights and preferences
- use professional judgement alongside lived experience
We will use feedback to continually improve our services.
We value carers, families and communities
Unpaid carers are essential partners. However, caring should not make a good life impossible.
In line with our All Age Carers Strategy, we will:
- identify carers earlier
- recognise and promote the social value of unpaid carers
- ensure carers' voices are heard, valued, influential and meaningful
- ensure carers receive timely, accurate information and advice. This will support them in their caring role and to live well
We work as one system around people and place
People should not have to navigate organisational boundaries. We will strengthen neighbourhood and locality working across:
- social care
- health
- housing
- public health
- transport
- Voluntary, Community, Faith and Social Enterprise (VCFSE) organisations
- providers
- wider council services
This includes the development of neighbourhood health approaches based on local need
We promote inclusion, accessibility and fairness
People face different barriers. We will recognise and respond to the diversity of people and communities across our area.
We will use data and people's lived experience to understand where barriers exist. We will look at whether people have fair access to services, a good experience, and positive outcomes. We will take action to remove barriers and improve equality.
We use public resources responsibly and sustainably
We will:
- focus resources where they make the greatest difference
- commission for outcomes and value
- reduce avoidable dependency
- maintain specialist support for people with the greatest needs
Westmorland and Furness: our place, people and communities
Westmorland and Furness is one of England’s largest geographical local authority areas. It stretches from Alston in the north-east to Walney Island in the south-west. It includes Barrow-in-Furness, Kendal and Penrith. It has market towns, villages, farms, coastal communities and remote rural settlements.
It is a place of extraordinary natural assets and strong local identities. Our geography is a strength. Many communities have deep networks of neighbourliness, volunteering, local organisations and informal support. The area’s natural environment, culture and sense of place can support physical and mental wellbeing.
These assets are an important part of social care. They help people remain connected, purposeful and independent.
The same geography creates distinct challenges, such as:
- long travel distances
- sparse populations
- limited public transport
- digital connectivity
- workforce availability
Delivering care in dispersed communities presents practical changes.There are costs and practical challenges to delivering care in dispersed communities. This can make equitable equal access harder. A model that works in central Barrow or Kendal may not work in Eden or a small remote village.
We therefore need:
- flexible locality-based approaches
- strong provider relationships
- greater use of technology where it genuinely improves people’s lives
There are also significant differences in health and opportunity between communities.
The Index of Multiple Deprivation shows that:
- 7.9% of the area is within the most deprived 10% nationally
- 17% is within the most deprived 10% for health deprivation
Life expectancy also varies significantly between different communities and places. This applies across Westmorland and Furness.
These inequalities mean that services available to everyone must be combined with targeted action where people face the greatest barriers.
Our changing population will shape demand. Westmorland and Furness has an ageing population and a declining working-age workforce. Office of National Statistics data anticipates substantial growth in the number of people aged 65 and over, whose day-to-day activities are limited by long-term illness.
This creates both a responsibility and an opportunity to make ageing well a shared priority for Westmorland and Furness. We also need to plan for a workforce and care market capable of supporting more people with complex needs.
What place means for this strategy
Fairness does not always mean providing the same model everywhere. It means ensuring people can achieve comparable outcomes wherever they live, using a mix of:
- local relationships
- community capacity
- accessible information
- transport solutions
- housing
- technology
- commissioned care
- specialist support
Why change is needed
Adult Social Care is entering this strategy period with strong foundations. However, it also has significant pressures.
The Care Quality Commission’s first assessment of Westmorland and Furness highlighted the following positives:
- person-centred practice
- partnership working
- prevention
- equity and inclusion
- an improving care market
- Shared Lives
- safeguarding
- leadership
It also identified areas for improvement including:
- prevention at council-wide level
- waits for assessments and reviews
- specialist provision for complex needs
- hospital discharge
- rural access
At the same time, demand and complexity are increasing faster than available resources. Adult Social Care accounts for around one third of the council’s 2026 to 2027 budget. Financial sustainability is therefore inseparable from quality.
If we do not change the way support is provided, rising demand and costs will become increasingly difficult to afford. This could put at risk both our ability to provide good social care and the council’s ability to sustain the wider services our communities rely on.
Financial sustainability is not simply about reducing cost. It is about using limited public resources in ways that:
- maximise outcomes
- preserve quality
- keep support available for future generations
The case for change is shaped by six connected pressures:
- a growing population of people living longer. This includes more people living with frailty, dementia and multiple long-term conditions
- growing and changing needs among working-age adults. This includes people with learning disabilities, autism, mental ill-health, physical disabilities and complex needs
- workforce recruitment, retention and travel challenges, particularly in rural communities and for some specialist roles
- housing, transport and digital barriers that can restrict independence and access to support
- rising costs and constrained public finances across local government and health
- higher expectations for choice, control, personalised support and timely, joined-up services
We cannot continue to simply respond to increasing demand with traditional models for long-term care and support. It is not sustainable.
Demand for long-term service provision and commissioned care continues to increase. The cost for both also continues to raise. We cannot rely heavily on a crisis response to this, as the demand and cost will grow faster than our resources.
We therefore need to shift the balance towards prevention, independence, recovery and community-based support.
Today and future direction
We will:
- move from responding once needs escalate to earlier intervention and prevention
- reduce increasing dependency on long-term support by promoting independence, recovery and reablement
- replace fragmented experiences of support with joined-up services and pathways
- reduce reliance on institutional models of care by offering more home and community-based support
- make services less reactive, with better planning and earlier support
- designing activity-focused systems, to make them (and outcomes) more focused on sustainability
What good Adult Social Care means
Good Adult Social Care is not defined by how many services we provide.
It is defined by whether people are able live the life that matters to them. It involves having the right support at the right time. People should be helped to build on their strengths, resources and relationships. This enables to them to remain independent and resilient as possible.
This means:
- people can find clear information, advice and community support. They should have this before their needs escalate
- people are supported to build on their strengths, skills, relationships and community connections. This allows them to maintain their independence and resilience for as long as possible
- people who can recover or regain skills are offered reablement, intermediate care, equipment and technology early
- assessment is timely, strengths-based and proportionate and people understand what will happen next
- people are supported at home wherever this is safe, appropriate and consistent with their wishes
- people with long-term or complex needs receive personalised, coordinated and high-quality support
- young people transitioning to adulthood have a clear care and support pathway. This should be in place at the earliest time
- people are supported to pursue or maintain employment, education, training, volunteering and other purposeful activities
- carers are recognised, listened to and connected to assessment, advice and support
- people feel safe or safer and safeguarding responses uphold rights, dignity and choice
- services are accessible and fair across urban, rural and coastal communities
- people are supported to maintain the relationships, connections and community life that matters to them
- the care market and workforce are resilient enough to offer real choice and respond to changing need
Together, this means supporting people to live as independently and well as possible. They should be able to draw on their own strengths, relationships and communities. Good care and support will be available when they need it.
People who draw on support, carers, communities and social care staff have expertise. This cannot be replaced by service data alone.
Co-production means sharing influence over:
- the questions we ask
- the options we develop
- the services we design
- the way we judge whether services and change are working
We have already begun to strengthen this approach through:
- listening activity
- community conversations about Adult Social Care
The next step is to make this part of the way we routinely work, rather than something that happens from time to time.
We will build on co-production groups and partnership arrangements. This includes forums for people with learning disabilities and other lived experience. We will keep strategy at a high level. This will ensure we keep the strategy relevant, as individual structures evolve.
We will continue to seek views as we finalise, embed and review the document. We will publish a clear account of what people told us and what changed as a result.
During delivery we will:
- involve people earlier in service redesign, commissioning and improvement
- make participation accessible, including support for communication and reasonable adjustments
- work through trusted community and VCFSE organisations to reach people who may not engage with formal consultation
- explain decisions and trade-offs
- combine lived experience with staff insight, data, research and professional judgement.
This strategy is intended to provide a long-term direction for Adult Social Care in Westmorland and Furness.
Adult Social Care works within a national policy, legal and financial framework that continues to evolve. Sometimes we may need to adjust our priorities, delivery approaches or implementation plans. For example, if we must meet new national requirements or guidance.
As the strategy develops, co-production will remain central to how changes are considered, designed and communicated. This will ensure that people with lived experience, carers, communities and partners continue to shape both the direction and delivery of Adult Social Care.
Workforce for the future
Good social care depends on skilled, compassionate and resilient people.
The workforce includes:
- council staff
- independent and voluntary-sector providers
- personal assistants
- NHS colleagues
- housing staff
- community organisations
- many others who contribute to care and support
The council has responsibilities as employer, commissioner, partner and system leader.
We will use provide engagement, market oversight and professional leadership. This will develop a workforce that can respond to changing patterns of need and improve recruitment and retention, with particular attention to rural and hard-to-fill roles.
We will strengthen the role of personal assistants and Direct Payments as part of a diverse local offer.
As an employer, provide a positive employment offer that supports recruitment and retention through:
- flexible career pathways
- staff wellbeing
- development and progression
- strong professional practice
We will continue to promote wellbeing, recognition and a culture in which staff can learn, speak up and improve.
We will work collaboratively with the Cumbria Combined Authority to influence skills and employment priorities. This will help shape a responsive and sustainable care workforce.
We will also work with education providers to develop responsive skills pathways, apprenticeships, career progression opportunities. This also includes workforce development programmes that support the adult social care sector.
We support professional practice, supervision, leadership and continuing development. We will develop skills in:
- strengths-based practice
- safeguarding
- dementia
- autism
- learning disability
- mental health
- complex needs
- technology-enabled care
- positive risk management
Working with providers, we will understand capacity, travel pressures, workforce risks. We will also identify opportunities for joint solutions.
Our workforce approach will be connected to commissioning and market development. Individual organisations cannot solve workforce sustainability challenges alone. We will use our influence as an employer and commissioner to support:
- good work
- fair employment practice
- career development
- a workforce that is valued for the contribution it makes to people, communities and the local economy
Our five strategic priorities
Priority 1: Prevention and early help
We will make prevention a system-wide way of working. Our aim is to help people maintain wellbeing, independence and relationships. It is also to act earlier when circumstances begin to change.
Prevention includes recognising and supporting unpaid carers earlier. We will help them continue their caring role whilst looking after their own wellbeing. This includes, employment, their relationships and independence.
Prevention will range from providing clear information and self-service, community support and wellbeing activities. It also means offering early professional intervention, if someone's needs may be increasing.
We will:
- develop clearer routes to information, advice, self-assessment and community support
- identify and support unpaid carers early and when needed. This includes information, assessments, local support and opportunities to maintain their own wellbeing.
- support early planning for young people who are likely to require ongoing care and support in adulthood. We will prepare for transitions in a timely and coordinated way
- improve early identification of risks. Such as isolation, self-neglect, carer strain, falls and deteriorating wellbeing
- prevent abuse and neglect through timely support, awareness raising and early identification. We will use equipment, adaptations and technology earlier, helping people to stay safe and independent and reducing the the risk of their needs increasing
- strengthen neighbourhood and locality working
We recognise that employment as an important part of wellbeing for many adults and carers. We will work with partners so that care and support planning takes account of people’s aspirations. This might be to return to, or move towards, work. This also applies to education, training or volunteering, where this matters to them.
Partners can support wellbeing, connection and independence. They include:
- communities
- the NHS
- Public Health
- housing services
- social care
- VCFSE sector as a strategic partner in prevention, connection and community resilience
We will build prevention measures into commissioning, performance and financial planning. This means that benefits are visible over time.
Priority 2: Independence, recovery and Home First
All adults will start in a position that focuses on their independence and recovery. This includes assessments that are based on their strengths. We will help young people who are moving into adulthood who need support from Adult Social Care. Support will help them do as much as they can for themselves and achieve the outcomes that matter to them.
Reablement and intermediate care will be central to:
- helping people regain skills after illness, injury or crisis
- preventing avoidable admission to hospital or long-term care
Home First will mean that, where safe and appropriate, people recover and are assessed in their own home or usual residence.
We will:
- ensure people who could benefit from reablement or intermediate care are identified early
- work with hospitals and community health teams to improve the process for when people are discharged from hospital. We will also work together to reduce unnecessary moves into long-term residential care
- integrate occupational therapy, equipment, adaptations and technology into support planning
- plan earlier with people living with dementia and progressive neurological conditions. This includes including access to specialist advice and coordinated support
- provide a broader range of opportunities for respite and breaks to support carers
- use reviews to identify opportunities to increase independence
- develop alternatives to residential care, if they safely offer better outcomes and more choice
Priority 3: Housing, community and local support
A suitable home is one of the strongest foundations for independence.
We will bring Adult Social Care in line with our Housing Strategy and plans for supported accommodation. This will provide people more choice to live in ordinary homes and communities, with the right support.
We will:
- plan housing and care together, based on what they need now and in the future. This includes young people moving into adulthood
- develop and modernise extra care, supported living and other accommodation-with-support models. It will include solutions that can work at smaller scale in rural areas
- use adaptations, disabled facilities grant, healthy homes approaches and community equipment. We will consider these measures if it helps people be safer and more independent
- make assistive and digital technology part of housing solutions. This would be for cases where they improve a person's independence and safety
- strengthen community-based alternatives, including Shared Lives and other flexible models
- consider transport, local facilities and social connections when planning support. They make housing sustainable
Priority 4: Safe, high-quality care and safeguarding
Everyone should be able to expect safe, caring and effective support.
Quality is a shared responsibility across the whole system. Safeguarding must promote both protection and the person’s rights, wishes and independence.
We will:
- promote a culture in which safeguarding is everybody’s responsibility
- ensure that the wellbeing of people with social care needs is prioritised
- prevent and respond to abuse, neglect, exploitation and self-neglect through effective multi-agency arrangements
- understand what community and relationships mean to people. We will design support that sustains them
- ensure that people are heard, understood and supported to shape the arrangements for their care and support
- support providers to improve quality and act early where services are at risk
- maintain strong professional standards, human rights, dignity and Making Safeguarding Personal principles
- ensure strong quality oversight for people with complex needs and for services where choice or capacity is limited
We will also use following to learn and improve:
- complaints
- safeguarding adults reviews
- quality intelligence
- lived experience
- inspection findings
Priority 5: Commissioning and a Sustainable Market
People need access to high-quality support when and where they need it. We need a strong, diverse and sustainable care and support market to make this possible.
As commissioner and system leader, the Council has an important role in:
- understanding current and future need
- shaping the care market
- working with providers to ensure the right range, quality and capacity of provision is available across Westmorland and Furness
We will strengthen our understanding of current and future demand. We will use this to help make decisions about commissioning. It will also help shape our future Market Position Statements.
We will also:
- work with providers to shape a diverse, responsive and sustainable local care market
- commission services that support quality and good outcomes for the people who use them. This includes carers
- secure value for money and make effective use of public resources
- develop provision that responds to different needs. This includes the particular challenges of our rural and dispersed communities
- support innovation and new models of care, where they can improve outcomes or sustainability
- work with providers to understand and respond to risks around capacity, quality and market sustainability
Our aim is not simply to purchase care at the lowest cost, but to secure high-quality provision. It must deliver good outcomes for people and value for money. Provision must also maintain the capacity and resilience needed to meet future demand.
Enablers: data, technology, commissioning and partnership
Data, insight, evidence and learning
To will bring together:
- performance data
- finance
- market intelligence
- population need
- lived experience
- professional insight
This will help us understand current needs and plan for future demand.
We will use what we learn to check that we are moving in the right direction set out in this strategy. We will look at whether we are:
- intervening earlier
- supporting greater independence
- reducing avoidable escalation
- shifting support towards home and communities
We will compare our performance with other local authorities and learn from good practice.
We will use this information at a locality and council-wide level. This will help us identify differences in access, outcomes and demand. We will use what we learn to help make decisions and plan actions.
Technology-enabled care and digital inclusion
Technology will be an enabler of independence, not a substitute for human relationships.
Westmorland and Furness already has practical foundations to build on, including:
- care alarms
- community equipment
- a virtual house showing aids and solutions
- online tools such as AskSARA
We will routinely consider technology as part of our assessments and support planning. Technology will help staff understand the options available. It will also help residents to be independent and explore those options themselves.
We will also recognise digital exclusion - digital options should expand choice, not become a barrier to support.
Commissioning and market shaping
Our Market Position Statement describes a direction towards:
- independence
- prevention
- community support
- a more diverse care market
We will use Commissioning services to turn that direction into sustainable local capacity.
We will work with providers early and transparently. We recognise the different costs and challenges of providing care in urban, rural and specialist settings.
Partnerships and Neighbourhood Working
Adult Social Care cannot deliver this strategy alone.
We will align with:
- neighbourhood health development
- the Health and Wellbeing Board
- integrated care systems
- housing
- public health
- the VCFSE sector
- providers
- community organisations
- wider council services
We will also work closely with the Combined Authority, recognising its growing role in shaping:
- economic development
- skills
- employment
- transport
- housing
- digital connectivity
The test will be whether people experience coordinated support based around their life and where they live, not whether organisations have created new structures.
How we will know we are succeeding
The detailed delivery plan will define:
- baselines
- targets
- data sources
- reporting frequency
- accountable owners
At strategy level, success means that people's experiences and the way the system works change in the following ways:
- people feel safe, or safer, after effective and timely interventions. They will also be person-centred, to make people feel listened to and supported
- more people remain independent and connected to their communities
- more people are supported within their own homes and communities, including after illness or hospital admission
- carers feel recognised, informed and involved, and can access assessment and support
Another measure of success is that working-age adults and carers are better supported (where this matters to them) to keep or look for:
- employment
- education
- training
- volunteering
- purposeful activity
People have will have coordinated support and planning options that focus on outcomes. This includes:
- people living with dementia, learning disabilities, autism and other complex conditions
- young people moving into adulthood
- people experiencing a sudden change in need because of an accident, injury or major health event
Success also means that:
- adults at risk are protected from abuse, neglect and exploitation while their rights and choices are respected
- people experience high-quality care and support. Waiting times for assessment, review and key pathways continue to improve with appropriate oversight
- the local care market and workforce remain stable, diverse and capable of meeting need
- Adult Social Care remains financially sustainable. We must demonstrate that we are shifting resources towards prevention, independence and better outcomes
We will use a balanced scorecard rather than a single measure. It will combine:
- people’s reported experience around wellbeing and quality of life
- independence and recovery outcomes
- safeguarding and quality
- workforce and market indicators
- timeliness
- equity measures
- activity and demand
- financial sustainability
Measures will be broken down by locality and relevant population characteristics wherever possible. This is so that averages do not hide inequality.
Governance, delivery and review
This strategy sets a four-year direction. It will be delivered through a detailed delivery plan, which we will refresh at least once a year.
We will translate each priority into:
- actions
- milestones
- owners
- resources
- dependencies
- risks
- measures
Delivery will be overseen through Adult Social Care Directorate Management Team governance arrangements. These arrangements will bring together all Adult Social Care plans connected to this strategy. They will also link to corporate, partnership and elected member oversight.
People with lived experience, carers, staff, providers and partners will help us review progress. They will also help us shape future changes.
We will publish progress in a way that is understandable and proportionate, including:
- what has improved
- where delivery is off track
- what we have learned
- what will change as a result
As noted under Section 6, the national policy environment may change during the life of this strategy. This includes the Casey Commission on Adult Social Care as it develops its recommendations.
The national policy environment may change during the life of this strategy, as noted in the section about co-production and lived experience. This includes the Casey Commission on Adult Social Care as it develops its recommendations.
We will review the strategy if national reform materially changes local duties, funding or the model of care.
Closing statement
This strategy provides a high-level strategic framework for Adult Social Care in Westmorland and Furness. It sets the overall direction, principles and outcomes that will guide our work through to 2030.
The Adult Social Care service is currently undergoing an improvement and transformation programme. This is a considerable programme, which also includes service development. This strategy does not seek to replace the improvement programme.
Instead, we will build on the programme work with a comprehensive delivery plan. This will turn the strategy into tangible actions, measures and milestones.
This delivery plan will bring together existing and emerging programmes of work. It will continue to evolve in response to learning, co-production, local need and changing circumstances.
It will also ensure that local priorities for Westmorland and Furness are in line with:
- national policy
- legislative requirements
- wider developments in Adult Social Care
This will create a clear and coherent roadmap for delivery over the life of this strategy.
Appendix A: strategic context and evidence base
Key sources
- Care Act 2014 and Care and Support Statutory Guidance - including the wellbeing principle and participation in work, education, training or recreation
- Westmorland and Furness Council Plan and Council Plan Delivery Framework – local priorities, demographic change, health inequalities and the two-ICS context
- Westmorland and Furness Adult Social Care Market Position Statement 2025 to 2027 – transformation direction, market context, co-production intentions and Adult Social Care Outcomes Framework performance
- Care Quality Commission local authority assessment of Westmorland and Furness, published February 2026 – strengths and areas for improvement
- Westmorland and Furness Council All Age Carers Strategy 2026 to 2029
- Westmorland and Furness Council Transformation Plan 2026
- Westmorland and Furness Housing Strategy 2025 to 2030 – extra care, supported living, adaptable housing and technology
- Westmorland and Furness Digital Ambition 2025 to 2028 – assistive technology care strategy and smart-home/connected technology ambitions
- Westmorland and Furness Adult Social Care public information – reablement, community equipment, care alarms, virtual house and AskSARA
- ‘A Place Called Home’ Community Conversation (2026) and earlier Adult Social Care listening activity – evidence of developing engagement and co-production
- Cumbria Combined Authority - devolution priorities for skills, employment, transport and economic development, providing a strategic partnership route for care workforce and employment activity
- Westmorland and Furness Council Constitution (July 2026) – Health and Wellbeing Board role in neighbourhood health plans and the Joint Strategic Needs Assessment
Useful information
We have published information about our: