Key responsibilities and leadership

North Tyneside Council Adult Social Care supports residents with care needs, adults at risk of abuse or neglect, and unpaid carers. Our senior management team and their areas of responsibility are below.

Adult Social Care in North Tyneside supports over 3,500 people aged 18 years or over who are have ongoing care and support needs. This includes:

• Older people who are frail or have long-term conditions
• People with physical disabilities
• People with learning disabilities
• People with mental health needs
• People with sensory impairments
• People who are neurodivergent
• People who care for relatives or friends

We also support residents with advice, information, equipment and technology to prevent care needs from developing further, and short-term support for people recovering from a hospital admission or illness.

We support people in a number of ways:

• Advice, information, signposting and referral - to support people to improve their independence and wellbeing.
• Providing equipment, adaptations and technology to support people to stay safe inside and outside of their home.
• Working with people to assess care needs and, where eligible, arrange support to stay well and independent.
• Supporting people to return home following a stay in hospital, helping them to get back on their feet.
• Supporting people who are providing care and support to their relatives or friends. 

We work with our Commissioners and other partners, like the NHS, to plan the support local people may need now and in the future. 

My Care North Tyneside

My Care North Tyneside is Adult Social Care’s website for members of the public and professionals. This site provides:

You can use My Care to find out about help and support in your area, as well as information about organisations that can help you. You can also explore your own care and support needs using the online questionnaires for adults and carers.

• Advice and information about social care related issues.
• An online self-assessment and referral portal for adults with support needs and carers
• A portal to report concerns about abuse or neglect

My Care Portal Accounts - People who receive social care services arranged by the council can view their support plan and message your social care worker securely

• To request Portal Dashboard access click here

If you struggle to use online forms, the Social Care Contact Centre can be contacted by:

• Telephone: (0191) 643 2777
• Email: childrenandadultscontactcentre@northtyneside.gov.uk

The Social Care Contact Centre is open Monday to Thursday 8.30am to 5pm, Friday 8.30am to 4.30pm

• For urgent issues out of hours, contact Care Call on 0330 333 4745
• If a person is at immediate risk of harm, contact the emergency services first.

Living Well North Tyneside

Living Well North Tyneside is a one-stop site for information about local health, social care and voluntary and community sector advice, support, activities and events – supporting residents to stay active, supported and connected.

The Care Act 2014 is the primary piece of legislation which outlines local authority duties to adults with care and support needs and carers. The key responsibilities provided by the Care Act are to:

• Promote the wellbeing of adults in the area
• Prevent, reduce and delay needs for care and support
• Provide relevant, tailored information and advice to support people’s wellbeing
• Work together with other agencies to promote people’s wellbeing
• Assess adults’ care and support needs, and the support needs of carers, where there is an appearance of need
• Plan support for adults with care and support needs and their carers, where they meet the eligibility criteria.
• Make enquiries where an adult with care and support needs may be experiencing, or at risk of, abuse and neglect.
• Work together with partners to stop and prevent abuse.
• Shape the local market for care and support: ensuring there are the right services, of good quality, with sufficient capacity to meet people’s needs.

The full Care Act can be found on the UK Parliament website.

The Department Of Health has produced a series of very useful factsheets about different sections of the Care Act.

Ways to Wellbeing is our practice model: the way Adult Social Care puts its duties to assess needs and plan support into practice.

Built on strengths and asset-based approaches, we start with finding out about people’s history, identity, networks, skills and resources. We then look at any challenges the person faces, and work together to overcome them.

More information about Ways to Wellbeing is available in this information sheet, and a Guide for Professionals.  

The Better Care Fund is a pooled budget arrangement between North Tyneside Council and the North East and North Cumbria Integrated Care Board, which supports integration between health and social care. The Better Care Fund aims to:

• Enable people to stay well, safe and independent at home for longer, and
• Provide the right care, in the right place, at the right time.

Each year the two organisations agree how to spend the pooled budget on health and social care services, outlined in the Better Care Fund Plan (see Related Documents). The plans are approved by the North Tyneside Health and Wellbeing Board and subsequently by the Government.

North Tyneside Council’s Contributions Policy for adult care and support services complies with the Care Act 2014 (Sections 14 and 17)

Its aim is to produce a fair and consistent framework for charging and financial assessment for all adults who receive care and support services, following an assessment of their individual needs and their individual financial circumstances.