Understanding benefits and impact requires a range of sources of evidence and information and the kind of data used in this report is just one of many, along with change stories, feedback from people, staff and partners, etc. that need to be used. Really understanding what is happening, why, and the conditions for that, requires the analysis of all of this data, as shown in our latest learning reports.
This report, however, addresses one aspect of that range of indicators, focusing on information that is reported by systems in those English Local Authorities that have been implementing CLS over recent years and compares this with the average. The findings, we feel, are worth sharing and demonstrate, without showing causal effect and without attributing this effect solely to CLS, sufficient evidence to conclude that something different appears to be happening when the principles of community led support are applied over a number of years.
Note: This information does not capture data since the COVID-19 pandemic but does demonstrate impacts that are apparent when a strengths based, community focused approach is adopted, an approach we believe is ever more needed now.
