Early intervention and prevention are the foundations of good adult social care. As DASS, your leadership should champion a model that reduces escalation, supports independence, and builds resilience. That means investing in community capacity, focusing on reablement and rehabilitation, and enabling people to draw on informal and preventative support as early as possible.
Work closely with partners, particularly public health, housing, and the voluntary sector, to ensure the early help offer is integrated and accessible. Build shared understanding of what prevention means in practice—from light-touch signposting through to targeted interventions that reduce need for longer-term support.
National guidance is clear: prevention is a statutory duty. The Care Act 2014 requires local authorities to provide or arrange services that prevent, reduce, or delay the need for care and support. But the impact goes beyond legal compliance. Effective prevention improves outcomes, reduces inequalities, and supports sustainability.
Good prevention relies on:
- A strengths-based approach to conversations, assessment and planning.
- A rich and resilient voluntary, community and social enterprise (VCSE) sector.
- Commissioning that prioritises wellbeing, social connection, and inclusion.
- Good data and local insight to identify who is at risk—and what helps.
Prevention should be visible in your strategy, budget, and partnerships. It should shape your market position statement and your approach to integrated neighbourhood working. And it should be championed by you—as a moral, financial and strategic imperative.
Ultimately, prevention is not a project or a pilot. It is a principle of good care, rooted in rights, relationships and community. As DASS, your leadership can make it real.