Neighbourhood Network Schemes in Birmingham

The Adult Social Care and Health Website for NNS is here. This report by Birmingham City Council sets out the development of NNS in the city and how NNS is aligned to other services within Adult Social Care. 

The NNS work closely with the Community Network Support Officers. This team supports citizens one to one with advice and can linked them up with local community activity. They have regular drop ins and dates can be seen here.  

The NNS are also working more closely with the council’s Occupational Therapy teams who also hold drop in clinics.  

There is a good introduction to the Three Conversations model here. 

This report by Birmingham City Council sets out the development of NNS in the city and how NNS is aligned to other services within Adult Social Care. 

BVSC Research has undertaken an impact Assessment of NNS, and the summary can be found here. 

Other learning from the programme includes: 

Digital inclusion - Digital inclusion-exclusion and digital poverty - NNS and PC 

Support for Ethnic Minority Groups - Ethnic Minority Groups Supported by NNS and P&C Grant Holders 

Lessons Learnt from Covid-19 Support - Covid-19 - NNS Learning Response - full version and summary version. 

NNS Grant Allocations 

In 2017 Cabinet approved the Prevention First Strategy which provides an outcomes framework and is aimed at citizens leading “healthy, happy and independent lives in their own homes and communities.” The Cabinet Paper and appendices can be seen under the Reports tab on the City Council’s Committee Management website here.  

Adult Social Care also developed the Three Conversations® framework which requires social workers to get to know the citizens they are working with and better understand what they and their families or support networks are capable of and what they would like. It requires social workers to develop a good understanding of what community, voluntary and faith organisations locally offer and recognise that citizens can benefit from this local, community-based support. 

There is a good introduction to the Three Conversations model here. 

Adult Social Care developed Neighbourhood Network Schemes across Birmingham in 2018 and 2019 

The first six months of NNS was spent identifying all the community and voluntary organisations already delivering activities in each constituency.  
The NNS lead facilitators were commissioned in 2018 and 2019 and they played a key role in the city during the COVID pandemic.  

A number of new developments were incorporated in the NNS approach from April 2022. 

Following the pilot in 2021, all NNS were commissioned to support VCFSE work with younger adults – those adults with disabilities and long term health conditions who are 18-50 years old, in addition to those aged 50 and above. In particular, this is citizens with physical and sensory impairment, poor mental health, learning disabilities and neurodiverse (autism and ADHD). This remains community-led support, particularly around social connection and physical activity, so citizens with higher level and complex needs may require alternative support from Adult Social Care and Health. 

Other additions from April 2022 were the commissioning of NNS Digital and the establishment of NNS Connected Communities. 

During the pandemic it was recognised that one of the real challenges faced was digital exclusion. In addition, in that time, so many innovative projects were carried out by NNS funded projects and P&C grantees that the City Council agreed to invest in this through NNS Digital which is through a grant provided to Northfield Community Partnership. 

In July 2022 Birmingham’s Neighbourhood Network Schemes were shortlisted in the Health and Social Care category at the Local Government Chronicle (LGC) Awards, the most prestigious award in local government. 

Representatives from Adult Social Care, each of the ten NNS teams, BVSC which supports the voluntary and community sector and the Birmingham and Solihull Integrated Care Scheme were all invited to the LGC awards in London. Competition this year was extremely tough in the Health and Social Care category with the judges commenting on the tenacity and sheer excellence demonstrated throughout the entire shortlist. Unfortunately, Neighbourhood Network Schemes did not win, but judges commented that they demonstrate: “An impressive change management approach at scale, developing community strength through community power.”

Before the new contracts came to an end in March 2022 the NNS teams and many of the assets came together to celebrate the journey of NNS since 2018. Read more:

In July 2022 Birmingham’s Neighbourhood Network Schemes were shortlisted in the Health and Social Care category at the Local Government Chronicle (LGC) Awards, the most prestigious award in local government. 

Representatives from Adult Social Care, each of the ten NNS teams, BVSC which supports the voluntary and community sector and the Birmingham and Solihull Integrated Care Scheme were all invited to the LGC awards in London. Competition this year was extremely tough in the Health and Social Care category with the judges commenting on the tenacity and sheer excellence demonstrated throughout the entire shortlist. Unfortunately Neighbourhood Network Schemes did not win this year, but judges commented that they demonstrate: “An impressive change management approach at scale, developing community strength through community power.”