Community Lives Consortium

Information about the Consortium

This is a place that will give me information I need to know about the Consortium.

It will tell me about:

What is the Consortium?
Who Manages the Consortium?
How I can Have a Say?
What is The Consortium?

What is the Consortium?

Community Lives Consortium (CLC):

Provides support to people who have a learning disability who wish to live in the local area.

The Consortium is an organisation that does not make a profit. It gets its money from Local Authorities and Housing Associations and a charge is made to tenants depending on the benefits they receive.

Where does The Consortium Work?

The Consortium provides support in two areas:

City and County of Swansea

Neath Port Talbot County Borough Council

It is an organisation that helps people with a learning disability to:

Live as tenants in ordinary houses in ordinary streets.

Be valued and accepted for who they are.

Have the same rights as any other adult in our society.

Decide what they want to happen in their own life as far as they are able to.

To make this happen for tenants, the Consortium works with:

Family (if you choose).

The Social Services Department.

The Health Authority.

Housing Associations.

Advocacy Organisations.

Who Manages the Consortium?

The Management Committee

CLC have people that meet to decide on how the Consortium is run.

These people are called the Management Committee. The head of the CLC Committee is Pamela Evans.

The Management Committee have a responsibility to oversee the management of the Community Lives Consortium.

Responsible Person

Under the Care Standards Act 2000, The Welsh Assembly require that to operate as a domiciliary care agency there has to be someone who has overall management responsibility. This person is known as the 'Responsible Person'.

The responsible person for The Consortium is:

Name: Rick Wilson

Job Title: Chief Executive

Relevant Qualifications and Experience: Rick has a Degree in Sociology & Politics and is a Qualified Social Worker.

Rick has had 17 years experience of working in services for people with a learning disability in the areas of; supporting people in their own homes; participation and advocacy; developing new housing, day care and resettlement services; training staff; and contracting and commissioning services for a Local Authority.

Since 1995 Rick has worked for the Consortium with responsibility for managing, monitoring and developing it's services to tenants, he has been the Chief Executive since 2001.

Arrangements in the Absence of the Responsible Person

If the Responsible Person is going to be absent from the agency for a period of 28 days or more the following procedure will be followed:

'Written notification provided to the CSIW, providing notification of expected length of absence, reason for absence, arrangements for covering absence'.

The Consortium have other managers who will provide cover in the absence of the Responsible person, these are:

Name: Christine Brian

Job Title: Director of Community Services

Relevant Qualifications and Experience:

BA(HONS)Social Science

NVQ Level 4 Management

15 years experience in learning disability field ranging from voluntary work.

Support Worker, Registered Manager

Performance Manager

Operations Manager & Director of Community Services.

Christine has responsibility for the support services and operational management structure of CLC.

Name: Alice O' Sullivan

Job Title: Operations Manager

Relevant Qualifications and Experience:

S.en Mental, CSS (Certificate of Social Services)

5 years nursing experience in mental health 16 years in residential care with older people, 1 year field social worker, 5 years with a Registered Social Landlord, and worked with CLC as Operations Manager since 2002.

Alice has responsibility for the day to day running of support services and manages the Contract Managers.

Other Staff of the Consortium

Keyworkers

Your Keyworker will be a Support Worker who you get on well with. They should be there for you to talk about the service, the things you want, or things you like and dislike.

Service Co-ordinators

Service Co-ordinators manage Keyworkers.
Service Co-ordinators manage some of the money that pays for your service.

Team Co-ordinators

Work with a group of services within a Contract Managers network, they will ensure that there are enough good staff to provide your service.

Housing Support Co-ordinators

Work with a larger group of tenants, and make sure that the your housing support needs are being met. This will ensure that you remain safe and secure in your own home.

Contract Managers

Oversee all the managers and staff and make sure that your service is the way it should be. Contract Managers manage a small group of services. Contract Managers are also Registered Managers with the Care Standards Inspectorate for Wales.

CLC Office Staff

There are also staff who work in the Consortium offices on Walter Road. These staff help in a number of different ways like paying staff wages, claiming tenants benefits, managing money and training etc.

You can ask your staff for a copy of the Consortium's Who's Who booklet, which will tell you more about the people who work in our office and what they do.

All the managers and staff in the Consortium want to work together with:

You, your family members if you choose, your social worker or community nurses and other people who help you.

How can you have a Say?

The Consortium wants YOU to have a say about the things that happen in your life and about the support and services you get from them.

Some of the ways you can do this are:

You can come along to the Consortium Tenants Group which meets every quarter in Consortium office in Swansea.

At the tenants group you can:

Talk about what you like and don't like about where you live and your support service, hear about what Consortium is doing and say what you think of any changes they want to make

Meet tenants from other Consortium homes

You can come to the annual review days to meet tenants, staff and other people who work with Consortium.

You can help produce Consortium's newsletter and decide what goes in it.

You can help Consortium to choose new staff

You can complain if you are not happy about something.

You can use Consortium's Complaints Procedure to complain. There is more information about this later on in the Service User Guide.