Wirral Council has received three funding allocations from national Government to reduce the impact of substance misuse within the borough, these are: Wirral ADDER (Addiction, Diversion, Disruption, Enforcement and Recovery) Accelerator programme; Inpatient detox funding and the Individual Placement Support (IPS) programme.

This report provides the Adult Social Care and Public Health Committee with an update on progress in delivery of these three grant funded programmes.

 In addition, the report updates the Committee on the extension of the duration of funding to be received in order to achieve national drug strategy objectives. With funding to be received towards this aim now extended until the end of the 2024/25 financial year.

The report provides an overview of the Wirral ADDER programme plan for 2022/23 (including underspend) and requests the committee approve the planned use of funding.

The expenditure of this funding and the delivery of these programmes of work will have an impact on all of the Wirral Council Wards, but it will have a stronger impact on those areas of Wirral that present the most significant social and health inequalities. Although this funding doesn’t directly save Council expenditure, the outcomes achieved from this work will produce financial savings and social value benefits due to the positive impact on individual Wirral residents, and the communities they live in (in terms of improved health and lifestyles, and reduced crime, family disruption, and domestic abuse).

Resolved - That

(1)  the progress in mobilising and delivering the three national grant funding programmes (Wirral ADDER accelerator programme, inpatient detox funding and individual placement support funding be endorsed.

(2)  the proposal to utilise the predicted extension of the provision of additional funding to deliver the national drug strategy until the end of the 2024/25 financial year be approved.

(3)  the proposed utilisation of the ADDER programme grant for the 22/23 period (£1.4m) and proposed utilisation of the underspend carried forward from 2021/22 funded by Home Office and Office for Health Improvement and Disparities (OHID), formerly Public Health England be approved.

(4)  the payment of £106K of in-patient detox grant for 2021-22 to CGL/Wirral Ways to Recovery, as part of a contract variation, to re-imburse the additional expenditure on detox placements they have made this year to this amount be approved. This is additional to their budgeted capacity and has been accrued as part of delivering the Inpatient Detox Grant Programme.

(5)  the continuation of the Individual Placement Support Grant (£135,000) for 2022-23 be approved.

Delivery of the ADDER (Addiction, Diversion, Disruption, Enforcement and Recovery) Accelerator, the increased Inpatient detox capacity, and Individual Placement Support (IPS – support into employment) programmes will strengthen local capacity to reduce drug related deaths, hospital admissions and drug related offending.

 The components of the Wirral ADDER plan for 2022/23 are in line with the evidence based interventions, put together by the National ADDER Programme team, that local authorities are required to adhere to when developing their local plans.

The grants for 2022/23 need to be utilised within the financial year.

The proposals included in the Wirral ADDER plan build back quality into the local drug (and alcohol) treatment and recovery system as well as capacity and have been approved by colleagues in the local multi-agency ADDER Steering Group and by the national ADDER Programme Team, within the Home Office and the Office for Health Improvement and Disparities (OHID), formerly Public Health England. This also includes investment in the wider system of services, beyond direct drug and alcohol treatment services, to strengthen the Wirral Partnerships’ ability to deliver the overarching aims and objectives of the new 10 Year National Drug Strategy.

Other options were considered in relation to developing the Wirral ADDER Delivery Plan and determining the interventions to be delivered. The Wirral ADDER Programme Delivery Plan for the period 22/23 has been developed with the multi-agency Wirral ADDER Steering Group following review of local intelligence, consultation with a wide range of partners, and analysis of service and system capacity, strengths and weaknesses. The Delivery Plan was reviewed and approved by Government colleagues in the Home Office and the Office for Health Improvement and Disparities (formerly Public Health England).