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).