Haringey Council is reviewing the effectiveness of its Joint Partnership Board (JPB) to ensure residents' voices are heard in decisions about care and support. The council aims to ensure discussions on current and future provision are centred on the experiences of local people who draw on support in the borough, leading to better policy making and decisions that improve people’s experiences and ensure services are responsive to people’s needs.
The Adults & Health Scrutiny Panel met on 22 September 2025, to discuss the findings of a review of the JPB, which was formed in 2017 by merging the Adults Partnership Board, the Learning Disabilities Partnership Board, and The Autism Working Group. The review, conducted by Community Catalysts, identified several key areas for improvement for the JPB, including ensuring collaboration improves Haringey residents' experiences, supports public engagement and better policymaking, amplifying voices of people with learning disabilities and ensuring marginalized groups are included.
The JPB Report Summary stated that the JPB has an important role in facilitating coproduction.
Key areas for improvement identified in the review include:
- Maximising representation from Haringey communities and residents
- Strengthening the governance structure
- Improving the presence of council and NHS representatives
To maximise representation from Haringey communities and residents, the action plan includes ensuring equitable representation of all communities who draw on care and support and resolving identified gaps. Specific actions include ensuring the Learning Disabilities (LD) Community is properly represented with appropriate support, people living with moderate and or severe Autism are appropriately represented, people with mental health issues are also represented, and people and families transitioning from Children's services are represented. The action plan also includes facilitating inclusion by building connections into different community groups across the borough, including a review and additional mapping exercise to understand who is represented and who is missing.
To strengthen the governance structure, the action plan includes developing Terms of Reference, including a code of conduct, clearer priorities, and action plans, and holding regular elections (every two years) for JPB Chairs and Reference Group Chairs with role descriptions. This aims to strengthen governance with clear structures and accountability as appropriate between Council, Adults and Health Scrutiny Panel, Health & Wellbeing Board, JPB, and Reference Groups.
To address the need for improved presence from council and NHS representatives, the action plan includes ensuring appropriate Adult Social Care (ASC) attendance at reference groups from ASC with a named lead for each group and exploring NHS/partner attendance at reference groups.
The review process involved gathering insights from JPB members, council staff, NHS staff, and other stakeholders. Two workshops were then held to agree on priorities and develop an action plan.
The report recommends establishing a Task and Finish Planning Group by the end of May 2025 to oversee the action plan's implementation and assigning a senior council lead as a sponsor to ensure resources and priority are allocated.