Cheshire West and Chester Council is redesigning day services for adults aged 18 and over who have a learning disability and/or neurodivergent people, to make sure the service is centred around each person’s individual needs and provides value for money. The future model will help Adult Social Care achieve its vision of building on each person’s own abilities and strengths to enable them to live great lives.

The Council has been working together with a group of people who currently use day services, or may do in the future, and their family and carers, to develop ideas for how these services could be delivered in the future. The proposed co-designed model moves away from the traditional building-based model we currently deliver, to a more flexible model based in the community focusing on people's interests and skills.  

We would like to hear your views on these ideas, to make sure they reflect what people want. We are particularly interested in the views of people who have a learning disability and/or neurodivergent people who currently use day services and people who may like to use day services in the future, as well as their families and carers, and organisations that provide day services.

Day services in Cheshire West and Chester

Day services support people who have a learning disability and/or neurodivergent people to socialise, make friends, take part in activities and learn new skills. There are 6,882 adults with a learning disability and/or neurodivergent people living in west Cheshire and almost 500 of these adults attend day services.

The Council provides the majority of its traditional building-based model day services directly through Vivo Care Choices, which is the Council’s own in-house service, but there are also other organisations that the Council commissions (or ‘buys in’) to provide some day services on its behalf. Most day services are based in buildings, such as Lightfoot Lodge, Meadowbank Lodge, Firdale, Canal Street and Coronation Centre, and people can attend from Monday to Friday during the day. Day services that the Council commissions from different organisations (or providers) offer a wide range of flexible activities to support people to be part of the community and promote independence. For example, swimming, arts and crafts and bowling.

A person can access day services following a social care assessment. The assessment will look at whether a person needs support with social isolation and/or accessing the community. The Council can then arrange day services for anyone who needs this support, either through Vivo Care Choices or one of its other providers. Depending on the person’s location, the nearest available service is usually offered, and transport is also arranged by the Council when someone is assessed as needing help to travel to the location.