Executive summary

I am excited to introduce Cumberland Council’s first market position statement, which provides an overview of our local adult social care market, highlighting its strengths, challenges and opportunities.

We are a new council so I hope this document will help set the foundations for a new and exciting period of market shaping in our area. Our aim is to help current and prospective care providers understand the local context, including demographic trends, service gaps and future demand.

We wanted to ensure that this statement accurately reflects the true needs and aspirations of our care market. To achieve this, we have actively engaged with a wide range of stakeholders, including care providers, customers, and their families to understand their perspective of the Cumberland market. This engagement has been managed through a series of consultations, surveys, and feedback sessions, gaining us invaluable insights that have directly influenced the development of this document.

This statement helps to outline our commitment to working in partnership with providers across Cumberland to develop, stimulate and support a vibrant and diverse care market that focusses on people’s strengths, enables people to live their best lives and provides good value for money.

This statement supports this by providing:

• an overview of our place, people and adult social care workforce
• a breakdown of our market strengths and market challenges, both across Cumberland as a whole and by key service centre area
• clarity around what our care market looks like, including what services are currently delivered and whether there are any gaps or opportunities

This statement will serve as a tool in the process for developing our commissioning strategy (which will be published later in 2025), allowing us to use the insights and data gathered to make informed decisions that align with current and future demand.

I would like to invite you to explore this document and gain a deeper understanding of Cumberland’s care market. Together we will build on our strengths, seize new opportunities and achieve positive outcomes for the people we support.

Chris Jones-King
Director of Adult Social Care
and Housing