This report from the Department for Work and Pensions identifies factors that would help in the development of partnership arrangements between the Pension Disability and Carers Service, local authorities and other agencies.

The Service encourages partnership working to help the agency to deliver effective and high quality services and helps customers access a wider range of benefits and services which better meet their needs. The Service works with a range of partners at both national and local levels across the local authority, voluntary, private and community sectors.

Overall awareness of the Service is patchy with local authorities having greater awareness than health partners. Knowledge of the Service is good where partnerships operate, but where there is no partnership it is quite superficial. Knowledge gaps relate to basic issues such as who provides what services to whom, understanding of services for people with disabilities and carers, how to access local services and how to receive updated information about PDCS services.

Implications of the report findings are that national and local senior partnership managers in PDCS need to agree a shared and strategic approach with a clear purpose and to be focused on the achievement of specific outcomes.

The report calls for PDCS staff to get a better understanding of the organisations with whom they are working so that they are better able to ‘sell the benefits’ of partnership working. There is also a need to recognise the barriers to partnership working.

The report is available from the DWP http://research.dwp.gov.uk/asd/asd5/rports2009-2010/rrep693.pdf