How can this toolkit help?

The purpose of this toolkit is to provide practical and accessible help to local authority social services in managing their financial resources. It aims to:

• Tackle the ‘hot potatoes’
• Identify lasting solutions
• Share learning about ‘what works’
• Build on existing material
• Focus on self assessment tools and checklists for use by councils

Difficulties in managing money cannot be solved by isolating the management of financial support systems from the service delivery and the achievement of good outcomes for service issues. Each topic discussed is cross referenced throughout to encourage an exploration of the relationship between sound finances and quality service outcomes.