The Situation

The North-West London (NWL) Keyworker Service was one of 13 national pilot projects linked to a national commitment that “all children and young people (C&YP) with a learning disability and/or with autistic spectrum disorder with complex support needs will have a designated keyworker by 2023-24”. It began in February 2021and in March 2023 the NWL Keyworker Steering Group initiated an Appreciative Inquiry (supported by Alder Advice) to inform planning after the pilot project ends on 31st March 2024.

Our Appreciative Inquiry approach included:

• Appreciative interviews with a wide range of stakeholders.
• “Discovery” and “Dream” focus groups and questionnaires.
• A review of case notes and interviews with Keyworkers to prepare 40 mini-cases studies to discover exactly what Keyworkers do, and what difference they make.
• Appreciative interviews with 4 other national pilot projects to identify best practices that NWL could learn from.
• Review of the feedback gathered from C&YP and families with experience of support from a Keyworker.

The inquiry:

• Established exactly what keyworkers do and what works best.
• Proved keyworkers mostly (in 36 out of 40 cases) make a positive difference.
• Found the keyworker role rarely overlaps with other professionals until the Keyworker’s job is done.
• Highlighted a wide range of good practices being used by other pilot projects.
• Discussed the advantages/disadvantages of six future options to organise the keyworker service and provided an option appraisal tool to help with decision taking.

Alison Knight – Autism (ASD)/Learning Disabilities (LD) Keyworker Programme Lead said:

“Alder Advice’s work was very targeted towards the objectives of the evaluation. They orientated their research on the range of outcomes sought by the project. Their approach was flexible and adaptable. They always appreciated achievements in a service at the beginning stages of setting out. They were experienced in the arena being evaluated and able to facilitate effectively as well as project manage efficiently. The proposal and concluding recommendations will be pivotal in manoeuvring the future of the service’s function and delivery.”