It was heartening to see colleagues from across social care get together in Manchester after three years of absence due to the pandemic.

There was much to reflect on, with intervening years having placed enormous pressure and responsibilities on local authorities. Little did they know that, having finally put the pandemic behind them, they now faced the challenge of austerity on a massive scale.

It's not going to be pretty for the next three-to-10 years, with sweeping cuts predicted across the public sector and services.

This was just one of many themes covered by the conference, along with topics including the upcoming raft of new legislation, a complicated regulatory framework for children's services, a new assurance framework for adult services, mental health challenges, workforce issues, and outcomes from the various reviews around children's social care, child deaths, SEND and placement costs.

Government ministers were conspicuously absent. Their presence had previously been a highlight of the event, even if they were only there to say how much they wanted to learn from the sector and looked forward to the working partnership.

Instead, there was a worrying lack of clarity for policy decisions that need to be made to progress the many recommendations crossing their desks.

On the upside, we heard about the creative initiatives being developed in local areas to support families and individuals through the cost of living crisis, including financial advice, food banks, warm hubs and free prescriptions.

The voluntary and community sector emerged as valuable partners in tackling the hurdles ahead and there was widespread willingness to share good practices across the board.

During Covid, local authorities showed true leadership within their communities. They will do so again during austerity, displaying hope, resilience and, as former director of children's services and adult social services at Salford City Council, Charlotte Ramsden OBE, said, ‘togetherness'.

Maggie Hennessy, director Penna Executive Search

maggie.hennessy@penna.com