Older Peoples* Partnership Board (The Board)

Terms of Reference (ToR)

* Older people refers to adults aged 65+
Purpose
To bring together Older People, their representatives, the public and third sector, to work
together to ensure the highest quality and best value services for older people locally.
Tasks
1. Ensure that older people are continually involved in the creation and delivery of
Cambridgeshire County Councils (the Council) policy and strategies
2. Champion older peoples views and needs with the Council
3. Put in place a two-way communication system with older people to both gain and
disseminate information
4. Provide linkage between service providers, encouraging joint working and
communication
5. Provide a focal point for the Council that gives an overview of older peoples services.
6. Provide challenge and comment on existing services
7. Support services to tackle issues successfully by raising concerns via the Councils
Adult Social Care Forum (the ASCF)
8. Work with the Council and service providers to celebrate success and share good
practice
9. Provide a structure for producing service user case studies and stories, with the aim to
improve practice
10. Help to avoid wasteful duplication across partners
11. To work closely with the other Council Participation Bodies to identify and problem solve
common areas of concern
12. To act as a critical friend to the Council and other providers to ensure that older people
are treated as full citizens
13.

To provide feedback to members on all aspects of its work, including an annual

report of activities

Reporting/Governance
The Chair of the Board will attend meetings of the ASCF to raise awareness of issues and
influence strategic decision-making. The Chair will in turn report back to the Board.

The Board will feedback on, and report to its members on any initiatives relating to local
initiatives affecting Older People.

Board Members (See current membership list for more details)

The Board will operate a two tier membership comprising:

1. Full members who attend and participate fully in Board meetings
2. Corresponding members who do not attend (all) meetings but receive all information
and minutes and are invited to participate and contribute via email / telephone etc.
The Board will be made up of the following:

50% (of Full members) will be Independent Older People

Appropriate Third Sector Organisation representatives

A limited number of Statutory Services Representatives (Social Care & Health)

Additionally, a member of the Adults Committee will be nominated to, and expected to
attend.

Furthermore, the membership of the Board should aim to be representative of the diversity
of Cambridgeshire.

Members will remain on the board for a period of 1-3 years except under exceptional
circumstances and at the discretion of the board.
Chair
The role of the Chair is to facilitate the smooth running of meetings and to ensure that the
views of all members are duly considered. Elected Chairs will remain in office for two years
and may be elected for a further one year. Except in exceptional circumstances, two
meetings notice is required of resignation from the position of Chair or Vice Chair. In
addition the Chair will be available to attend meetings with Senior Council Executives, as
required, to represent the Board.
2

Vice Chair
The Vice Chair will be elected by the Board and will remain in office for two years and may
be elected for a further one year. The Vice Chair will provide support and back up to Chair
and will take on the role and responsibilities above in the absence of the Chair.

Independent Older People

Independent Older People on the Board play a crucial role in delivering lived experience
expertise and bring their own awareness of relevant issues to the Board. Whilst they may
have links with other local networks they are not invited as formal representatives of those
groups and are not expected to represent the views of others.
Third Sector Organisations and Statutory Service Representatives
These representatives are required to take responsibility to use their networks and links to
older people to support voice and consultation activities when required.

Prospective new Board members

Prospective new members will meet with the Chair and Cambridgeshire Alliance who will
give an overview of the work of the Board. Any member can introduce a prospective new
member by putting them in contact with the Chair or Cambridgeshire Alliance.

Frequency and agendas

Meetings will be held every three months.

Extraordinary meetings can be called by any of the group members, in consultation with
all other members and to be agreed by the Chair

Any member of the group may suggest agenda items to the Chair or Cambridgeshire
Alliance at least 3 weeks before each meeting to be agreed by the Chair

Agendas will be sent out to members at least 1 week before each meeting; these will
also be available on the Cambridgeshire Alliance website

Referral Onwards

Where relevant issues are raised at the Board which require detailed scrutiny, a Task
and Finish group will be convened, which will feed back to the Board on completion of
the task.

Where individual issues arise, which would more appropriately be referred on for
individual resolution through the Complaints Process, or through presentation at
another specialist forum, members will be encouraged and supported to do so.

Communications
Minutes and other relevant information will be publicised on the Councils and
Cambridgeshire Alliances website, on which there is a dedicated Older Peoples
Partnership Board page.

Lifespan of the Group

The Terms of Reference of the Partnership Board will be reviewed on a three yearly
basis.

Any developments or changes to the Board will be reflected in the amended Terms of
Reference.

These Terms of Reference were adopted by the Board on: 1st December 2014
They will be due for review on: 1st December 2017