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Annual Council Reporting Framework

Published: 12/06/2015

The Council’s Cabinet will consider the annual performance of Social Services at its meeting on Tuesday 16 June. The Chief Officer of Social Services, Neil Ayling, produces an annual report as part of the Welsh Government’s performance framework for Social Services. The report, which looks at the effectiveness of Social Services in 2014/2015, also sets out the Councils priorities. Previous reports have been recognised by the regulators as being a fair and true self-assessment. The report has been developed to reflect the key themes contained within the Social Services and Well Being Act which comes into force in April 2016. In a momentous year of change for the service, positive performance has been provided in almost all areas of Adult Social Services and many areas in Children’s Services. This is within a context of increasing service demand, greater complexity of need and a very challenging budgetary position. Highlights include - Supporting more people to live at home through reablement – responding to a 28% increase in referrals for this service - Setting up a new service offering people short term support in a Care Home setting as an alternative to hospital admission, or enabling someone to be discharged from hospital. 90 people were supported through this step up/step down service - Strong performance in meeting national indicators for child protection processes Key improvement priorities for the coming year include an action plan for strengthening dementia services, implementing a Single Point of Access, and developing Extra Care. Exploring alternative delivery models will also be a priority, to ensure that the Council tries and sustains important services for communities and individuals that otherwise may be lost. Councillor Christine Jones, Cabinet Member for Social Services, said: “This is an excellent report and a fair assessment of our performance as a service last year. It is also great that the report itself is being designed by Double Click, our new social enterprise for people with mental health problems. The Council’s overall assessment is that Social Services continues to drive forward service improvement and is well placed to respond to the challenging financial environment, but is realistic about the size of the challenge. We are not complacent, and I am proud of the good work that has been carried out across the board.