Wrexham Council continues to make improvements to social services.
The report follows a full inspection by CIW in June of this year, which included a detailed assessment of services provided by the council.
The report highlights:
- The improvement journey children’s social services has been on since 2019.
- Commitment across the council – from senior leaders, managers and politicians – to provide appropriate resources for an “ambitious and child-focused service that promotes the wellbeing of children.”
- The successful appointment of people to senior departmental posts, and the positive impact this has had on culture, expectations and standards.
- Strong working relationships with other agencies, and positive changes to mental health support services.
Positive progress
Councillor Rob Walsh, Lead Member for Children’s Services, says:
“The report recognises the progress we’ve made in children’s social care, while providing us with a continued focus on where we need to improve.
“One of the key things that CIW recognise is the commitment across the council to improve and appropriately resource services. This has played a key part in helping us move forward.
“However there’s still work to be done. For example, we need look at how outcomes are considered and how social workers are assigned to the children we support.
“Our improvement plans will help us put renewed focus on these areas.”
CIW notes that “some progress has been made resulting in developments to practice and better outcomes for children”
Good practice in Adult Services
The inspection also highlighted many positive areas of work in adult social care, including:
- “Good examples of effective and timely response to adult safeguarding reports.”
- Good multi-agency working with partner organisations.
Councillor John Pritchard, Lead Member for Adult Social Care, says:
“The report highlights several areas of good practice, which is really positive.
“It also confirms what we need to focus on next – including the need to create better access to services like occupational therapy and domiciliary care.
“These are the things we’ll be focusing on now, and we’ll make the improvements needed as we move forwards.”
Commitment and dedication
Councillor Mark Pritchard, Leader of the Council, says:
“I’m pleased that the CIW Inspection Report acknowledges the commitment and dedication of the Chief Officer for Social Care and all of the staff who have been involved to take this forward.
“I would also like to take this opportunity to thank all councillors who supported the budget, which then allowed us to put extra funding of over £10m into Social Care within Wrexham.
“I recognise that in Wrexham we are on an improvement journey and we must continue to protect the most vulnerable people within our communities.”
