Issue - meetings

To consider and provide observations on the Director of Social Services’ Annual Report for 2023/24 (copy attached) prior to its submission to Care Inspectorate Wales (CIW) and its publication on Denbighshire County Council’s (DCC) website.

10.15am – 11am

Cabinet Member for Health and Social Care (EH) introduced the report (previously circulated), summarising the significant increase in the need for social care services, issues over recruitment and retention to the sector, thus progress being slower and performance against key indicators having dropped because of the pressures. Focus ahead would be on the transformation agenda.

Corporate Director: Social Services and Education (NS) explained the report’s production was a statutory requirement and its format and contents were prescribed by Welsh Government, therefore there were limits to how Denbighshire County Council could adapt the report. However, there would be a new format soon from Welsh Government.

Corporate Director: Social Services and Education (NS) expressed her thanks to the department, partners and informal carers for their continued hard work. The team continued to operate as a blended service with Education and Social Care and had joint heads of service and a joint budget and service plan.

The Chair then opened the discussion out for questions. 

Responding to members’ questions the officers advised:

• Recruitment and retention throughout the report was cited as a challenge, particularly in relation to Children’s Services. The difficulties faced here were not new for this reporting period the issue has been reported to scrutiny numerous times. The department had done further specific targeted work, looking at the reasons provided in exit interviews, developing the staff currently employed, and continuously promoting the flexible working offer and lobbying nationally for pay increases to the sector.  However this was a national issue, Social Work was now undersubscribed and therefore not enough newly qualified entrants were coming in to the profession. Similarly with Mental Health, there was a national shortage of professionals in the service.  Denbighshire was looking at the current structure within the team and allocating work to free up Approved Mental Health Practitioner’s (AMPH’s) to focus on the work they were statutorily required to undertake.
• Corporate Director: Social Services and Education advised that she and fellow members of the Association of Directors of Social Services (ADSS) Cymru were continually lobbying the Welsh Local Government Association (WLGA), the Local Government Association (LGA), both UK & Welsh Governments and others with respect of better pay for care sector workers, including parity of terms and conditions with National Health Service (NHS) employees.
• The report was onerous, Head of Adult Social Care and Homelessness (AL) was working with Welsh Government on the new format for future annual reports, however it was uncertain how much of their input would be taken onboard. The new format should hopefully be better, it would include a performance section with data and would separate Adult and Children Services information more clearly. The Case Studies provided within the report were well received and provided useful illustrations of the complexities entailed in providing the right types of services to suit the individuals.
• Digital inclusion was discussed and the importance of reaching out to older residents and those that were digitally excluded was discussed.  The ‘Ageing Well in Denbighshire’ scheme played a crucial role in this, especially in rural Denbighshire. ‘Digital Confidence’ was another scheme aimed at building digital confidence, this programme was funded by Shared Prosperity Fund (SPF) monies.
• Complex Needs, the pressures continued to increase, older population presenting to residential care now on average were 82 – 83 years old and were using these services when families could no longer provide the required support, therefore their needs were greater when entering care. In Children’s Services since the pandemic there had been an increase in complex mental health and behavioural mental health. A lot of work was ongoing with partners, Children and Adolescent Mental  ...  view the full minutes text for item 5