Bridgend County Borough Council children’s services to produce improvement plan following inspection

Bridgend County Borough Council is to produce an improvement plan for its children’s services in response to an inspection report, published by CSSIW today (Monday).
 
The local authority was inspected by CSSIW in January and February this year.
 
At the time of the inspection the local authority was undergoing significant change while implementing the Social Services and Well-Being (Wales) Act 2014. 
 
The social services and well-being directorate was also working hard to transform services while making savings, the report found.
 
No widespread or serious failures that left children being harmed or at risk of harm were identified by inspectors, but the quality of threshold screening, assessments and care and support planning was found to be inconsistent.
 
It was not evident that children, young people and families had been consulted about changes to services developments. Inspectors found that there were no leaflets or materials available to the public about the range of services available or how to access them.
 
Inspectors noted that senior managers were already taking steps to look at the impact services are having on reducing need and risk.
 
But they recommended that the local authority listen more to the views of children and families when shaping services.
 
Like other local authorities across Wales, Bridgend should continue to focus on how they can retain staff for longer and more timely recruitment of experienced staff.
 
The recommendations in the report are intended to help Bridgend County Borough Council and partners in their continuing improvement. The local authority’s improvement plan for children’s services will be monitored as part of CSSIW’s programme of engagement.