Council finalist in social care awards

Pembrokeshire Children’s Service has reached the finals of this year’s Accolades Awards.

The annual award scheme run by the Care Council for Wales celebrates and showcases excellence in social care.

Pembrokeshire County Council has finalists in two of the seven award categories.

Finalist in the Leadership to achieve confident, competent andprofessional workers category is the Council’s supper club for care leavers, which ensures that the ‘voice of the child’ is integral to service planning by giving young people direct access to a personal advisor, support agencies and practical help.

The Council is also a finalist in the Developing a sustainable workforce category for implementing a workforce strategy concentrating on recruiting and retaining high-quality social workers through an improved salary structure and market supplement payment.

“The Accolades is a very prestigious award scheme and I am really pleased that we are finalists in two categories,” said Councillor Sue Perkins, Cabinet Member for Education and Safeguarding.

“The Accolades look particularly for those organisations that have invested in the learning and development of their workforce to improve care services to the public.”

The Accolades award scheme was launched in 2005 and this year celebrates its 10th anniversary.

It’s open to teams and organisations from across the public, voluntary and independent sectors in Wales.

The winners will be announced at a ceremony in Cardiff City Hall on Thursday, 18 June and will be selected by a panel of judges comprising partners from a variety of organisations across the country.

They include the British Association of Social Work (BASW); the Social Services Improvement Agency (SSIA) Cymru; the Association of Directors of Social Services (ADSS) Cymru; the Older People’s Commissioner for Wales; the Wales Council for Voluntary Action (WCVA); Children in Wales; Care Forum Wales; and Workforce, Education and Development Services (WEDS), NHS Wales.