The winners of the Guardian Public Service Awards 2016 have all challenged the way things are done. They have effected change to make services better for the people using them, better at reaching others who should use them and – an inescapable requirement in this long and bleak fiscal winter – better value for the taxpayer.
Our overall winner, Sevenoaks council, exemplifies these qualities. It is the first council to make itself financially self-sufficient, recognising the inevitability of loss of funding by central government. To do so, however, it has had to confront and overcome risk aversion on the part of its own councillors.
Other winners have similarly confronted conventional attitudes – towards people on society’s margins, in the cases of Derventio Housing Trust, Pause Southwark, Hyde Group’s Money House and Transport for London; towards community needs and strengths, in Oldham and in Poplar, east London; and towards the way services are delivered, in the cases of Independent Lives and the Baby Buddy App from Best Beginnings.
Our public servant of the year, voted for by our readers, is no exception. Helen Backus, of Buckinghamshire county council, has transformed the way that young people with disabilities or support needs are regarded and treated, both in her home authority and farther afield.
A record 6,000 readers voted in the public servant poll. Thanks to them, to all 420 entrants for the team categories and to our sponsors for their support in being able to bring back the awards after a gap of two years.
The overwhelming evidence is that public services may be battered by austerity, but they are unbowed.
Here is the full list of all this year’s winners and runners-up:
Overall Winner: Sevenoaks district council
Public Servant of the Year: Helen Backus
Category winners and runners-up:
Care – sponsored by CGI
WINNER: Pause Southwark, London borough of Southwark
Runners-up:
10-60-6 dementia care team, Barchester Healthcare
Sefton multi-agency child sexual exploitation panel, Sefton council
Digital and technology – sponsored by Havas People
WINNER: Baby Buddy app, Best Beginnings
Runners-up:
Peterborough Open+ libraries, Peterborough city council
Healthcare innovation team proactive care system, Welsh government
Finance - sponsored by Finders International
WINNER: Financial self-sufficiency, Sevenoaks district council
Runners-up:
Economic development, Angus council
Financial turnaround of Bolton NHS Foundation Trust, Bolton NHS Foundation Trust
Health and wellbeing – sponsored by Remploy
WINNER: Healthy Futures, Derventio Housing Trust
Runner-up:
Community Works for Health, Bart’s Health NHS Trust
Housing - sponsored by Oyster Partnership
WINNER: The Money House, Hyde Group
Runners-up: Staffordshire offenders service, Heantun Group
Live and work project, Sandwell and West Birmingham NHS Trust
Learning and development - sponsored by Skills for Care
WINNER: Your Training, Your Way, Independent Lives
Runners-up:
Every colleague matters event, Nottingham city council
Co-responding project team, Surrey Fire and Rescue Service and South East Coast Ambulance Service
Recruitment - sponsored by Quadrant Resourcing
WINNER: Smart sourcing, Transport for London
Runners-up:
Insight programme, Cheshire Constabulary
Social promotion project, Wiltshire council
Sustainability – sponsored by Repic
WINNER: Warm Homes, Oldham council
Runner-up:
Green Wheels travel scheme, Salford city council
Transformation – sponsored by Ameo
WINNER: Accents team, Poplar housing and regeneration community association
Runners-up:
Youth homelessness databank team, Centrepoint
Chief executive and area managers, Home-Start Lincolnshire
