Many social services departments, told their prospects for improvement were poor, would despair. Yet two months after Swindon received a zero rating in the government's performance league tables, staff are bouncing back and trying to build on the positive.
"We are turning ourselves inside out and doing our best to completely re-invent ourselves to meet people's needs," says Eleni Ioannides, acting social services director.
The ratings came as no great surprise to the department. Six months earlier, it had received a draft report of a joint review by the audit commission and social services inspectorate.
"Swindon is a new authority with high aspirations and ambitions, but it has not yet got to grips with some of the key aspects of corporate management and with the complexity of social care issues," said the report.
In practice, this meant time was being wasted carrying out assessments on elderly people who did not need support to live in the community. In children's services, inspectors found a high number of vulnerable children risked falling through the safety net, because their cases weren't allocated to a social worker.
Elsewhere, it was noted that a lack of financial data had made it difficult to plan and some services were not cost-effective. Many of the managers responsible for assessment and arranging packages of care were junior, or on temporary contracts. And at times, it was noted, the roles of councillors and officers were unclear and there was no overall leadership and direction. The last eight months have been a time of major change for the tiny social services department that covers a fast expanding regional centre. A multi-agency steering group has been set up to oversee the implementation of an 80-page plan which sets out priorities for action.
Senior managers from outside agencies are being brought in to act as troubleshooters, information systems have been overhauled, and more care managers are being appointed. All children in need have been allocated to a care worker. And, the council's cabinet has promised to make spending on social services a priority. Only this month, members pledged a £33m budget - 24% above the government' standard spending assessment - and they say they will increase this if necessary.
"We were disappointed that the joint review report was so negative. We knew many of the problems were there, and it's been very hard putting it behind us - and moving on. But we are absolutely determined to get things right," says Ioannides. Although morale, not surprisingly, has been low at times, she believes the authority has turned the corner. "Staff have been very professional and we have had to ask them to move on from the report. We cannot achieve miracles overnight. But we get reassessed in October and we expect to show we have made big strides and significant progress." LJ
