Council’s social services report reveals where improvement is needed

RHONDDA Cynon Taf Council is providing a good range of social services but there are areas where improvement is needed.

That’s what the council’s director of community and children’s services, Gio Isingrini, told cabinet members as he delivered the social services annual report on Tuesday, July 17.

He said: “We provide a good range of services but there are areas we need to improve on.”

Mr Isingrini said there is a high number of children looked after in the county borough but said there had been a good impact on delayed transfers of care from hospital through the Stay Well At Home scheme.

He mentioned other areas that the local authority is looking to work on including telecare, resilience of services in the community and children’s mental health and emotional wellbeing.

Cllr Geraint Hopkins, cabinet member for adult community services and the Welsh language, said: “This council continues to help tens of thousands of people every day with superb social services.

“There has been huge investment to transform our services. The use of technology is going to be increasingly important.”

Cllr Christina Leyshon, cabinet member for children and young people, praised the single access point for children’s services, the Resilient Families programme and community hubs, but raised concerns that children’s services are the “poor relation” of adult services.

Mr Isingrini said they did not want to see the position of children’s services lessened and agreed they needed to target earlier care at children of younger ages.

Cllr Hopkins said that legislation does not put as much emphasis on children’s services as it does on adult services and said there should be a transformation fund for children in Wales.

Council leader Andrew Morgan said: “We should be investing in children’s homes. There are far too many children going across the border into England. We need to keep more youngsters closer to home. This would save a significant sum of money to be reinvested.”

He also thanked staff in the social services department for their work during the period which saw the Beast from the East leave large parts of the UK covered in snow, saying staff had gone “above and beyond.”