The planned merger of Caerphilly and Blaenau Gwent social services represents one of the largest current service mergers in the Welsh Public Sector and is warmly welcomed by the WLGA.
Councils across Wales are being encouraged by the Welsh Government to work together and collaborate to deliver significant efficiencies and concentrate resources on the front line. This project, which has the endorsement of all political parties across both councils, is an exemplar in this respect.
Commenting on the merger proposal the Chief Executive of the WLGA, Steve Thomas CBE said:
“We applaud the ambition and drive given to this project by elected members and officers across both authorities. Recently Westminster politicians from all parties have been urged to work together to find a way to overhaul the “failing” social care system in England here is a “live example” from Wales of innovation and service creativity. The scale of this project is huge. It impacts on some 3000 staff and has a revenue budget of £107m, dealing with some of the most vulnerable clients. To set this in context the scale of this is bigger than the revenue budget of key Welsh organisations such as Dyfed Powys Police or the South Wales Fire and Rescue Authority.”
“With Ceredigion and Powys Councils also working together towards forming Central Wales Social Services, significant change is on the agenda. In both cases the councils concerned have concluded that to face the challenges and demands in the rapidly changing arena of social care, now is the right time for organisations to work together to provide a platform for further improvements Local government has been criticised for its “reluctant embrace” of collaboration but in this case the Deputy Minister for Social Services, Gwenda Thomas AM has offered warm support saying “The collaboration between Caerphilly and Blaenau Gwent is exactly what we want to see and I wish them well with that work.”
A range of important key principles underpin the merger. These include: –
- Bringing together the two directorates incrementally, which will increase capacity and promote the sharing of knowledge and expertise amongst staff across both local authority areas
- Effective engagement of Service Users and Carers
- Streamlining management structures for the delivery of services – a new Social Services Directorate with one management team and Director is aimed to be in place for the 1st of April 2014
- Services being delivered, commissioned or procured together and realising savings as a result of introducing more efficient delivery models and economies of scale
- Innovative governance that supports the modernisation agenda and growth of front line services
- Offering services that individually would be too costly to provide, resulting in a wider range of services for citizens
- Redesigning services to ensure that the customer is at the heart of service planning, design and delivery
