Children’s services to merge?

Jun 3 2010 by Kelly Barker, North Wales Weekly News

CHILDREN’S services in Conwy and Denbighshire may merge.

Last week, Denbighshire’s cabinet approved plans for the two authorities to join forces.

Conwy will be considering the matter next month, despite fears it could “distract attention from delivering the bread and butter of sound children’s services in each county”.

But the move into one integrated service aims to provide a “more resilient and robust service” amid the current pressures on public spending.

Inspection and regulation requirements will also be increased due to high profile cases like Baby Peter, and links are said to be improved with other key partners, including the police.

Already Conwy and Denbighshire’s highways departments work together and both authorities are considering other streamlined options for joint management.

The two councils have similar budgets for children’s services, which are used to fund services in different ways – for example, some support functions are provided corporately in Conwy but sit within services in Denbighshire.

But there are still fundamental snags to iron out as to whether budgets should be pooled or aligned, and issues over council tax and accountability still need to be discussed.

Some staff could also be undertaking identical roles, but working under differing terms and conditions.

Providing Conwy Council’s cabinet agrees to the merger at their meeting in June, the cost of a nine-month integration project is estimated at £250,000 across the two authorities.

A new joint head of service will be appointed to oversee the collaboration on a salary of £85,000, and could be in post by November.

A report by Denbighshire’s director of social services and housing Sally Ellis says: “There are known risks and barriers which will require creativity and ingenuity to address... It is inevitable there will be risks which have not emerged yet. It will be a function of the joint head of service and the project team to deal with these, putting forward solutions which will protect standards and be cost effective.”

Around 200 employees across the two counties will be directly affected by the changes, but the report adds: “The larger organisational base would offer opportunities for career development – important considering the ongoing recruitment and retention challenges in children’s services.”