Agenda item

To consider the attached report which evaluates the key aspects of the transfer of Adult Social Care services back to the Council as of 1^st April 2024 and provides an overview of the effectiveness of the transfer alongside lessons learnt.

Cllr Alison Born, Cabinet Member for Adult Services, introduced the report, moved the officer recommendation and made the following statement:

“This paper evaluates the recently completed process of bringing our adult social care services back in house. We took the decision to do this because we believe that B&NES Council is best placed to provide the social work provision that our residents need. We were cautioned against bringing the services back in house as the move was perceived to be risky and potentially costly, but we felt that the benefits outweighed those risks. We wanted to regain control of these essential, statutory services and to ensure that they could never again be transferred to a new provider without our knowledge.

Had we not done this, the alternative proposition was to continue to contract services out to other providers which has been the model in recent years. During that time, staff working in our local adult social care services have been transferred from B&NES Council to Sirona, from Sirona to Virgin Care, from Virgin Care to HCRG Care Group and most recently from HCRG Care Group back to B&NES Council.

They have not welcomed this regular change of employer, their perceived lack of influence over decisions and processes, the accompanying alterations to their working practices, changes to their terms and conditions and the inherent disruption to services and loss of productivity that tends to result from such changes. All the staff I have spoken to since the transfer have said how well the process was handled and how pleased they are to be working for Bath and North East Somerset council.

Council officers worked incredibly hard to make this happen. They learnt from the experience of previous transfers to ensure that staff were kept informed, had opportunities to influence proceedings and were moved across with minimal disruption to service provision. They also ensured that the inevitable costs of such a transfer (a cost of contracting out that tends to get little attention) were minimised and were far less than initial estimates and the budget identified for the work.

I would like to formally thank officers in the adult social care team, particularly the Director of Adult Social Care and the programme manager for her skilful leadership of the transfer.  Also, staff working in a range of corporate services such as IT, estates, HR, and payroll who ensured that services were not disrupted, that staff were made to feel welcome, could access the tools they needed to do their jobs properly from day one and were paid on time. I would also like to thank the HCRG care group who worked constructively with us throughout the transfer process.

The decision to bring these services back to the council demonstrates our commitment to the staff who provide adult social care services and underpins our belief that this model of provision offers more opportunities for collaborative work and innovation to deliver high quality, best value services that meet our residents social care needs as set out in the Care Act of 2014.

The execution of the decision also demonstrates that despite all the cuts to council funding and the prevailing wisdom that the private sector is best placed to provide social care; this administration has demonstrated that it has the political vision to challenge that view in the interests of our staff and residents and that the council has the expertise to implement the necessary change processes for a successful transfer. This is a significant achievement for this administration which should be celebrated.”

Cllr Matt McCabe seconded the motion.  He stated that members had been willing to accept a certain amount of risk when deciding to bring the services back in-house, because it was the right thing to do.  Officers have worked extremely hard to achieve the required outcomes and to minimise disruption to service users.  He congratulated all those who had been involved in the process which has been a huge success.

Cllr Paul May stated that he fully supported the motion and stated that the work undertaken was a credit to all those involved.  An in-house service can ensure that adults and children’s services work together, and it is a positive change.  He stated that the transition had gone very well and had not adversely affected service users, staff or local communities.

RESOLVED (unanimously):

To note the evaluation of the Adult Social Care transfer of services to B&NES Council on 1^st April 2024 and lessons learnt.