Social care services improve, but one in five councils must do better says new report
New spotlight on adults' social care
30 November 2006
People relying on council social care services should be pleased
that many services have improved for the fourth year running.
Ten new councils raised their game to achieve the top three-star
rating in 2006.
However, nine councils awarded three stars last year fell back
to two stars in 2006.
Download the report:
This drop reflects the need to maintain a very high level of
performance in order to keep the coveted three stars.
Published today, the Performance Ratings for Adult Social
Services in England 2006 (commonly called Star Ratings) shows that
the rate of improvement overall appears to be slowing.
CSCI Chief Inspector Paul Snell said: “This is CSCI’s first
dedicated analysis of adult social care, putting the spotlight
specifically on services for adults.
There is much good news in today’s report, and we congratulate
all those councils that have improved their services over the last
year.”
Of the councils which last year were described as ‘coasting’,
twelve have improved sufficiently to be removed from the list, with
only one new council being added.
For the remaining councils, however, performance has still not
improved enough over the past three years to demonstrate the
increased capacity necessary for future improvement.
Paul Snell warned that a fifth of all councils in England still
only receive one star. 24 of these councils have been given just
one star for the last three years running.
He continued:
“Although there are now no zero-star councils, for one-star
councils or those termed as ‘coasting’ there is an urgent need for
them to improve.
We will continue working closely with these councils to help
them achieve this.”
Overall the main challenges facing councils include:
- Providing timely, convenient and responsive arrangements for
referral, care planning and review;
- Making sure quality assurance systems are in place and service
quality is consistent;
- Providing a range of services to support and encourage all
carers;
- Providing services that are broad and varied to meet needs,
offering choices to many, and taking account of individual
preferences;
- Demonstrating improved efficiency across all aspects of social
services operations.
- Commissioning for services which represent good value for money
in terms of quality and cost
In 2006, 25 councils (17%) improved their services enough to
increase their star rating, while 16 (11%) fell back.
There are now no zero star rated councils, 33 councils (22%)
have one star, 73 (49%) two stars and 44 (29%) three stars.
Councils moving from one to two stars showed the greatest
improvements in performance.
Fourteen councils moved up to two stars in 2006, while seven
fell from two stars to one.
It should be noted that this year’s Star Ratings cannot be
compared directly with last year’s.
In 2004-5 the ratings were based on services for both adults and
children.
This year the ratings are based solely on adults' services.
To provide a like-for-like comparison, CSCI has looked at last
year's ratings to come up with a rating for 2004-05 based solely on
councils' performance on adults' services.
Consequently, because children's services are no longer counted,
some councils' Star Ratings appear to have gone up or down this
year even though their performance on adults' services has not
changed.
This year’s Star Ratings are the first step towards a new system
of performance assessment.
They are designed to help councils understand their current
performance and assist them to move to a new system of assessment
focused more clearly on outcomes for people who use services.
Today’s Star Ratings have also revealed areas in which good
councils perform well.
These include:
- Ensuring systems are in place to safeguard people from abuse,
neglect or poor treatment whilst using services.
- Providing good quality information which is readily accessible
to all, including diverse groups in the community.
- Seeking feedback from people who use services and carers and
acting on that feedback.
- Working to develop effective joint working with relevant
partner agencies.
- Having good financial management systems that provide the
foundation for better planning and commissioning in social
care.
Ends
Notes to editors
1. The CSCI is the single inspectorate for social care in
England, responsible for regulating and inspecting all social care
providers - whether in the public or independent sector, and for
assessing the performance of local councils in delivering their
personal social services functions.
2. The Commission’s primary aim is to improve social care by
putting the needs of people who use care services first.
3. The Commission is chaired by Dame Denise Platt DBE and has
five Commissioners. The Chief Inspector is Paul Snell. CSCI staff
work across nine regions in England – aligned with the government
offices of the regions.
4. Press copies of the documents published today – the
Performance ratings for Adult Social Services in England 2006,
Adult Social Services Performance Assessment Framework Indicators
2005 – 2006, Children’s Social Services Performance Assessment
Framework Indicators 2005 – 2006, and individual council
performance reports - can be obtained from the CSCI press office on
020 7979 2094, 2089 or 2090, or can be viewed on the Commission’s
website, www.csci.org.uk