Council shortlisted for five top awards

WARRINGTON Borough Council is one of only three local authorities in the UK to be shortlisted for five Local Government Chronicle (LCG) awards, it has been announced.
Five is the maximum number of awards any authority has been shortlisted for – and Warrington is shortlisted in five categories – children’s services, innovation, community involvement, most innovative service delivery model, and campaign of the year.
This year’s awards have attracted more entries than ever before – a record breaking 640 entries were submitted.
All shortlisted entries are from the council’s families and wellbeing directorate.
Children’s services has been shortlisted after undergoing a radical transformation,taking it from a “notice to improve” in 2009 to a current rating of “good” from Ofsted.
The Safe Places scheme has been shortlisted for community involvement. The scheme is commissioned by the Hate Crime Partnership, and delivered by Speak Up, a community group who represent people with learning disabilities, and other partners.
The scheme allows vulnerable people to enjoy the freedom to participate in the life of the town as they – and their carers – know they can get assistance at shops and other buildings displaying the Safe Places logo.
The “Support 4 Change” project has been shortlisted for innovation. The project enables people in the criminal justice system to be screened for lower level mental health,learning disability, substance misuse and other vulnerabilities so that they can be supported early in the offender pathway as a sentencing alternative to custody. The support is offered via the multi-agency Warrington Criminal Justice Liaison Service and the Mental Health Outreach Team.
The most innovative service delivery model and campaign of the year are both for the council’s adoption service WWiSH, shared with Wigan and St Helens council.
WWiSH was the first of its kind in the country and was established in 2012. From September 2012 to Match 2013 the team had 190 enquiries and approved 20 families for adoption.
Kath O’Dwyer (pictured), executive director for families and wellbeing, said: “We are absolutely delighted with this achievement. To be shortlisted at all is brilliant but to be one of the authorities that has been shortlisted in the most categories, particularly when the number and quality of entries has reportedly been so high, is incredible and a true
reflection of the hard work and dedication of officers in Warrington.
“All local authorities are facing tough challenges and have to think of new ways of delivering services while still putting the needs of residents first and that’s exactly what we strive to do.
“The WWiSH adoption service in particular is a great example of pooling
resources and skill sets and getting real, valuable results.
“Children’s services has undergone a radical transformation since 2009 and continues to go from strength to strength. There is greater emphasis on continual organisational improvement and more innovative approaches to service development.
“In Warrington we are committed to at the very least, maintaining good or better services and will continue to strive for ‘outstanding’ by making sure that residents are at the heart of all we do.
“We’re keeping our fingers crossed and hoping that the next round of judging results in some winners for Warrington, enabling us to share our successes with other local authorities and facilitate even more positive change.”