Liverpool Council’s social services judged excellent

SOCIAL services for adults in Liverpool have been given top marks by inspectors. The Care Quality Commission (CQC) has given the city council’s services an “excellent” score and praised the local authority’s “ambitious vision”.

It concludes that the council is performing “strongly” in providing services “that enable people to improve and manage their own health and wellbeing”.

Liverpool Council leader Warren Bradley said the report was a reflection of the huge changes that had been made to the delivery of social services in the past few years.

“I am absolutely thrilled with this outstanding report, which puts us alongside the best in the country.

“Our residents deserve the very best services – and that is exactly what we are giving them.”

The council has been scored as “excellent” in four out of seven judgement areas, while in three others it is graded as performing “well”.

One of the reasons for the improved grading, up from performing well last year, is the way the council helps to manage their own social care budgets.

More than 1,000 people now receive direct payments, enabling them to spend their social care budget as they wish.

Among them is soldier Craig Lundberg, 24, who lost his sight while serving in Basra in 2007.

He uses his direct payments to employ a personal assistant (PA) to help him with his busy life running a property business and playing for the England blind national football team.

He said: “They have given me back my independence.

“It takes the frustration and pressure away from me knowing there is someone there to assist me with day-to-day activities such as keeping on top of my bills, dealing with paperwork, driving me to appointments, and meeting people – basically being my eyes.”

Although the report was predominately positive, inspectors have asked the council to improve timely completion of safeguarding cases.

Stuart Smith, executive director for adult services, said: “I would like to take this opportunity to pay tribute to those who work in our care services, who are absolutely key to this fantastic report.

“Every day they go above and beyond the call of duty helping improve the life for our most vulnerable residents, and this report is a reflection of their hard work.”