As councillors we are constantly being told that staff are being seconded to other service areas because of Covid. Due to the extra workload adult social services are having to deal with and the huge amount of pressure they are facing on a daily basis, could the portfolio holder please tell me how many staff have been seconded to support adult social services, how many staff from this service area are on furlough and what steps are the council taking to ensure the welfare of the staff in this service area?
Minutes:
As councillors we are constantly being told that staff are being seconded to other service areas because of Covid. Due to the extra workload adult social services are having to deal with and the huge amount of pressure they are facing on a daily basis, Could the portfolio holder please tell me how many staff have been seconded to support adult social services, how many staff from this service area are on furlough and what steps are the council taking to ensure the welfare of the staff in this service area.
Response
Redeployment
Since March 2020, 54 members of staff have been deployed into Adult Services & Commissioning from other service areas. One deployee from other area service was successful in application for permanent role in which they were initially deployed to. Redeployed staff have played a crucial role in assisting Adult Services in delivering its business critical services during business continuity, which the service has remained in since March 2020.
The numbers of people redeployed to Adult Services has changed during the pandemic period, especially, when other areas of the Council came out of business continuity to step back up service delivery.
As of 9th September 2021, 5 staff are deployed into Adult Services & Commissioning from other service areas (1 of these is now due to start in a permanent role imminently). We have another member of staff awaiting to be redeployed also.
There are also two employees who are undertaking formal secondments in Adult Services from other service areas, who were previously redeployed from other service areas.
It should be noted that Adult Services has also internally deployed some of its staff to ensure that we can maintain our mission critical activities. As of 25th August 2021, 35 of our staff whose substantive roles are in day support services, were redeployed to outreach and domiciliary care roles.
Again, as of 25th August 2021, 3 additional staff from day support services are currently supporting continuity of care in our care homes.
During the pandemic, we have had cause to support our commissioned care homes when they have faced acute staffing issues, by providing emergency staffing resource. Such a response is only made possible through the willingness of our staff to support, many of whom have not worked in a care home previously. We remain forever grateful to these staff for their willingness and ability to step up at very short notice to support our providers. We currently have 13 staff in Adult Services who have committed to supporting care homes at short notice (in the past, this has been with less than 24 hours notice).
Furlough
With regards to furlough, we currently have 14 staff on full furlough and 47 staff on flexible furlough. Furlough arrangements are in place until 30th September 2021.
Steps taken to ensure staff welfare
Our staff are our greatest asset and their resilience and resolve have been tested to the limits during the pandemic. We are in awe of their continued efforts to support the wellbeing and safety of our residents and want to do all we can to make it as easy as possible to undertake some of the most challenging of work.
We have a range of wellbeing measures in place to support our staff. This includes our wellbeing protocol that emphasises the importance of protected time for work catch-ups, lunch, keeping work within work hours and links to health and wellbeing support.
All our employees have access to Care First; a great and confidential employee well-being resource that provides impartial advice and support 24 hours a day, 365 days a year through a free-phone number - 0800 174319.
We have also introduced a range of wellbeing activities such as Yoga, Singing and short exercise classes that staff can access as and when they want, which have both physical and mental health benefits.
In Adult Services, we know that our staff are likely to feel more positive about their jobs if they feel listened, communicated with, and have a genuine part to play in co-designing our services. In Adult Services, we have maintained our commitment to holding regular employee-rep groups and the Head of Service has facilitated virtual tea-breaks and virtual management check-ins with staff throughout the pandemic. Earlier in the year, we, alongside Children’s Services held a number of Dragon’s Den events where our staff were invited to bid for funding for new projects and ways of working. We were able to fund a number of exciting initiatives such as training for falls interventions, additional visual impairment support and multi-generational partnerships between schools and care homes.
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