Sandwell Metropolitan Borough Council: local authority assessment

People were given opportunities to feedback their experiences of adult social care. Unpaid carers had taken an active part in work to develop the new carers offer in Sandwell and fed back that plans for the new carer’s hub would have a positive effect on outcomes for unpaid carers, in terms of better identification of them and access to assessment. We were told that people with lived experience helped with the design of the logo and some of the posters for the 12 week programme.

An Assembly event was held recently in which the leads for different stakeholders in the community met with people who drew on care and support. The Chief Executive of the local authority attended, inviting questions from people to hear about their experiences.

The local authority told us about their improvement priorities going forward. They included improving mechanisms for engagement with people, improving staff experiences and developing the Principal Occupational Therapy position. Other areas of focus included building on coproduction work and workforce development.

Co-production work was ongoing, including working with people who used services to co-design learning content for staff. The Sandwell approach to co-production had been shared as a best practice example with the local Association of Directors of Adult Social Services (ADASS). The local authority highlighted they already involved people with lived experience but they wanted to do more, changing their culture to work in greater partnership with people as standard. A new Co-production Charter for Sandwell had been launched, which included the local authority commitment, guidance, and pathway to co-production and it was proposed this would be developed across the wider council. Feedback from some partners in Sandwell told us about the work on the co-production charter and an intention for this area to be developed with 2 new co-production leads was good. Some people with lived experience were invited to sit on an interview panel for the new co-production workers, developed a task for candidates and supported with questions. Other work had taken place in relation to direct payments and blue badges.

Technology was another area of focus for development. The Sandwell Digital and Technology Strategy 2024 to 2028 detailed how people and professionals in Sandwell will shape technology solutions for social care. For example, implementing a TEC User Panel to co-design solutions and provide continuous feedback on any TEC adopted. The local authority had set a goal to embed TEC across 70% of care packages by 2027/28. They had also launched new technology aimed to support people's independence at home. Partners told us of close working with staff and proactive conversations taking place around technology enabled care with a joint willingness to see where the adult social care digital offer could take people. A digital strategy group had been set up focusing on digitisation of services and staff were heading towards using more technology available including use of some apps.

Local authority data teams had taken the lead in regional and national work towards adult social care data development, learning and improvement and were proud of this achievement, developing and delivering training for over 30 Social Care Analysts across the West Midlands.

A number of activities were underway which demonstrated a commitment to learning with others. For example, the local authority was asked to partner a university research project exploring a dementia community. The local authority had also carried out research to evaluate an approach to working collaboratively with people from ethnic minority communities and develop a place-based model for improving dementia support.

Staff were encouraged to be creative and bring thoughts and ideas to meetings and share them with leaders. There was an embedded learning culture across the service and staff were encouraged to be bold with innovation, as seen during ‘quick win Wednesday’s’ where staff met each week to share any learning.

A structured learning offer was in place for staff delivered through e-learning, face-to-face and blended formats, increasing flexibility and access across staff roles. Staff were supported to understand legislative changes, such as Liberty Protection Safeguards through targeted sessions which ensured practice aligned with current legal requirements and supported safe care. Further training was planned in relation to supporting the deaf community led by a local commissioned partner.

Staff feedback about support for learning, improvement and professional development was positive. The training offer for staff was considered of high quality with regular mandatory refreshment. Staff gave us other examples of bespoke training they received specific to their roles, and the local authority strategic priorities linked with the training plan for the year. Senior leaders also attended this training which encouraged other staff members to do so. There had been a redesign of leadership and management development pathways concentrating on equipping managers with people-focused skills and supporting leadership across changing service environments.

A Sandwell Social Work Academy was launched in March 2023 to embed a learning culture at the local authority. This supported the continuous professional development of the workforce in line with statutory requirements. The Academy supported all the development programmes such as the Assessed and Supported Year (ASYE) Apprenticeship Programme, Practice Educators and Best Interest Assessors. Staff told us this offered structured support and comprehensive learning plans with ample shadowing opportunities and a culture of progression. Regular Social Work Forums took place throughout the year with sessions held on areas, such as risk assessment, case recording and supervision. The Social Work Academy held a celebration event in March 2025 for all staff who had completed ASYE, apprenticeship programmes and continued professional development modules, with a further event planned for early 2026.

Senior staff provided analysis and feedback following audits of assessments and supervision ensuring a consistent approach was taken, so all staff had regular feedback which was reflective, and focused on wellbeing. Strength-based practice remained a key priority for staff development however feedback from senior staff was significant progress had been made in this area with the introduction of new supervision tools, risk enablement assessments and a quality assurance framework.

Partners told us there was an intention for the local authority to improve but there had been a lack of culture of learning in social care. Other partners were more positive having been involved in recent work which they felt led to the local authority listening. Also, the training offer for providers was described as person-centred, comprehensive and appropriate.

People had engaged in co-production activities at the local authority and fed back positive experiences about the differences this had made in improving services. We were told that what the local authority had to offer was very good, the issue was making sure that people knew about services.

Some unpaid carers told us about their involvement in the development of the new carers service and hub that was due to commence in September 2025 to ensure it was fitting for unpaid carers needs. The engagement process captured feedback from 157 individuals and professionals via online surveys and face-to-face events. This informed the ongoing development of the Carers Strategy and the 9 promises made to unpaid carers, with work underpinned by the Co-production Charter.

Senior staff told us that, in contrast to the previous year, the local authority were seeing an increase in the number of compliments received about support for unpaid carers and that this heralded a notable shift in feedback. An online support tool for unpaid carers was being launched. The tool was trialed by groups of unpaid carers whose feedback was used to personalise this for the needs and preferences of unpaid carers in Sandwell. This was due to go live on 1 September 2025 when the new independent Carers Service would be in place.

Staff teams completed quarterly customer service surveys which were co-produced with partners, to better understand the needs of people. There had been a recent piece of work in relation to support for young people with a learning disability, where staff met with some parent carers to consider replacement care options and then used their feedback to influence and shape how they worked with partners in the children's services.

Complaints received were managed consistently and responsively. The local authority told us they used learning from compliments and complaints to celebrate good practice and make improvements where needed. There was a single stage process in complaint management, and people were able to approach the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman if they were not satisfied with the local authority complaints outcome. The uphold rate for complaints was 100%, which was above the average of 81.01%. A total of 2 detailed investigations were carried out, which was fewer than the average of 5 for this type of local authority. The compliance rate was 100%, with 1 incident of late compliance. The percentage of late remedies being 50% with the average late compliance rate across all local authorities being 18.20%.

Partners told us they sometimes supported people to complain to the local authority and concerns were taken seriously with processes for escalation. Other partners gave examples of the local authority learning from feedback and recommendations to improve services. For example, some care staff training was implemented to improve people's experiences and outcomes in care homes.

The annual Adult Social Care Feedback Report examined the trend in complaints. The 2023/2024 report showed an increase in complaints of 141% compared to the previous year. The local authority acknowledged this was a concern, however stated this indicated the impact of increased demand and complexity of work undertaken. Of the 107 concluded complaints there were 3 key themes. These were delays in service provision, poor communication of information and quality of service. Challenges which could impact on complaints were staff recruitment issues which had led to action in addressing some of these.

The adult social care staff engagement survey results in December 2023 was completed by 249 out of 613 staff members requested. From the survey, 32% believed the local authority would act on the findings, 35% were neutral and 33% believed it would not take any action. 30% of staff said they were proud to work for the local authority and 74% felt supported by management. The local authority was clear in its action following its staff survey results. It was clear that with any findings showing under 50% satisfaction would be reviewed and action taken.

There were a range of other ways for staff to give feedback, which included staff briefings, roadshow and wellbeing events. Staff could attend workshops, complete online surveys or meet with the Communications and Engagement Team. Integral to conversations with staff was ensuring effective opportunities existed to capture feedback from staff across the year and staff had regular opportunities to network, engage with senior management and share their thoughts and experiences with each other. Additionally, ‘Chance to Chat’ sessions were held with senior staff, with live events held periodically, where key updates were given and feedback was invited from staff across all service areas. Senior staff also visited offices, operational teams and staff groups to discuss current priorities and listen to staff concerns directly.