Stockton-on-Tees Borough Council: local authority assessment

There had been leadership changes in the local authority over the previous two years, with the recruitment of a new Chief Executive, Director of Adults Health and Wellbeing, and Lead Cabinet Member for Adult Social Care. Senior leaders had clear roles, responsibilities and accountabilities and they were described as being visible, capable and compassionate.

The leadership team had good insight into its strengths and areas for improvement. They recognised the challenges presented by the changing demographics, entrenched high levels of inequality and deprivation in Stockton-on-Tees and the impact this had on people’s health and well-being outcomes. There was a strong commitment to addressing these challenges. There were ambitious strategies and plans in place which were supported at executive and member levels. Leaders recognised they were in the early stages of their transformation journey, and areas of risk were being addressed, for example, reducing the waiting times for Care Act assessments and care reviews, as well as tackling medium and longer term issues. Identified priority improvement areas were in young people’s transition pathways, simplifying the arrangements and pathways at the first point of access, increasing the use of community assets to meet care and support needs, and increasing the strategic commissioning capability to deliver the long-term transformation strategy. Some of this work was in the early stages and more time was needed to embed new ways of working and to realise the impacts.

Good progress had already been made on the development of data dashboards, and these were now enabling real-time oversight of performance and more timely operational responses when risks were emerging. The foundations for coproduction were in place through the Making It Real Board, and some new multi-agency partnerships such as the Coalition of the Willing, were producing positive outcomes for people.

The Principal Social Worker role was combined with the role of Assistant Director of Adult Social Care, and they had a clear line of sight to the front-line practitioners. There were low vacancy and turn-over rates across in-house adult social care teams. Most of the staff we spoke with told us they were supported in managing their workloads and staying safe at work. For example, leaders said staff viewed a lone-working mobile-based application, which provided staff with an immediate response in the event of an incident, positively. Additionally, staff said managers were approachable and that they had opportunities for continued professional development. The local authority had recently won a Social Work Employer of the Year award, and data provided from a Standards for Employees Survey indicated that 81% of social work staff felt the local authority had a strong and clear social work framework.

A small number of staff told us they felt undervalued due to perceived pay and esteem differences with other social care disciplines. Leaders acknowledged that they could do more to communicate parity of esteem and value amongst professional groups.

Leaders understood some of the risks to people across their care journeys and there were clear risk management and internal and external escalation arrangements in place. For example, sustaining the quality of care provision, improving access to the front door, and transitions support for young people moving into adulthood. These were reflected in the corporate risk register and considered in decisions across the wider council. Some staff told us they did not receive feedback from leaders when they raised concerns about perceived gaps in processes, for example, limited resource to screen safeguarding referrals at the front door.

Leaders were aware of wider-reaching risks such as workforce challenges and sustainability, and the subsequent impact on care provision. There had been a 2% increase in vacancies across the social care sector in the area since 2021/2022, prompting a recruitment focus by the local authority’s’ transformation function. Through this work, care providers had been supported with workforce recruitment by the local authority. There had been a reduction in the numbers of vacancies within commissioned services during the last year.

There was an Adult Social Care Quality Assurance Framework in place which provided quality assurance, performance management and oversight of social care practice, delivery and outcomes at all levels within the local authority. The framework supported quality audits of practice, key performance data and analysis of feedback from people drawing on care and support. Additionally, leaders told us an Adult Social Care Practice Framework included in the Workforce Development Plan aimed to maximise skills within the workforce. These tools provided visibility and assurance on delivery of Care Act duties and management of current and future risks to delivery, quality and sustainability.

The local authority was proud of the work it had done to improve its data analytical capabilities so that data was now being used to inform operational and strategic decisions, rather than just for monitoring provision and outputs. This work was continuing to upskill staff’ data literacy levels and to embed a performance culture into the organisation. Leaders said this would enable more evidence based decisions and effective use of resources.

The local authority’s political and executive leaders were well informed about the current risks and challenges facing adult social care in Stockton-on-Tees. Scrutiny processes were effective and health and social care issues had parity of esteem at a political level. Relationships were strong between council members and adult social care leaders, with opportunities for open communication and challenge to support the delivery of a community-focused agenda.

There was a clear vision and strategy for adult social care which sought to improve outcomes for people with care and support needs, unpaid carers and reduce inequalities of experience and outcomes for people in the local area. The strategy was based on a sound understanding of local priorities and was aligned with the strategic plans of other key agencies, for example health, public health and housing. Adult social care strategy and delivery plans were publicly available, and staff, council members and partners showed a good awareness of them. Additionally, the local authority scored highly in the category of ‘Strategic Partnership’, among others, in a recent Local Government Association (LGA) Annual Health Check, indicating strong strategic alignment with its partner agencies.

The local authority used information about risks, performance, and outcomes to inform its adult social care strategy and plans to allocate resources to fulfil its Care Act duties. Partners, staff, and leaders told us publicly available performance data was used to support strategic planning, saying the local authority had a strong focus on prevention and long-term strategies. Local authority strategies were aligned to the strategic plans of other agencies such as health and public health partners. Operationally, the local authority used data to manage resource and risk, for example it had invested in its Best Interest Assessor workforce to address risks arising through known delays in assessment of DoLS applications. The investment meant people were no longer waiting for DOLS assessment authorisations in the community, which protected their liberty and led to positive outcomes.

Some of the sources of data on which the locally authority based strategic decisions were in the process of being refreshed at the time of the assessment, such as the Joint Strategic Needs Assessment and Health and Wellbeing Strategy. However, strategic frameworks prioritised moving to a preventative approach, with a reduction in the use of formal support services to a greater focus on building strong and resilient communities to support its vulnerable members. For example, the Adult Social Care Strategy (2021-2025), a Fairer Stockton on Tees, and Powering Our Futures programme highlighted an ambition to engage with communities better, indicating a shared vision to reach into and listen to seldom heard groups. Some work undertaken as part of the Fairer Stockton-on-Tees programme was being monitored for impact on outcomes. For example, an action log monitored the number of people accessing the ‘the Bread and Butter Thing’ initiative as a marker of food poverty in the borough. This suggested the delivery of improvement work was being linked back to strategic goals and priorities by the local authority, but it was too soon to determine the long-term impact of this work on outcomes for the population.

Where there were shortfalls in delivery of Care Act duties, risk mitigations were in place, to minimise risks to people’s safety. For example, leaders told us people waiting longer than 12 months for a Care Act review were actively supported by a social worker to ensure changes to their needs were identified and managed.

Outcomes from some strategic programmes to improve care and support were yet to be determined. For example, the local authority had put in place renewed plans to target issues relating to barriers to accessing the front-door to adult social care, and the lack of transition support for young people. Leaders acknowledged these plans would be challenging to deliver, against the backdrop of a growing older adult population, increased complexity, and other health inequalities.

Local authority leaders had acknowledged that more work was needed to embed true coproduction to drive strength-based, community developed strategy. They had plans to increase the extent to which strategies were coproduced with staff and people with lived experience, for example, by building on the work of the Making It Real Board. The refreshed Joint Health and Wellbeing Strategy 2025-2030, published in January 2025, also highlighted the local authority’s commitment to including people’s voices in strategic planning.

The local authority had arrangements to maintain the security, availability, integrity and confidentiality of data, records and data management systems. A dedicated Information Governance (IG) team supported the organisation to use and share data within and outside the local authority safely. Staff working alongside external partners were required to complete specialised training alongside organisation-wide mandatory information security training.