Council's Annual Report 2022-2023

OUTCOME: Help and support to alleviate the effects of the ‘cost of living’ crises and poverty in the County.

PROGRESS: ⇔ Cross departmental work to tackle the Cost-of-Living crisis has developed a stronger more integrated approach within the Council and has better consolidated and identified what we are doing, can do and need to do. At a household level the most recently available paycheck data suggests that 34.5% of all households in Carmarthenshire are living in poverty , this translates to around 28,730 households. This is a slight decrease of 1.1% since last year which mirrors trends seen nationally.

OUTCOME: Seamless integrated services between Health and Social Care.

PROGRESS: ⇑ We continue to have an integrated service between the Health Board and Carmarthenshire County Council for older people and people with physical disabilities. Over the last year, we have relooked at our integrated management structure to ensure that our services can benefit all Carmarthenshire residents equally regardless of where they live.

We have continued to develop our Home First approach to help those in hospital get home quicker and support those in crisis in the community to prevent them going to hospital in the first place. We now have a multi-disciplinary team based at our offices at Eastgate made up of a range of health, social care and third sector professionals to support those leaving hospital and those in crisis in the community. This team includes an Advanced Paramedic Practitioner who can support with diverting ambulances from the Emergency Department and Llesiant Delta Well-being (our council owned arms-length company) who are able to provide short term support for those in crisis through their rapid response service. Llesiant Delta Wellbeing are now supporting thousands of elderly people with proactive digital support in their own homes.

To support this approach, we have further developed our 14-bed unit Ty Pili-Pala, attached to Llys Y Bryn care home, where patients leaving hospital can benefit from a period of assessment and rehabilitation. This development has proved highly successful with 70% of people leaving the service with no need for ongoing formal care. We have also launched our integrated reablement home care service, to provide short-term care to those leaving hospital and 90% of people accessing this service have no long-term care requirements on leaving the service.

Our overall approach has led to a significant decrease in the number of patients in hospital waiting for care, which is particularly important at the moment with all of the challenges relating to securing care and support at home due to the ongoing recruitment and retention issues in the care sector. This approach has led to a significant decrease in the number of patients in hospital waiting for care.

OUTCOME: Accessible, inclusive, sustainable services, which promote and facilitate learning, culture, heritage, information, well-being and leisure.

PROGRESS: ⇑ We are progressing an ambitious programme of change in our learning day services provision; buildings are now being utilised for those with the most complex needs and we are working with colleagues in leisure and environment to offer community activities which promote independence and social inclusion.

OUTCOME: Improved preventative services to meet the demands of an ageing population.

PROGRESS: ⇑ A multi-agency Prevention Board has been established comprising of representatives from the Council, Health Board, Public Health and the Third Sector. This Board will start to map existing preventative services in the County, with a view to identifying key gaps and an action plan for development.  A new Senior Delivery Manager for Prevention is also in the process of being recruited who will provide leadership across agencies to drive this action plan forward.  We have established well-being pathways within the Community Mental Health Teams. 

OUTCOME: A reduction and working towards an end to homelessness.

PROGRESS: ⇑ A Rapid Re-Housing Plan has been developed which outlines the vision on how we intend to transform the homeless service.

Workstreams as part of the Rapid Re-housing plan have been established to look at key areas which include: The Allocations Policy; Reviewing and Developing housing related support; Temporary accommodation; Developing settled accommodation

We have improved the Prevention of Homelessness by: Developing the Housing Hwb Team; Reviewing and Developing the Emergency Allocations Policy; Utilising the Discretionary Housing Prevention Fund

The Pre-tenancy team has: Provided more support to new tenants by maximising their benefits/income to help them maintain tenancies; Expanded the support available to tenants in the private rented sector; Re-introduced training packages for young people to help them maintain tenancies; Pilot training program with the DWP as part of the claimant commitment.

OUTCOME: Availability of good quality and energy efficient affordable homes in the County.

PROGRESS: ⇑ The Housing Regeneration and Development Delivery Plan confirms our commitment and approach to increasing the supply of good quality and energy efficient affordable homes throughout the county. In 2022/23 we delivered an additional 323 affordable homes (exceeding our target by over 100 homes), using a range of solutions including: building new Council homes; bringing empty homes back into use; increasing our housing stock by buying private sector homes on the open market; working with our Housing Association partners and supporting them to build more homes in the County; managing private homes through our inhouse Simple Lettings Agency; delivering affordable homes for low-cost home ownership through the planning system.
Since the beginning of our affordable housing programme, we have now delivered an additional 1,760 homes, creating homes and communities for local people

OUTCOME: Recognise and seek to limit the disproportionate barriers faced by marginalised groups in accessing services and support which allow them to live and age well.

PROGRESS: ⇑ The Age-friendly Communities approach was developed by the World Health Organisation in 2007, in consultation with older people around the world. It is built on the evidence of what supports healthy and active ageing in a place and supports older residents to shape the place that they live.

By following this approach, local groups, leaders, councils, businesses and older residents will all work together to identify and make changes in both the physical and social environments. This includes improving transport, outdoor spaces, volunteering and employment, leisure and community services.

All Local Authorities in Wales have received funding from Welsh Government in order to become members of the Age-friendly communities’ programme. During 2022/23, we have undertaken a detailed mapping exercise against the domains of the programme and this evidence will form basis for our future action planning.
In recognising that some people groups may face difficulties accessing services and support, we have put a number of things in place to mitigate this. Some examples are as follows: Carmarthenshire is part of a regional independent advocacy scheme which supports people to access services, and as part of their ongoing support; Information is provided in easy read format and in language of choice; Interpretation can be facilitated where necessary.
For individuals with hearing impairments requiring TEC services and alarm monitoring, we can use SMS as means of communication and email/home visits to gather necessary information to enable us to set the service. There is also a lot of TEC available to support individuals with visual and hearing impairments

OUTCOME: Improved opportunities for all residents in literacy, numeracy and digital skills to upskill for employment.

PROGRESS: ⇑ We have established a skills hub for people with disabilities which will provide opportunities for accredited learning and digital skills to upskill them for volunteering and ultimately employment.

OUTCOME: People are supported to take advantage of local opportunities whether it be through starting a business, gaining qualifications or gaining meaningful employment.

PROGRESS: ⇑ he Employability Programmes in Carmarthenshire support individuals who are unemployed or who have been made redundant. The support includes one to one mentoring; training; confidence building; helping with CV’ writing and finding suitable employment and volunteering opportunities. The programmes (C4W plus and Workways +) have both helped secure employment for individuals from Carmarthenshire as well as offering training to meet the needs of employers.

As a Council we focus on the following thematic and service priorities:

• WBO2a Thematic Priority: Tackling Poverty
• WBO1b Service Priority: Housing
• WBO1c Service Priority: Social Care

Why this is important?

Poverty and deprivation have serious detrimental effects across all aspects of wellbeing. It limits the opportunities and prospects for children and young people and damages the quality of life for families and communities.

Poverty can be a barrier to full participation in society and is too often an intergenerational experience which poses a significant threat to experiencing positive well-being both now Andin the future.

With the added pressures of the cost of living crisis impacting residents, businesses and organisations there is a need for a fully integrated and collaborative approach to responding and supporting in the areas that we can influence.

In addition, 34.6% of children in Carmarthenshire are thought to be living in poverty, this translates to around 11,247 children. This exceeds national levels and is the 12th highest level of all local authorities in Wales and the joint sixth highest rate of change over the last five years.

To corroborate this a large proportion of respondents to a recent consultation agreed that poverty is a problem in their respective area. In addition, the vast majority of the respondents highlighted the cost of living crisis and themes aligned to this as being one of the main challenges being faced by them and their families at the time of survey.

Our Overall Self-Assessment:

4.5% (28,730) of households are living in poverty , a slight decrease of 1.1% since last year.

Whilst this is the case Carmarthenshire still exhibits the 8th highest level of all local authorities in Wales and poverty levels remain higher than the Welsh average by 1.1%.
Cross departmental work to tackle the Cost-of-Living crisis has developed a stronger more integrated approach within the Council and has better consolidated and identified what we are, can and need to do.

For progress and data on this thematic priority see pages 52-62 - how well are we doing (and how do we know)?

Why this is important?

Good quality affordable homes as well as continued significant investment in existing homes promotes health and well-being, meeting the individual needs of the residents, building resilient and cohesive communities and places where people want to live. Investment in existing and the additional supply of homes in our rural and urban communities across the County will be key to enabling community resilience and cohesion.

Our Overall Self-Assessment:

We have delivered over 1,000 additional affordable homes over the last four years
Good quality affordable homes are the bedrock of healthy and sustainable communities. Delivery through our plans and our new Housing and Regeneration and Development Delivery Plan continues to exceed targets.

For progress and data on this service priority see pages 63-67 - how well are we doing (and how do we know)?

Why this is important?

• Social care services across a range of client group areas are likely to see an increase in demand over coming years and with the sector facing significant pressures in terms of workforce capacity there is a need to focus attention and respond innovatively.
• The further development of collaboration and integration with health will be essential in order to deliver the key principles and standards relating to prevention, system flow, proactive care and planned care, and long-term care. The long-term aim is to wherever possible help people to maintain their independence at home for as long as possible, prevent unnecessary admissions to hospital and support timely discharge home from hospital to ensure that those that need good hospital care can access it.

Our Overall Self-Assessment:

Following the pandemic, we have seen increased demand for all social care services, made more challenging by the increasing complexity of cases, however, we have continued to innovate, develop and protect the most vulnerable. We are also clear regarding priorities and service improvements going forward.

For progress and data on this service priority see pages 68-72 - how well are we doing (and how do we know)?