The Care Quality Commission (CQC), has rated Tameside Metropolitan’s Council as requires improvement, in how well they are meeting their responsibilities to ensure people have access to adult social care and support under the Care Act (2014).
CQC has a new duty under the Act to assess how local authorities work with their communities and partners to meet their responsibilities.
This includes promoting the wellbeing and independence of working age disabled adults, older people, and their unpaid carers to reduce their need for formal support where appropriate. Where support is needed it should provide people with choice and control of how their care needs are met.
CQC looked at nine areas spread across four themes to assess how well the authority is meeting their responsibilities in order to create their requires improvement rating.
People told CQC that accessing assessments, including financial wasn’t always consistent. Uncertainty about care costs created additional worry for some people.
The authority didn’t always have sufficient care and support available to meet demand. Although it had taken steps to increase capacity and was planning for future needs, pressures still continued across several adult social care services.
People and carers highlighted difficulties accessing respite, short breaks, replacement care, and transport to attend day services, which impacted on their health and well-being.
The authority didn’t have consistent safety processes in place. For example, it had a 24/7 community response service, however unregistered staff were making referral decisions without any clear risk criteria, which created potential risk to people.
However, the assessment team also found that The authority had an inclusive and positive culture of continuous learning and improvement. Staff had ongoing access to learning and support to help them deliver their Care Act duties safely and effectively.
The local authority learned from people’s feedback about their experiences of care and support, to help drive improvement.
People fed back that care packages helped ease pressure on unpaid carers and prevented needs from escalating. Many valued the advice and information provided, including links to community and crisis services.
Chris Badger, CQC’s chief inspector of adult social care and integrated care, said:
“During our inspection of Tameside Metropolitan Council, we found that improvements are needed in how adult social care is accessed by local people. While leaders showed capability and compassion, the processes they’d put in place weren’t yet well-established enough to make a meaningful difference to people’s care and support.
“Our inspectors heard mixed feedback from people about their experiences of accessing adult social care in Tameside. Some described supportive assessment and care‑planning journeys, where they felt understood and respected. While others experienced frequent staff changes, inconsistent support, and communication that didn’t always meet their needs.
“Staff and leaders acknowledged improvements were needed regarding young people transitioning from children to adult’s services, to ensure they were smoother and more co-ordinated with partner organisations. At the time of our assessment, new processes were being developed to help improve this process.
“Additionally, the authority didn’t have its own local level written guidance in place to deal with safeguarding incidents. This meant some important decisions about people’s situations were made, without staff following the appropriate guidance. This meant people didn’t always receive consistent safeguarding support.
“However, the authority understood its local population well and engaged effectively with the community, including underrepresented groups, to tackle inequalities such as deprivation and higher rates of disability. An early support and advice hub had been introduced to direct people to appropriate services, with leaders reporting that 50% of people were signposted elsewhere without needing to progress further into adult social care.
“Leaders understand the areas that need to improve and have already started that work. We will continue to monitor progress to see how this improves people’s experiences of accessing adult social care in Tameside.”
Tameside Council’s Executive Member for Adult Social Care, Councillor Jackie Lane, said:
“Following my role as Assistant Executive Member for Adult Services, I’m looking forward to representing the service in my new role as Executive Member, continuing to work closely with colleagues, partners and the people we support.
‘’We welcome the assessment’s findings – both the positive recognition and the areas where further improvement is needed. It reaffirms what we already know about our strengths and areas for further learning, and I’m pleased to say we’re already putting strategies in place to address these and beginning to see positive outcomes.
“It’s especially pleasing to see the inspectors recognise our staff’s clear passion for helping people lead fulfilling and independent lives. The report also acknowledges the impact of our stable leadership team, strengthened structures and active political oversight in effective governance and accountability in the service.
‘’While we know there is more work to do, we have strong foundations and frameworks to build on, and we feel positive about our improvement journey and clear about our next steps. Thank you to our staff and partners for your continued dedication to providing compassionate and high-quality support to residents. “
Tameside Council Strategic Director of Adult Services and Health Joe Kelly said: “The inspectors recognise we’re offering good strength-based services in an increasingly challenging environment of increased demand and complexity. However, we accept there is some inconsistency of practice across areas, and we’re addressing this as a priority as part of our ongoing transformation plans.
‘’It is reassuring that our outcome borders a rating of ‘Good’, we know our strengths and I look forward to leading an innovative improvement plan which takes on board learning from the visit. During this process we will also have personalised support from the Local Government Association and regular checks on progress from the CQC.
‘’Keeping our residents safe is paramount, we recognise feedback on safeguarding from our assurance visit and are reviewing our processes. Although our guidance adheres to that set out by Tameside Adult Safeguarding Partnership Board, we have revised our local approach to safeguarding to ensure improved delivery and consistency.
“I’m committed to looking at how we can continue to work closely with the people we support, colleagues and partners to shape and further improve services and I thank everyone for their ongoing commitment to this.
‘’Since the assessment, we’ve continued to work with partnership boards including the Autism Board, Learning Disability Board and the Carers Forum as opportunities for experiences to be heard. We’re committed to providing person-centred and community led approaches.
“We’re also continuing to work closely with all services across the council to establish what living well looks like for Tameside. This is part of the wider Greater Manchester Live Well vision but tailored to Tameside.
