Adult Care Assessment and Triage Team
Nominated by: Anonymous
Department: Adult Social Care and Health
Reason for Nomination:
The Adult Care Assessment and Triage Team have been making some improvements to their service in 2022. This has had a big impact on the quality of our work and enabled us to support even more people to achieve their most independent outcome. In 2022 they supported people through more than 9,700 referrals! In around 5,300 of these, the team were able to help the person through making the most of community resources, liaising with other professionals and equipping the person to be as independent as possible, without need for further statutory intervention.
The Team designed, tested and embedded a totally new workflow and form in Mosaic. This has improved the quality of record keeping at ACATT and allows for a smoother handover to Area Teams. It has enabled Area Teams to pick up and run with cases and arrange care more quickly where the person needs an urgent response. The Team have worked collaboratively with colleagues in other teams to help draft and implement new ACATT Practice Guidance. This was formally launched in October 2022. They have raised ACATT’s profile as a valuable service by building fantastic relationships with other practitioners in Adult Care, through delivering regular ACATT Open Days, and starting to develop Area Link worker roles. Area Link worker roles are embedded, but they are still gradually working their way around Area Team meetings to introduce everyone and share information about ACATT.
The Team have made significant improvements to inter-agency working with the Police. They have welcomed the Safeguarding Coordination Hub (Police) to share the office and delivered training and support to them. This has helped the Police to signpost / refer people to the right community partners first time. And where people do need a referral to Adult Care the Police are more able to share relevant information that enables us to prioritise and action as appropriate. This has meant that the overall volume of these referrals has reduced by 25% at the end of 2022. They also found the time to welcome and train 5 new members of staff into the Team in 2022 and have done a fantastic job of showing them the ropes!
Amber Valley East Children and Families Team
Nominated by: Anonymous
Department: Childrens Services
Reason for Nomination:
The team despite significant complexities of case work have tirelessly supported children and young people alongside partner agencies - the case work the team has seen are so complex that they have employed the expertise of other agencies such as the police, health and education including local school and their representatives to provide a timely and safe response to concerns raised.
The team have pulled together on a weekly basis for over a year to ensure that children are safe working in their own times on a very very frequent basis and ensuring that all necessary steps have been taken to make children safe. The team have continued to work under immense pressure including volatility and aggression from people and stayed the course with partners during visiting and meetings panning alongside their agency colleagues. The team have received praise from agencies that they have worked alongside for their tenacity and drive to get the best under difficult circumstances.
Ambergate Workshop
Nominated by: Shane Brown
Department: Place
Reason for Nomination:
I’d like to nominate my team at Ambergate workshops for keeping Derbyshire constabulary on the road during the pandemic and have not gotten the recognition they deserve. All through Corona my team turned up and got the job done even when our staff levels were extremely thin
Bolsover and NED Parenting Assessment and Family Time Team (PAFT)
Nominated by: Brian McKeown
Department: Children's Services
Reason for Nomination:
PAFT undertake assessments on parenting capacity and manage supervised Family Time to children and their families. They are consummate professionals going above and beyond expectations to support the children, families and foster carers.
Referrals involve succinct planning and coordination of Family Time sessions that present varying challenges and barriers. To deliver change and improve learning, staff engage in development sessions involving partner agency inputs such as the Fire and Rescue Service, Derbyshire Recovery Partnership and the NHS. The team provides exceptional service despite being the busiest area for referrals whilst operating with the same number of staff as other localities.
Performance is of a high standard (quality and quantity) due to that desire to achieve sustained positive outcomes for children and young people to improve their physical, social and emotional well-being and safety. This is despite difficult circumstances for families whereby all children are in foster care or open to social care.
Parenting assessments are complex and intrusive yet must be to a high standard for court. The team manage a complex matrix of Family Time referrals including managing pre-planning meetings, children’s transport, liaison with schools and Foster Carers, room bookings, administration, travelling across the country. The team have adapted and streamline administrative systems and processes (to deliver change) in response to the new role since the Early Help review in 2019 until the present time.
The team work ethic, pleasant approach, professionalism and dedication is exceptional despite frequent verbal and physical challenges from parents, chaotic Family Time Sessions and reluctance to engage. Staff go beyond their role to manage parental expectations, navigate sensitive situations ensuring confidentiality while protecting children. One example is a mother using racist language towards a worker with children present and was abusive and agitated. The worker remained calm to minimise harm to the children whilst having to terminate the Family Time. Close relationships with the Fostering and Adoption Team and Supervising Social Workers has been beneficial.
Call Derbyshire
Nominated by: Diane Desay
Department: Corporate Services and Transformation
Reason for Nomination:
I am nominating Call Derbyshire who continue, under all circumstances, to work 365 days to support our residents and partner services. The team works in collaboration with Adult Care, Childrens Services, Place, and external partners, often taking very distressing and harrowing calls that require them to stay level headed to ensure we gather the relevant information to not only support and calm the caller but to ensure that, when sharing information with council colleagues, we have the best possible picture to help them in making the right decisions.
Our team do their upmost to remain positive, on challenging days, and are always keen to share ideas and thoughts with our service partners if they believe there is a more effective or empathetic way of dealing with a situation. That can be a simple change to the wording in a call guide or end-to-end re-engineering a process. The team were pivotal in the initial work to get Granicus live, being the first area to go ‘live’ with the system. That involved a considerable amount of collaboration and cross functional working to ensure that any processes put onto Granicus were improved for both the resident and the council.
The team still operate on a budget that was set 10 years ago and continue to be innovative in how they use resource – be that multi-skilling, having more effective rotas and shift patterns and creating, with the support of HR, relief contracts that enable us to flex the workforce more effectively in line with call volumes. Call Derbyshire can often be overlooked in terms of the wider council not understanding the true role that the team plays in supporting our Derbyshire residents and council partners and this award would help to share and highlighting what an exceptional job the team continue to do each day.
Chesterfield Mental Health PandP Team
Nominated by: Claire Wilde
Department: Adult Social Care and Health
Reason for Nomination:
I would like to nominate the Chesterfield Mental Health PandP Team for their hard work and commitment to serving the people of the High Peak.
Each member of the team has offered a substantial amount of dedication and effort during an extremely busy and stressful time. Over the past 12 months, we (like other Adult Care teams) have struggled to recruit to vacant posts which has added to the workload and stress that each member of the team has faced.
The team have dealt with a number of different challenges and changes over the past few years. They have dealt with great sadness due the loss of a close colleague and each one has shown great courage, strength and resilience to work through these hard times and challenges, coming out stronger as a result.
Children's Services Programmes Team
Nominated by: Sarah Edwards
Department: Childrens Services
Reason for Nomination:
Children’s Services Programmes Team nomination for the Vision Derbyshire Award for:
- exemplary partnership work with council colleagues, districts and boroughs (DandB), schools and CVS organisations to secure £26.7m of DWP and DFE grant funding to date
- distributing funding to vulnerable children and families facing hardship, struggling to afford energy and water bills and food and setting up a new Holiday Activities and Food Programme. (HAF)
- responding positively every time the Government announced a new scheme at short notice, embracing the five Council Values by engaging partners and communities, developing fair and transparent plans at pace, making best use of resources and supporting CVS organisations and communities to thrive.
Impact 1. COVID-19 Winter Support Grant (CWSG) Dec 2020 – April 2021) and COVID-19 Local Support Grant (CLSG) (May– Sept 2021)
- £5.51m secured
- Circa 156,224 grocery vouchers distributed to eligible children during school holidays
- Grant funding to DDF, Derbyshire Health Homes, Derbyshire Carers Association and Age UK
2. Household Support Fund (HSF) (October 2021 to Mar 2023)
- £16.2m HSF funding secured (approx 60% distributed to households with children)
- grocery vouchers worth £4.9m distributed to 29k families eligible for benefit related FSM, EY funding and care leavers
- partners engaged in design of a new Childrens Professionals HSF grants application route to ensure schools, early help and social care teams, children’s health services and CVS could identify and support local families (grants worth £667k distributed via this route.
- partnership work with colleagues across the Council, DandB and third sector to optimise reach 3. Holiday Activity with Food Programme (February 2021 to date)
3. Holiday activity with food programme (February 2021 to present date)
- £5 m secured from DFE to pilot and develop a brand new HAF service for our 27,000 children aged 5-16 eligible for FSM
- developed, funded and trained a trusted network of 70+ third sector providers
- face to Face delivery in 106 clubs countywide -providing enriching activities, physical activities and nutritious food during Easter, Summer and Christmas holidays
- developed bespoke website it's about me Derbyshire website
- delivered food parcels / hampers / recipe boxes / slow cookers
Chloe Harrington
Nominated by: Olivia Allanson
Department: Adult Social Care and Health
Reason for Nomination:
Chloe is currently a community health improvement worker within Live Life Better Derbyshire, working primarily within the Bolsover locality. Chloe initiated and is continuing to support with a project with ''The Storehouse community food pantry''. Chloe has attended resident drop in's at the food pantry regularly over the last few months and built a good relationship with the staff members and residents attending. She has built a trusting rapport with the clients and encouraged them to consider how live life better Derbyshire services (Stop smoking, weight management and physical activity) may improve their overall wellbeing whilst also providing support / referrals / signposting into other services supporting with the wider determinants of health (mental health, employment support, financial support, etc).
Chloe has also worked collaboratively with the staff at the community food bank and has recognised, through discussion, that many of the clients accessing the foodbank are unsure of how to cook a healthy / nutritious meal with the items they receive. She has worked alongside a service development officer to develop simple healthy recipe cards, using food items that are regularly available in the foodbank. She has worked alongside the team at the foodbank to introduce recipe cards to residents attending the foodbank and is seeking feedback from the staff and users re the helpfulness of the recipe cards. To date, she has received excellent feedback from residents in Bolsover who have shared photos with her of the recipes they have cooked. She is now working with the foodbank to consider how clients, with lowered confidence in cooking, can be linked to online / community food cooking classes to learn how to make more nutritious meals.
Chloe has demonstrated a clear commitment to improving the lifestyles of local people, demonstrated an assets based approach and excellent collaboration with partners, often working autonomously and with a sensible, respectful and enthusiastic manner to her work,.
Nominated by: Alex Carlow
Department: Adult Social Care and Health
Reason for Nomination:
I would like to nominate Chloe Harrington (Health Improvement Worker - LLBD) for the vision award. As Chloe's line manager I've had the privilege of seeing Chloe thrive in her role in supporting the community of Bolsover as well as the wider LLBD team. Chloe brings passion to her everyday work and utilises this passion in building strong and robust relationships with partners. In particular, Chloe’s work in identifying and supporting the Shirebrook community who utilise the Brook Community Centre and Storehouse is a great example of shaping better outcomes. Chloe has regularly attended drop-in sessions as part of her role using existing LLBD resources to signpost and support clients to improve their health and address any wider determinants. Where Chloe has excelled is in identifying a need in the community for supporting users of the Brook’s storehouse to have access to cooking resources (recipes) to build confidence when using the foods available. Chloe’s awareness of the existing challenges around food bank usage and the subsequent nutritious quality of meals cooked with these foods has informed her approach throughout and shaped the expected outcomes. In collaboration with the LLBD team, Chloe used existing recipe resources which were tweaked (health literacy) in order to match the foods provided at the food bank, so users had the opportunity to cook simple nutritious meal options. The recipes are now available in printed form at the Brook and Chloe continues to collect data on usage and identifying any gaps in cooking confidence and ability. This pilot has the potential to be rolled out to other food bank environments across Derbyshire and support a more nutritious approach to food bank usage and the quality of meals cooked for the end user whilst also using LLBD to support any other relevant health challenges the user may present with.
Nominated by: Richard Keeton
Department: Adult Social Care and Health
Reason for Nomination:
I would like to nominate Chloe Harrington (Health Improvement Worker (HIW) who works for Live Life Better Derbyshire (LLBD) for the vision award.
As the manager of the Community HIWs I have had the privilege of seeing Chloe thrive in her role in supporting the community of Bolsover as well as the wider LLBD team. Chloe is an enthusiastic, positive team member who brings a can do attitude to her work.
Chloe has been involved in building relationships with partners, an example of which is Shirebrook community. Chloe has built an excellent trusted relationships with partners and the community by regularly attending drop in sessions, being reliable, listening, taking action and being passionate about making a difference.
Chloe has supported clients to access LLBD services but has also built up an excellent understanding of other factors that influence health and wellbeing and is able to support the community with wider challenges. Chloe has excelled in identifying a need in the community for supporting users of the Brook’s Storehouse (a community food store for all) , to have access to cooking resources (recipes) to build confidence when using the foods available. Chloe has used her skills and knowledge of existing challenges around food bank usage and the subsequent nutritious quality of meals cooked with these foods has informed her approach throughout and shaped the expected outcomes.
With the support of the LLBD team, Chloe used existing recipe resources which were tweaked (health literacy) to match the foods provided at the food bank, so users had the opportunity to cook simple nutritious meal options. The recipes are now available in printed form at the Brook and Chloe continues to collect data on usage and identifying any gaps in cooking confidence and ability. This pilot has the potential to be rolled out to other food bank environments across Derbyshire and support a more nutritious approach to food bank usage and the quality of meals cooked for the end user whilst also using LLBD to support any other relevant health challenges the user may present with.
Nominated by: Kim Locking
Department: Adult Social Care and Health
Reason for Nomination:
Chloe has worked over a long period of time to engage with the Shirebrook Community at The Brook to help with inequalities and to engage with Live Life Better Services for hard to reach clients. She has put in place an initiative which supports the Storehouse community pantry providing easy to use recipes which can be made using ingredients available for there and encouraging clients who had little or no experience of cooking to help improve their skills, encourage a healthy lifestyle and build confidence. This has been welcomed by the local community and has been a great success thanks to Chloe’s hard work
Derbyshire Discretionary Fund Team
Nominated by: Lois Race
Department: Adult Social Care and Health
Reason for Nomination:
I am nominating the Derbyshire Discretionary Fund (DDF) team for the Vision Derbyshire Award. The DDF have excelled in delivering support to local people in an extremely challenging environment. The volume of residents requesting support has increased considerably in the past year because of cost of living pressures and the Household Support Fund.
In 2021 / 22 the team assessed 32,723 applications, an increase of 34.7% on the previous year. In 2022 / 23 to date, they have assessed 32,442 applications (to end Q3) which is a 60% increase on the same period for the previous year. The team have adapted to face these challenges – delivering exceptional performance in partnership with other colleagues in the Council and community and voluntary sector partners.
In addition to ‘core business’ and delivering the Household Support Fund, the team have supported the delivery of over 1,300 ‘welcome payments’ for the Homes to Ukrainian scheme; worked in partnership with the Affordable Credit Project; and continue to develop and deliver the wider signposting and referral offer for DDF applicants.
In the applicant survey undertaken in 2022, 88% of applicants felt that the DDF award made a difference to their situation with 66% responding that it helped them to eat better and 55% saying it improved their children’s wellbeing. The team work hard to deliver a service based on empathy, a non-judgemental approach, and being outcome focussed. Exceptionally high service demand has not dented their appetite to develop service innovation and expand the range of support that they can offer.
They are at the front line of the Council’s response to residents in difficult times, always step up, and are a credit to the Council.
Derbyshire Discretionary Fund Team (including Matrix Team working on Warm Hubs and Household Support Fund)
Nominated by: Anonymous
Department: Adult Social Care and Health
Reason for Nomination:
The DDF and Household Support Fund Team have worked in partnership and collaboration with wider council departments and local partners to collectively address challenges associated with the cost of living. They have delivered exceptional performance in challenging circumstances to shape better outcomes for local people or places by providing direct support to residents in need as well as signposting to other services. The team have often worked under immense pressure and heard some very challenging personal stories, yet have provided a hugely professional service.
EIS Teaching and Learning Consultants
Nominated by: Adrian Taylor
Department: Childrens Services
Reason for Nomination:
The EIS teaching and learning consultant team have delivered a wide range of training and support for schools with reading to address the learning gaps resulting from COVID-19 and persistent low performance in Phonics at KS1. Headteachers from all phases were consulted to shape a wide range of training and support. External partners were engaged including the EEF and English hubs, collaborating to develop and deliver the programme.
Around 125 schools from KS1 to secondary to date have engaged in the confident readers programme. Phonics outcomes have improved in Y1 and the end of KS1 which leadership in the participant schools has been strengthened to sustain improvements.
Ellen Langton
Nominated by: Anonymous
Department: Adult Social Care and Health
Reason for Nomination:
I am nominating Ellen Langton for the Vision Derbyshire Award for her brilliant work developing shared governance arrangements with NHS colleagues as part of the new Integrated Care System (ICS). This has included reshaping and leading the redevelopment of the politically led Derbyshire Health and Wellbeing Board to include representation from all Boroughs and Districts and driving the design and structure of the Integrated Care Partnership Board and its sub-groups which include the County Place Board.
Ellen has worked with very senior colleagues, she has provided vision, clarity, constructive challenge and solutions and has driven significant change which has taken considerable effort and commitment. Ellen has also been integral to the development of the systemwide Integrated Care Strategy and has been the key link between the council and the ICS from an operational perspective, which has been a significant ask with a tight timescale. Her vision and clarity of purpose has directly shaped the strategy, no mean feat when up against very prescriptive NHS Guidance. She is politically and strategically astute, proactive and supportive. The work she has done around strategy and governance (often seen as dry / not about service delivery) has, and will continue to make, a significant contribution to both the way the system makes decisions and the strategic framework within which it will operate.
Ellen's work means a wider range of partners will now be involved in decision making around health and wellbeing and it will help to strengthen the voices around wider determinants of health, prevention and health inequalities, which, in turn will help to improve outcomes.
The way Ellen influenced the shape of the governance structures within the new system also ensures efficiencies in terms of our use of one of our most important resources, staff time. By suggesting a combined officer group to drive the work of both the ICP and the Health and Wellbeing Board she has helped to create efficient and effective governance for the key partnership elements of the new system.
What is most impressive about Ellen's performance is that she does not undertake it from a position of particular authority. She is very skilled at influencing and shows real leadership, often whilst working with far more senior colleagues. This sort of activity often goes unseen but is so vitally important in creating the foundations and operating frameworks within which key decisions are made and action is taken.
Employment and Education Team in Early Help (Employment and Education Manager is Pam Bond)
Nominated by: Chris Caley
Department: Childrens Services
Reason for Nomination:
I am nominating the Employment and Education Team in Early Help. This team supports young people 16-18 who are not in education, employment or training (NEET) or whose educational destination is unknown. The team's performance is measured from September-August. At the end of August, Derbyshire was ranked 9th in the country for our NEET figures at 1% (England average was 3%), and for unknowns we ranked joint 5th nationally (with Barnett) as our performance was at 0.1% (England average was 7%). The Employment and Education is a relatively small team with 7 full time equivalent Employment and Education Officers, and one full time Employment and Education Manager.
The team has a clear focus on partnership working - and works with Derbyshire's schools, colleges and training providers to ensure young people are connected to appropriate post-16 provision.
Erewash First Response Team
Nominated by: Sinead Stanley
Department: Adult Social Care and Health
Reason for Nomination:
FRT was a new team established in August 2019 and is made up of SWs, OTs, CCWs, SP and SM. In their short time as a team, they have worked collaboratively with each other to support continued development and improve their knowledge and skills. The SP provides peer CPD sessions, supporting the teams in Erewash to develop their skills and knowledge.
The team has worked together to improve the initial triage process and ensure that people are signposted and assessed (where possible) at the front door. One social worker has worked on a spreadsheet which collates helpful and informative data that is fed back via management to GM level – this data shows that FRT are utilising other services and signposting to prevent over prescription of care, as well as utilising STS to reduce the need for long term care. The team continually demonstrate fantastic MDT working, with close links with community therapy, police, mental health colleagues and housing (to name a few).
The team continue to embody the supportive and reflective ethos expected within a social care team, working together to support students and ASYEs during the pandemic and beyond (something that we recognise has not always been easy). The team have a strong peer support system, and social workers in the team have lead several peer support supervisions. The team has also lead on several Human Rights Act assessments, learning and developing knowledge along the way, as well as support those in need.
The team pride themselves on engaging in reflection, participating in Peer Group Supervisions regularly, with the OTs providing regular and informative support. The team continue to work tirelessly, despite the increased number of referrals, demonstrating fantastic skills in terms of prioritising work to ensure our most vulnerable clients are supported in a safe and timely manner.
Erewash Parenting Assessment and Family Time Team
Nominated by: Anna Barlow
Department: Childrens Services
Reason for Nomination:
I am nominating the Erewash Parenting Assessment and Family Time team for their efforts in providing good quality family time for children and their birth parents, over the last year the very small team have been under immense pressure with low staffing numbers and we managed to complete over 2000 family times and ensured that families met in locations close to their home address, saw one another for Christmas, had regular staff and faces to support each of the children. They have also completed comprehensive Life Story work, encompassing those cherished times with parents and grandparents and other extended family members.
Facilities Management Team, supported by colleagues across other parts of Corporate Property
Nominated by: Janet Scholes
Department: Corporate Services and Transformation
Reason for Nomination:
I am nominating our Facilities Management Team, supported by colleagues across other parts of Corporate Property, for the outstanding work they carried out during the COVID response and in the months that followed. This team were on the front line in ensuring that vital services were able to keep running, that essential buildings were open in a safe and compliant way and they worked collaboratively and in innovative ways to support the wider organisation priorities at the time.
Much of the work they did happened so smoothly and efficiently that it possibly went un noticed and it is only in retrospect that it can be appreciated fully. Attention has often be drawn to those directly involved in the care of vulnerable service users in those difficult times, but it was also frightening for those who were cleaning and maintaining buildings and providing them with supplies, which was often worked out with limited, or last minute advice and without the recognition it merited.
Some examples of the kinds of work they did are: FM team established and operated the PPE store for the whole organisation, ensuring that there were adequate supplies of masks, gloves, cleaning solutions, for example, to care homes and other locations. DSO operatives ran food parcels around and picked up deliveries for vulnerable people. Governance and compliance team business unit clerks kept the answering services running by driving mobile phones from one person to the next. Asset management team arranged temporary morgues. FM team kept essential buildings clean, fitted signage and sneeze screens etc and reopened them often at short notice as the government stipulated. FM and AM team established mobile test centres. AM team helped with running the bed booking system for the discharge from hospitals. Kept vacant buildings safe and secure. It was a phenomenal collaborative team effort.
Glenholme team
Nominated by: Sarah-kay Murphy
Department: Childrens Services
Reason for Nomination:
I am nominating Glenholme children's home for the fantastic work they have done as a team over the past year, pulling together to get through a challenging year and still providing the best possible care for the young people we support. We have survived a traumatic house fire and pulled together when had to be moved elsewhere stayed on shift and went beyond to support the young people and each other as a team. This was from June till end of august. We then have had to support a young person within a hospital setting with challenging behaviours this as impacted on the home and dynamics but we pulled together to ensure that the home carries on and worked with professionals to carry on supporting the young person. This has been from September and still ongoing. The team really has gone above and beyond to try and support each other with all things thrown at them this year and I am proud how professional and hardworking they have been during the year and the contributions they have given and positive impact also on the young people.
High Peak Mental Health PandP Team
Nominated by: Claire Wilde
Department: Adult Social Care and Health
Reason for Nomination:
I would like to nominate the High Peak Mental Health PandP Team for their hard work and commitment to serving the people of the High Peak. Each member of the team has offered a substantial amount of dedication and effort during an extremely busy and stressful time. During the COVID-19 Pandemic the team pulled together to offer support and we continued to visit people in their own homes as much as possible.
And again, over the past 12 months, we (like other Adult Care teams) have struggled to recruit to vacant posts. The team have shown strength and resilience to work through these challenges and we have come out stronger as a result. We hope to support staff through these hard times and offer training in mental health to further progress their careers in Adult Social Care.
Highways Hub - Street Works Team
Nominated by: Anonymous
Department: Place
Reason for Nomination:
The team I wish to nominate is the Streetworks Team. They are consistently striving to help other sub-teams within Place - offering training when Confirm was not renewed and ensuring - to the best of their ability that everyone they come in contact with is helped and trained. They are responsible for the co-ordination of our road network, for legal licensing of road works and have formed positive working relationships not only with internal stakeholders, but external too - everyone from utilities to residence and local business'. They liaise directly in a transparent and friendly manner with everyone that they come into contact with.
They are consistently working to increase revenue for the council and their department and their line manager, Sophie Wardle actively encourages this. They are often an overlooked team, with people assuming that they simply do admin work but they are absolutely more than that. Without that team, our highways network wouldn't be as resilient as it is today.
Hill View Team
Nominated by: Stewart Toye
Department: Childrens Services
Reason for Nomination:
Jan - December 2022 The team have succeed expectations in the running of the home. During 2022 year the team have been inspected twice by Ofsted, and the outcome on both inspections have been an outstanding judgement in all areas. This includes;
- Overall experiences and progress of children and young people - outstanding
- How well children and young people are helped and protected - outstanding
- The effectiveness of leaders and managers - outstanding
Staff place a strong emphasis on supporting children to have fun, try new experiences and have a happy life. Staff go to great lengths to create pictures, positive booklets and ‘my journey files’ with collections of photos to provide happy memories for the children and their families for when they move on. Children’s participation in new experiences enables them to grow in self-esteem and become increasingly confident in their own abilities.
Staff empower children to make choices and decisions about their day-to-day care and future plans. They support children to use a range of non-verbal communication methods. This means that children’s wishes and feelings are listened to and considered. As a result, children are able to have their say and be involved in their plans. Partnership work with external agencies is extensive. Multidisciplinary work means that the best interests of the children are met. A range of professionals have contributed feedback and commended the work and commitment of the staff team. One professional said: ‘The management team are inspirational and this cascades to the inspirational team and inspirational care of the children.’
The progress and experiences of children living in Hillview are exceptional. Most of the children have lived at the home for many years. This high level of stability creates a real sense of belonging. This has been critical to allowing the children to build secure and meaningful relationships with a team of staff who children know, trust and rely on.
Ian Maddison
Nominated by: Anonymous
Department: Corporate Services and Transformation
Reason for Nomination:
Ian has been an energetic dynamo at the heart of quite exceptional work in the Shirebrook Community and across the broader Thriving Community landscape. Ian embodies the spirit of collaboration with many partners in the delivery of brilliant innovation and great outcomes for the people of the Shirebrook community. His personal commitment and huge drive and desire to help people and improve lives of people in the community he serves is inspirational.
Ian is relentless in seeking out new opportunities to work collaboratively with others within and without the Council to get the most out of people and resources and to ensure that they are delivered successfully and with great impact on the lives of those using the services he supports. There are so many initiatives with which Ian is engaged that it's hard to single any out without missing important things but the exceptional successes of the BLAST Community Group is an object lesson in collaborating with partners outside the council environment to magnify the impacts of great work by he and his colleagues.
Karen Day
Nominated by: Andrea Walker
Department: Childrens Services
Reason for Nomination:
During the lock down this staff member was attending herself online Live Life Derbyshire exercise sessions. As a staff member for Adult Education she soon caught on to how important exercise was to the clients that were attending not just physically beneficial but mentally. Our Free online sessions were a life line for many that were isolating in their homes and not seeing people from one day to the next , clients formed friendships far and wide of Derbyshire supporting each other especially through their mental health at this time.
As life returned to some normality the online classes were pulled off as instructors started to get back into the community again leaving many of our clients feeling lost and unable to find any sort of similar exercise in their local area at the level they had been previously doing online Then there was the cost of transport and getting to venues when online had been so easy to do especially with chronic health conditions that many of our clients do deal with on a daily basis.
From Karen's own experience she spotted a need for these sessions to continue , what a big loss it would be to completely loose them Eventually at the beginning of 2022 Karen approached the Live Better Derbyshire team with news of some funding money to rekindle the online sessions.
With a lot of hard work on Karen's part the Free continuation classes still continue today through subscribing through Adult Education Myself and a colleague have been so grateful to Karen for her determination and support in setting up these sessions as there have been a few challenges along the way .
Karen is an amazing member of staff and a lovely person to know and work with Through her recourse's Karen has worked with internal partners and her hard work has achieved performance that has shaped better outcomes for the people of Derbyshire She fully deserves Vision of Derbyshire Award.
Kirsty Baxter
Nominated by: Cathy Read
Department: Adult Social Care and Health
Reason for Nomination:
I nominate Kirsty Baxter DSO South Derbyshire Area for the Vision award. At the end of 2020 she devised and implemented a new working pattern for the short service team in her area. The change involved consultation with service managers and the short term service team of Carers. Her vision improved the efficiency of short term services in the area and so better outcomes for local people. More people could be cared for in their own homes as the capacity of the Care team was maximised by the new working patterns. This change has had a recognised beneficial result and so has be implemented in other areas.
Kirsty is a very efficient manager and makes best use of all the resources available to ensure the best service is delivered to the people of south Derbyshire. She works above and beyond to improve the short term service goals in what has been a very challenging period of time with COVID and changes to the service. Kirsty ensures her team are up to date with training and was one of the first DSOs to use Teams calls for meetings and supervisions. She listens to her team members and supports them. In her day to day management she embodies Council values. She is continually trying to improve the service provided by Home Care so better serve the people of South Derbyshire.
Lea Green Centre
Nominated by: Anonymous
Department: Childrens Services
Reason for Nomination:
The whole team undertook various different roles during COVID, using various skills and knowledge and sharing that to help others within the team. Lea Green staff team is a strong, dedicated, hardworking workforce and each and everyone plays an important role to offer the best service available to all our groups which use the centre. Everyone is willing to help another staff member or visitor, no such words as 'it’s not my job'. I am proud to be part of such a strong workforce.
Live Life Better Derbyshire
Nominated by: Jane Hawley
Department: Adult Social Care and Health
Reason for Nomination:
I am nominating Live Life Better Derbyshire (LLBD) for the Vision Derbyshire Award for their commitment to becoming a health literate service. In 2019, the Stop Smoking Service within LLBD participated in a pilot project which would inform the development of a health literacy approach across Derbyshire. 6 out 10 people in Derbyshire have low health literacy which means they will struggle to understand health information. So by striving to provide clear information and a service that can be accessed and understood by everyone who needs it, LLBD will have supported more Derbyshire residents to be active partners in managing their health and wellbeing. The pilot project involved the service:
- being training in health literacy awareness
- completing an audit and identifying priority areas to become more health literacy friendly
The Stop Smoking Service has become more health literate by:
- changing some of their standard communications and materials to ensure they at the right level for clients to understand
- reducing jargon and using less technical language
- using the teach back technique to check that they have explained information clearly
- breaking information down into smaller chunks
- providing more ways to get client feedback
Their commitment could easily have waned during the pandemic when the audit was put on hold. However they have since found ways to embed the approach by incorporating it in their training plan for all LLBD staff and ensuring quality assurance of verbal communication techniques in yearly observations. They are now broadening the audit to all lifestyle services within LLBD. Their work has contributed to the expansion of the approach across Derbyshire and they have contributed to a UK-wide webinar and training resources. They have therefore demonstrated an ongoing commitment to this approach which helps to reduce health inequalities.
Mandy Casey
Nominated by: Anonymous
Department: Childrens Services
Reason for Nomination:
Mandy has worked hard to overcome many challenges in setting up new courses at Derbyshire Eco Centre - working with individuals, colleagues and Partners to realise the full potential and aspirations of the this unique space. She has undoubtedly improved the offer and built to enhancing existing resources for the local community and Derbyshire residents.
Pension Credit Project Welfare Rights
Nominated by: Anonymous
Department: Adult Social Care and Health
Reason for Nomination:
Welfare Rights Pension Credit Project has made a huge difference to the pensioners of Derbyshire since the Project launched in 2019. Through the last year they have played a huge part in the "Cost of Living" crisis seeing an increase in self referrals for benefit checks, supporting with claims and signposting to agencies to provide further support for heating etc. Along with the increase in work and the project drawing to a close the team in the Pension Credit Project have been proactive and supporting other teams in the Welfare Rights Service with back logs of work.
Planning Services - Vision Derbyshire Planning and Climate Change Team
Nominated by: Anonymous
Department: Place
Reason for Nomination:
Planning Services were asked to lead on Vision Derbyshire Accelerated Delivery Programme (Live and Work Sustainably) for Climate Change and Policy. David Arnold was the theme lead along with Alison Richards, Steve Buffery and Richard Sandbach as the project Team. Working closely with Councillor Purdy (from Derbyshire Dales District Council) during the last 2 years partnership working with Vision Derbyshire Local Planning Authorities we collectively delivered key pieces of work that would support the development robust and consistent planning policy across the County and City. These included preparing Supplementary Planning Guidance that provided an evidence and its associated metric for local plan making. This provides a systematic assessment of whether new developments considered renewable energy. This is now being used across the county and is receiving positive feedback which peer reviewed.
In addition the planning group bid for grant funding to commission a spatial renewable energy study again to help support the Derbyshire Local Planning Policy across Derbyshire. There were significant saving working collaboratively and the study methodology has been presented through various webinars recognising this as an exemplar piece of work. There has always been a strong network of Derbyshire Planning Officer Group but through Vision Derbyshire this has united us even more.
It brought us together to have challenging discussion about responding to Climate Change but means that it now puts us all in strong positions in local plan reviews. We will be holding a Vision Derbyshire Planning conference to present the key outputs of the workstreams. All this has been reported to the Vision Derbyshire Governance Board. We are now on with delivering Phase 4 with a focus on Biodiversity Net gain and developing strategic design codes that focus on climate change. Thank you.
Rebecca Chapman
Nominated by: Alison O'Connor
Department: Childrens Services
Reason for Nomination:
This practice supervisor has been identified to have some excellent practice examples she has supported her team to have 100 percent stats in all areas even through staff shortages she has mentored students who have returned to work in her team once qualified and has excellent feedback as a mentor
Research Team, Policy and Research, CST
Nominated by: John Cowings
Department: Corporate Services and Transformation
Reason for Nomination:
The Research Team within Policy and Research is a small excellent team of colleagues who ensure we all have the data and intelligence we need to carry out our jobs, to develop policy and strategy, to support local elections, and to ensure the Council actively engages with its communities. They have great technical skills, support our efforts as teams and services and work tirelessly to meet deadlines. Their work is also used by partners and others to aid their work in Derbyshire.
Ruth Mellors
Nominated by: Adele Glover
Department: Childrens Services
Reason for Nomination:
I am nominating Ruth Mellors, Derbyshire's Child Protection Manager for Vulnerable children. Ruth has worked tenaciously with colleagues and partners to help transform Derbyshire's response to children at risk of, and those experiencing child exploitation and risks associated with going missing.
Ruth has led colleagues and key partners, including strategic leads within Derbyshire Police, with a clear vision of joint accountability and driving consistent practice standards through re-shaping information sharing protocols and creating new and impactful multi-agency meetings which have collectively helped to understand and reduce risk for individual children and groups of children in local communities.
Ruth has been consistent in her approach with colleagues and partners, including challenging strategic and individual casework decisions as required, recognising and praising positive practice and providing support and guidance through her role which has helped to drive improvements in working together approaches and strengthen information exchange.
Ruth has worked to reduce bureaucracy for front line officers through agreeing alternative service delivery approaches with partners and this has also led to children and families not having to retell their stories in meetings time and again.
There are clear examples of how local multi-agency exploitation and place based risk panels are effective in understanding local risks for children and how well these are being managed through wrap around partnership arrangements to mitigate and divert dangers.
Ruth ensures that local intelligence is understood and appropriately shared with strategic leads in the partnership to facilitate the shaping and delivery of services in line with the child exploitation strategy. This work has been ongoing since Ruth commenced her role in March 2022 and whilst there is more to do, the past 12 months has been a critical period in the development and refinement of partnership activities with clear evidence of positive impact for children, families and communities.
Scheduling team
Nominated by: Jane Megson
Department: Adult Social Care and Health
Reason for Nomination:
The scheduling team works well as a team and has the ethos of working to everyone strengths. They are conscientious and are always wanting to make a difference in a positive way for adult care to run as effectively as possible. They are always willing to learn new objectives and wanting Adult care to run as smoothly as it possibly can. The Team as a whole are like one big family and they look after each other and will always look to the future of how the team can be more helpful towards Adult Care. The Team are great Listeners and will always try and give their best to give 100% to Adult Care. The Scheduling Team have a Motto and that Is TEAM which to them means Together Everyone Achieves More.
Specialist Service for Special Education Needs (SSSEN)
Nominated by: Alex Butler
Department: Childrens Services
Reason for Nomination:
SSSEN have worked extraordinarily hard to support children with SEND post COVID. There has been a big increase in service requests and a 45% increase in caseload numbers and they have been flexible, creative, and resilient in adapting to meet the challenges this has created. In partnership with schools, children, families, and other agencies the team created learning recovery plans and supported the delivery of these. SSSEN have caseloads of children in our primary schools and maintained nurseries with significant, complex, and multiple needs. Despite these challenges they have maintained their commitment, enthusiasm, and positivity working to achieve the very best outcomes for children with SEND.
I am nominating the SSSEN team for this award because in this context they have achieved such brilliant outcomes. On average supported children made progress in line with or significantly better than national expectations for all children. Learning progress increased significantly and is the highest the team has ever achieved.
Feedback was amazingly positive:
- 99% of children think their SSSEN teacher helps them to learn
- 100% of parents / carers say SSSEN helps their child learn, develop and make progress
- 99% of schools say SSSEN enable school staff to support pupils with SEND effectively in their school
- 100% of partner agencies SSSEN work with say that working in partnership with SSSEN had a positive impact on the learning and inclusion of supported children
I am immensely proud of these achievements which reflect the knowledge, skill, dedication, and overall brilliance of the team and I am giving my last few words to children, schools, partners and families:
- child - you are kind and you help me
- school - SSSEN support is invaluable, they go above and beyond for our children, staff and parents and nothing is too much trouble
- parent / carer - we love our SSSEN teacher, she always keeps us up to date on C’s progress and what fun she has with him. C really enjoys his time with her too and it shows
- partner agency - joint target setting has been really helpful - it helps me focus my advice on what the biggest concerns are and streamlines what parents / settings have to work on
Starting Point
Nominated by: Anonymous
Department: Childrens Services
Reason for Nomination:
I would like to nominate Starting Point for the Vision Derbyshire award, I believe the criteria has been met in regards to the multi-agency working that is intrinsic within the team, most notably in the strategy discussions held within the services, which encourages open and honest discussions and reflections by all professionals attending, with consistent social care managers, health and police colleagues in attendance. Chairing the discussions feels like each professional in attendance, including schools, hospitals, probation, youth offending and many others partners is a safe environment to have conversation and challenge about everyone's roles and responsibilities, in order to reach a decision about children and families in a manner which is appropriate and relevant. Starting Point also work hard to review and complete reflective discussions with partners about how these meetings are managed and the outcomes discussed. Any disputes are escalated in a timely manner and usually resolved through open discussions.
The multi-agency working in starting point is ongoing and everyone across the service, from Rachel as Head of Service and the partnership working she is involved in, to the management team who work closely with our partner agencies through strategy discussions, multiagency meetings and discussions held, the Practice Supervisors within the team who work closely attending education sub committee, probation. To the social work team, who provide advice and consultation to partner agencies, attend meetings with police to identify children at risk, to the referral coordinators who are working consistently with parents, carers and involved professionals to ensure the best outcomes for children.
Team 8T (Manager Dionne Heard - DSO)
Nominated by: Rachel Emmerson
Department: Adult Social Care and Health
Reason for Nomination:
I am nominating the team 8T, as we all work well together, we help encourage and support clients back to independence and keep us all the team updated on progress, we are run by two good and supporting managers. we all help out where we can and cover sickness for each other if anyone is having difficulty at a call whoever is available goes to help a colleague, we all swap shifts if a colleague needs to do a different one, we are a great team and every member of the team plays a huge role
The Homecare Scheduling Team
Nominated by: Anonymous
Department: Adult Social Care and Health
Reason for Nomination:
The Homecare Scheduling Team are a very young team. They started in 2019 and the service has spent the majority of its life living through COVID challenges and restrictions. The introduction of the service was met with varied responses from their key partners and there have been some significant challenges to overcome in terms of engaging with and effectively supporting partners.
At the start of 2022 the Homecare Scheduling Team set out on a journey to make improvements to their service to achieve 3 main goals:
- provide a timely responsive service
- deepen our relationships with DSOs
- get the most out of the systems that we have
Over the course of the year they achieved and surpassed these aims!
- they improved responsiveness: Increased Telephone responsiveness to 90% (was 76% in Oct 2021) and reduced wait times for incoming calls.
- they improved relationships with DSOs: Stronger relationships and collaborations, consistent regular locality meetings / discussions
- they developed and set out clear Roles and Responsibilities for themselves and key partners: they helped write and launch the Homecare Scheduling Standard Operating Procedure, and they started sharing the Scheduler and Team Leader rotas and Area Allocations with key parties so that the service was more transparent and accessible
- they developed their knowledge of localities to provide better quality scheduling: They introduced and embedded Area-specific Schedulers and Team Leaders, and designed and implemented Scheduling Notebooks which Schedulers and Team Leaders update and maintain
- they improved the quality of their Scheduling - introducing a new daily optimising task and improved their skills and area specific knowledge. This means that requests for changes from DSO partners has reduced by more than 30% per day, and they receive fewer requests for changes from carer
- they make the most of homecare capacity: they introduced a partial capacity approach and improved communications with referrers and DSOs. They introduced a new 'Scheduling Tolerance' approach to give more flexibility for visit timings which helped improve the capacity within the service
- they made some changes to their use of the 'Maxcare' system to improve its effectiveness - it is now assigning 93% of calls which surpasses their goal of 90%
- they also made improvements in their recording of Essential Information into the Call Confirm Live system over the course of the year. This started at 64% and was 97% by the end of 2022
- they also welcomed 9 new members of the Team and supported their induction and development within the Team.
- the Team have an extremely positive attitude and have embraced the changes that have been thrown their way over the last 12 months
The Scheduling Team are a very busy team. They answer around 115 calls and make over 70 calls every day. They respond to around 140 DSO requests each day. And they look for Homecare Capacity for around 35 new clients each day. The Homecare Scheduling Team are a 'supportive service' but they make an essential contribution to enabling more people in Derbyshire to access Homecare support that assists them to stay in their own homes and increase their independence and wellbeing.
The Resettlement Team
Nominated by: Christine Flinton
Department: Corporate Services and Transformation
Reason for Nomination:
I would like to nominate the Resettlement Team for their incredible commitment, tenacity, innovation and resilience in supporting all Refugees who have made Derbyshire their new home. The Team was established in 2016 and over the last 6 years they have worked with stakeholders from the Council, partner agencies and across communities to build a programme of work to secure accommodation and deliver support to enable the effective resettlement of Refugees. The Team has led this work and has delivered some amazing outcomes.
Prior to COVID over 60% of families were actively volunteering, around 20% had employment and children were settled into school and achieving socially and academically. Whilst COVID impacted delivery, the team quickly adapted the model of support ensuring families and partners continued to be engaged and ensuring contact and support was maintained.
The launch of the Homes for Ukraine Scheme in March 2022 introduced a whole new model of resettlement and the speed in which this was mobilised presented a significant challenge to what was a team of 2 FTE’s.
The team has been expanded and working with colleagues from all departments and external partners they have effectively ‘stood up’ a new service. Developed processes and procedures to ensure hosts and guests are safeguarded and implemented a whole system of support including everything from emergency payments and bus passes to mediation. Over 1300 Ukrainian Refugees have been welcomed and throughout all the challenges, existing provision has been maintained.
All members of the team, old and new have gone above and beyond to support some of the most vulnerable people in our communities. Working tirelessly to mitigate the trauma faced by those fleeing their homes to build a new life in Derbyshire.
The Resettlement Co-ordinator Erin Bower deserves a special thank you. Her commitment and dedication has been unwavering. This work is ongoing but I am immensely proud of what the team has achieved.
The Time Out Team - Spring Cottage
Nominated by: Samantha Slater
Department: Childrens Services
Reason for Nomination:
I am nominating the Time out Team at Spring Cottage - They are a team of residential children's workers within a one bed home that support a young person that has gone into crisis for a short term before going to a permanent placement. They are a fantastic team that have worked in very difficult circumstances this year and I feel they need to be recognised for their work and dedication. they work with young people that have very complex behaviour. The team always put the young person first and work with them to develop their self esteem and well being to move onto permanent placements with a view to being more settled after spending time with the team. They always display a strong team ethos for the same objectives. They are always respectful of families and other professionals involved with the care of young people keeping social workers and other professionals update and being professionally objective in the interests of the child.
They have a consistent approach to being fair and transparent. Any money used is to keep a clean welcoming home with young people choosing their own clothes, decor, bedding, and home cooked food and activities for the young people that they choose. They are committed to encouraging each other as a team and the young people to be the best they can and achieve their full potential on with them. The home has been temporarily closed for a refurbishment and the staff have been placed in other homes and are currently strengthening the team at a nearby home to support after their recent ofsted inspection.
When each young person left the time out team they all wanted to stay and said how much they had enjoyed being there.
Three Gables Children's Home
Nominated by: Kimberley O'Brien
Department: Childrens Services
Reason for Nomination:
I am nominating the staff team at Three Gables Children's Home and those who have supported us, for their commitment to our young people, our home and to one another. Despite considerable challenges faced recently the team have remained loyal, ensuring the safety and well-being of our young people remains the priority. I have worked at the home for 17 years and never before faced challenges as we have seen recently, I am so proud to be currently leading a team who remain focussed on positive outcomes with plans to implement change and work towards bringing about positive change. To each and every person who has been to support our home I want to show my appreciation and say thank you for all that you do.
UHDB (University Hospitals of Derby and Burton) Hospital Discharge Team
Nominated by: Anonymous
Department: Adult Social Care and Health
Reason for Nomination:
The UHDB Discharge Team are the epitome of positive MDT working. Based at Royal Derby Hospital, they are situated in an IDT (Integrated Discharge Team) working collaboratively with Derby City Social Care and the Trust’s own discharge team. The team is in regular contact with health colleagues and work in a joined up way to promote positive outcomes for patients. Collaboration continues with team members offering support and guidance to the Trust staff by conducting workshops aimed at improving practice.
The UHDB discharge team are acutely aware of the confusion and concern that the hospital discharge process can cause clients and family, and in practice, work hard to ensure that they support individuals to understand the process. The team have improved their approach to ensure that relevant information is provided to people consistently, to improve the patient experience.
The team are actively working with health to triage referrals to try and reduce the over prescription of care and increase the uptake of STS and CSBs, with the overall aim of reducing the need for long term care. The team also work closely with the Home from Hospital Service, including them in our daily PGDs.
The use of trusted assessor documents has not diminished the teams drive to support people to be as independent as possible; with the triage process, the team challenge appropriately the prescription of care, encouraging the use of third sector services, equipment and short term service to demonstrate a strength based approach. The team continue to have the “Home First” approach in their minds when supporting people, working together to manage risk and support people to return home where possible.
Vision Derbyshire Business Start Up Support Team
Nominated by: Sara Martin
Department: Place
Reason for Nomination:
The Vision Derbyshire Business Start-Up Team, comprising a Project Officer and 5 Business Advisers was appointed in January 2022. Its remit is to support the economic recovery from COVID-19, to fill a vital gap in the provision for Start-Ups, and to play a key role in laying the foundations to future-proof Derbyshire’s economy.
The Team’s bold collaborative approach has ensured great strides have been made towards achieving this and collectively their work is having a significant positive impact on the local economy, it’s people and places.
- 607 Derbyshire residents have been supported with business planning advice and guidance
- 144 clients have started a new business, with more in the pipeline
- 38 businesses have been awarded a Vision Derbyshire Start-Up grant with a combined total value of £151,005 - these grants have been successfully matched by private sector investment of over £800,000
Alongside these successes, the benefits of the strong partnerships that have been nurtured over the past year are tangible. Close relationships with the 9 Local Authorities across the County and Derby City have been effective in confirming local priorities, and ensuring needs are met. Working with them and with organisations including the Chamber of Commerce, Growth Hub, and Marketing Peak District and Derbyshire, to signpost clients to specialist support, has resulted in better outcomes for Derbyshire entrepreneurs.
By engaging with local Schools, Colleges and the University of Derby the Team has delivered a variety of Start-Up workshops to many students inspiring them about the world of business. Collaboration with colleagues at the the council has also been a priority and the Team has reached out to a wide range of departments to gather business intelligence, raise awareness of the Start-Up programme, and ensure businesses can easily access a broad range of information and support, including training, skills and regulatory standards.
Warm Spaces Team
Nominated by: Vicky Smyth
Department: Adult Social Care and Health
Reason for Nomination:
The Warm Spaces Team formed at pace to support residents struggling to heat their homes this winter. Colleagues from across the council came together to launch a new Warm Spaces Fund to support Voluntary and Community Sector Partners to provide a warm refuge for residents and their families struggling to heat their homes. Funded and co-ordinated by Public Health, the team also consisted of colleagues from Policy, Communications, PH Commissioning. A real example of joint working across different departments to address emerging needs.
This group of extraordinary people swiftly navigated approval processes, set up robust governance structures, created a set of ‘Derbyshire Warm Space Pledges’, learned from best practice in other areas, linked with the Community Response Forum to inform work, established allocation mechanisms to expedite getting funding out, and promoted the scheme widely across Derbyshire to enable our communities to thrive and support some of our most vulnerable residents.
To date the Warm Spaces team have processed a total of 137 applications. 128 of which have been approved and have distributed £113,022 of small grants. They are on track to allocate the full amount (£150,000) within the next few weeks. Here is a little bit more info on the difference that the scheme is making to local communities. Every Monday, since receiving a warm spaces grant, the No.28 community space in the Market Place, Belper opens its doors for warmth, company, hot drinks, wifi and crafts. Andrea who attends said:
“I just want to get out of the house and find life again,”
she continued:
“The combination of a warm space and meeting other people again is much better than sitting alone and worrying about the price of fuel.”
Organisers say they’re getting about 20 people each Monday and expect the numbers to rise:
“People come in because they can save money on heating at home, but also because it’s a friendly place to be.”
They also signpost people to other services like benefits help and a local food bank.
Welfare Rights Service
Nominated by: Anonymous
Department: Adult Social Care and Health
Reason for Nomination:
The team have continually had to adapt quickly to the challenges brought on by the pandemic and also the cost of living crisis. They have contributed to improving the lives of 1000s of Derbyshire residents by ensuring that their benefits are correct and assisted with claims where necessary. This improves their lifestyle outcomes and also feeds through into the finances of their local communities. It is a team that offers accurate information and advice and supports people in the community as well as other Council employees in their roles. The team is often forgotten about in terms of the wider council but their outcomes are exceptional. Every single member of the team are dedicated to supporting others.
White Hall Centre staff
Nominated by: Robin Heath
Department: Childrens Services
Reason for Nomination:
I am Nominating the White Hall Centre staff team for the 'Vision Derbyshire Award'. The entire White Hall staff worked enthusiastically throughout COVID, face-to-face with vulnerable young people, maintaining their high standards and enthusiasm throughout. Despite financial pressures the team's performance is consistently excellent.
The team make use of what limited equipment they have to provide unforgettable and life changing experience to Derbyshire young people. Most recently, the staff have been working with young people receiving benefits related free school meals providing them healthy meals, physical outdoor education, and a fun break. Feedback is always exceptional, whether it’s about the spotlessness of the centre, the positive impact on children's mental health, the seamless admin, or the fantastic healthy food.
White Hall staff dedicate themselves day-in day-out to Derbyshire young people and communities and always go above and beyond to change lives. Impact surveys from teachers show that 73% of teachers believe that White Hall has a 'very positive' effect on children's mental health, with the remaining 27% saying it has an overall positive effect.
Surveys completed by over 200 young people show that 79% believe they felt more confident, resilient and independent as a result of a White Hall visit. These statistics show the exceptional work the entire White Hall staff team do for the Derbyshire community.
Woodville Midway Team
Nominated by: Anonymous
Department: Childrens Services
Reason for Nomination:
The team work in open minded, honest and accountable, ensuring the decisions we make are fair and transparent and we are respectful of the opinions of others and this is reflected within the feedback received from the whole team throughout the course of the year. Team pull together and support each other when things have been difficult due to staffing and make time for each other and are passionate around the work that they do with families to achieve better outcomes.
YES Derbyshire
Nominated by: Nikketa Newton / Louise Wilson
Department: Children’s Services
Reason for Nomination:
We would like to nominate YES Derbyshire (youth employment support / youth hub). This is a joint initiative between the council and the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP). Youth Hubs were introduced by the DWP as a means of preventing the long-lasting negative impact of the COVID-19 on young people. Youth Hubs are intended to provide an accessible resource for residents seeking access to a range of employment related services. This opportunity was taken forward in Derbyshire.
A small working group of officers from key Council colleagues (Employment and Skills, Adult Careers Team, Adult Education, Public Health and Employment and Education Team) and local DWP colleagues secured funding from DWP. As a result, a Youth Hub in Derbyshire was set up in January 2022 as a blended approach, with a physical hub in the Chesterfield locality, (at the Adult Education Centre at Hunloke) and a virtual digital offer to support the rest of the county.
The physical offer has also been piloted as a “pop-up” version in Shirebrook for a 6-week period to establish demand, where the initial feedback has been positive, and a request has been submitted to repeat the exercise. In 2022 there was a target to support 300 young people, the hub exceeded this with 484.
- Over 100 of these young people progressed into employment / apprenticeships / kickstart
- Over 130 of these young people progressed in to work experience / volunteering / training programme
- Almost 300 young people engaged in creating a careers skill action plan
In addition to the above many young people have achieved additional soft outcomes including increased confidence, motivation, health, and wellbeing. From relationship building we receive referrals from partners including leaving care service, probation, social services, NHS and other local training providers. This evidences the amazing success of the hub and those working in it who go above and beyond daily.