Six years after the Social Services and Well-being (Wales) Act 2014 came into force (April 6th 2016), North Wales MS and Shadow Minister for Social Justice, Mark Isherwood has raised concern that the Act is still not delivering what it set out to achieve.
Speaking in yesterday’s meeting of the Welsh Parliament, Mr Isherwood asked the Deputy Minister for Social Services how the Welsh Government is monitoring the implementation of the Act, which provides the legal framework for improving the well-being of people who need care and support, and carers who need support, and for transforming social services in Wales.
Mr Isherwood said that despite the Act having been in place since April 2016, he continues to be contacted daily by people who have rights under the Act, but whose needs continue to be ignored.
Speaking in the Welsh Parliament, he said:
“The Social Services and Well-being (Wales) Act 2014 places a specific duty on local authorities to promote the involvement of people in the design and delivery of care and support services. However, almost daily, I receive cases where Public Bodies have dictated how they will communicate with Autistic and neurodiverse people, their families and carers, regardless of their individual communication and processing needs.
“I also note that the Report following February's ‘Wales Carers Summit’ states that a key theme covered the need for general ‘improvements in carers accessing and benefiting from their rights within the Social Services and Well-being Act’, and that in response to a statement that ‘Carers have told us they are often ignored or seen as unimportant by health and social care professionals, despite providing the majority of care in Wales and having rights under the Act’, the Chief Executive of Social Care Wales ‘recognised that the implementation of the Act is challenging and said a programme of work is also under way on strength-based approaches and person-centred planning to try and embed the aspirations of the Act’.
“How and when in practice will the Welsh Government therefore begin monitoring the Act's implementation by Public Bodies accordingly, to ensure that the Act's aspirations are embedded within this, eight years after the voice of the people concerned was supposed to be at the centre of this?”
Responding, the Deputy Minister for Social Services, Julie Morgan MS, admitted that “In terms of the implementation of the Act and people's experiences on the ground, we still have a way to go.”
She added:
“We are monitoring the effectiveness of the Act very carefully, as are Care Inspectorate Wales, Social Care Wales and Audit Wales, and we absolutely accept that the experience of carers, for example, on the ground, is not yet where it should be. However, progress is being made.”
