Annual Report (2022 to 2023)

While most people in Buckinghamshire live independent and healthy lives, some need extra support and protection. We know that the number of children and adults who need this extra help is increasing and the impending social care reforms, set out in the ‘People at the Heart of Care’ white paper, will have significant impacts for us as an authority. There are also rising numbers of people with mental health difficulties, special educational needs, disabilities and complex needs.

We want to give everyone the best chances in life, so that – together with their families and carers - they are resilient and can identify their own solutions. We will continue to work with our partners and communities to innovate and improve our offer, helping people recover from illness sooner, promoting fostering, reducing social isolation and loneliness, and supporting our most vulnerable residents.

Our goal is to reduce inequalities and give everyone the support and skills they need to live independent, happy and fulfilling lives.

The Helping Hand team through the Household Support Fund have delivered:

• 17,146 provisions of support to financially vulnerable households
• 82,939 digital food vouchers for eligible families during the school holiday

We created 55 Welcoming Spaces, supporting local people to stay warm and well this winter.

We gave out 285 warm boxes through our libraries.

Under the Council Tax Energy Rebate Scheme, we have paid out £19.2 million to over 137,254 Buckinghamshire households so far.

Accommodated 15 families from Afghanistan (March 2023) and as of December 2022, we have welcomed more than 1,600 Ukrainian guests into the county.

Community Safety Officers, Street Wardens and Neighbourhood Policing teams carried out 55 visits throughout November and December 2022 as part of the Ask for Angela campaign

16 days of action held for white ribbon day.

Launched the Bucks Domestic Abuse Partnership website providing information for victims and guidance for professionals.

466 colleagues and partners have attended domestic abuse and violence against women and girls training.

Recruited a further 186 Domestic Abuse Champions.

Satisfaction survey results show the proportion of people who are satisfied with their care and support remains above average at 66%.

Significantly reduced the number of adults waiting over 28 days to be allocated a social worker by 56%, from 71 to 31.

Continuing our Adult Social Care annual reviews improvements, 5,712 people have been reviewed this year - an average of 109 per week compared to Regional (South-East) average of 102.

The number of people contacting adult social care for support has increased by 65% since 2020 to 21. Of these, in 2022 to 2023, over 92% were supported to live independently through advice and guidance, occupational therapy, reablement or telecare.

Reduction in Occupational Therapy waiting list this year from 758 people (April 2022) to 217 people (March 2023).

Significant improvements in the timeliness of triaging safeguarding concerns in adults, despite increasing demand. Performance increased to 88% in March 2023, up from 43% in April 2022.

44% of community clients receive direct payments compared to 27% in both England and the South-East (2021 to 2022).

Between January and October 2022, 520 new Education, Health and Care Plans were issued (excluding exceptions) with 66% of these within 20 weeks, which is above national benchmark of 60%.

There has been an increase in the number of adoptive families, from 14 between April 2021 and March 2022 to 16 between April 2022 and March 2023.

Management oversight on all open children's social care case records has increased from 66% of cases in April 2022 to 74% in March 2023.

In November 2022, 70% of the percentage of 19-21-year-olds who have left care were in education, employment or training, compared to 57% across the South East.

The number of completed assessments in 45 working days increased by 15% from 3,587 in 2021-2022 to 4,185 in 2022-2023.

Increase in Initial Family Support Plans completed within 31 days increased from 84% at the end of April 2022 to 95% March 2023.

Management oversight on open Family Support Service cases (in the Early Help service) increased from 86% in April 2022 to 95% in March 2023.

From April 2022 to March 2023, Live Well Stay Well (LWSW) received 11,816 referrals compared to 10,221 for the previous year. During the same period, 1,105 adults accessed a weight management service through the LWSW programme compared to 862 for the previous year.

Nearly 14,000 children and young people eligible for free school meals, early years pupil premium or 2-year-old funded early education are receiving additional support through the Household Support Grant in the form of supermarket vouchers for the school holidays.

8,650 Home to School Transport passengers transported to school every day with over 458 families taking up personal transport budgets.

Introduction of a further 4 new commercial school bus routes which run independently of the council .

251 volunteers have led a programme of 70 Simply Walks (mostly weekly) across Buckinghamshire, with more than 1,000 walkers taking part each quarter (resulting in a footfall of approximately 26,000 over the year).

Developed a Winter Readiness and Response Framework to plan and prepare for winter, working with 15 frontline services.

Public Health have supported the NHS to see over 180,000 people receive a Covid-19 autumn booster vaccine within Buckinghamshire. This is over 70% of over 50's and over 85% of over 75's.

Launched the Resilience Tool Kit for residents on our website to provide advice to prepare for and respond to an emergency, including holding resilience workshops.