18/08/2020 - Permalink

MJ Achievement Awards shortlistings for Shropshire Council teams

Related topics: Adult social care / Corporate / Housing

Shropshire Council’s adult social care team, and housing services team, have again been shortlisted for the prestigious MJ Achievement Awards.

The awards had a large number of high-quality entries across 18 different categories, showing the sheer variety of services provided by local government.

MJ Achievement Awards

MJ Achievement Awards

Housing services team have been shortlisted for the ‘Best Social Housing Initiative’ for their House Home Project (H2H). H2H is a multi-agency scheme developed by the housing services and occupational therapy teams, using a number of different funding streams to ensure that households with children who have a disability and are living in unsuitable housing are able to access housing they need, utilising properties on the open market, as well as working with developers from the planning permission stages. So far, the project has helped 21 families.

The adult social care team have been shortlisted in the ‘Delivering Better Outcomes’ category for their ‘2 carers in a car’ project. The project works as it says on the tin, by having two carers in a car: this means that people do not have to have strangers sleeping in their house to care for them, yet they get the care they need during the night. By really understanding the problem, the team were able to work with a care company to create a real alternative. We discovered that making the service better for the person, made the service better for us.

The MJ believes that the best local government services and personnel should be recognised and so launched The MJ Local Government Achievement Awards as a result. The MJ Achievement Awards ceremony is one of the major events within the public sector calendar. Winning an MJ Achievement Award not only allows councils to be recognised for the delivery of their services over the last 12 months, but it also allows them to share their expertise with their peers. Winning an MJ Achievement Award not only promotes a council’s achievements, but it also provides staff the recognition they deserve.

Andy Begley, joint interim chief executive, and executive director for adult social care and housing, said:-

“This is fantastic news! I am delighted that we have again been shortlisted for such prestigious awards.

“The MJ Achievement Awards provide a valuable opportunity to highlight and share examples of good practice. Over the past few years we have challenged ourselves to find innovative ways of improving services, and the results have been encouraging for me as director and for those who use our services.

“As a council we are incredibly proud of our achievements across all of our services. This year has been particularity challenging for us, as with all councils across the country, so I’m very excited that we have been recognised in our housing and adult social care services. I just want to wish our teams the very best of luck in the finals!”

Finally, huge congratulations to Fiona Whitaker, housing services, who was recognised as ‘highly commended’ in the category of rising star. Given the level and the number of nominations in this category, this is a significant achievement for Fiona and the service.

Fiona Whitaker

Fiona Whitaker

All finalists information can be found here – https://awards.themj.co.uk/

The winners will be announced in a virtual awards ceremony during an ‘afternoon to remember’ on 2 October 2020.

Further information

Stay updated with the latest news about coronavirus and Shropshire Council services by signing up to our email bulletins