Council shortlisted for prestigious national awards for pandemic efforts

Shropshire Council has been shortlisted for several national awards in recognition of the support it’s provided throughout the coronavirus pandemic.

Teams from public health, adult social care, health and safety and housing have been shortlisted for three awards at the national MJ Achievement Awards 2021 and LGC Awards 2021.

Public health, health and safety and adult social care, were shortlisted for the Care and Health Integration category at the MJ Achievement Awards, for their work with partners for the Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) distribution to frontline workers and care providers across the county. An online platform was developed that enabled the council to rapidly have a solution that made sure that vital PPE was available on request to support frontline services.

To facilitate the use of this platform, resources were redeployed from other areas of the organisation to form a small team of professionals, led by the health and safety team manager, who was tasked with the roll-out and management of PPE distributions in Shropshire.

MJ Achievement Awards: Finalist for Care and Health Integration category

As a result of the project, the council has distributed 804,094 items of personal protective equipment to our county’s hospitals, GPs, care providers, hospices and funeral directors as well as other services.

The scheme was shortlisted as it was seen as a great example of how, working with partners, the council sourced, tested and distributed PPE supplies, and co-ordinated mutual support while responding to the fast-changing guidance at a time of crisis. The online platform, developed at pace, has been invaluable in dealing with one of the key challenges of the pandemic.

The council’s housing team have been shortlisted for the Best Council Services Team category at the MJ Achievement Awards for their work on tackling homelessness at the beginning of the pandemic, and ensuring that everyone had a home, before the Government’s homelessness initiative was launched.

MJ Achievement Awards: Finalist for Best Council Services Team

The team were shortlisted as they demonstrated they were ahead of the curve tackling homelessness at the beginning of the pandemic, getting everyone ‘in’ before the Government’s homelessness initiative was launched. 24/7 support was provided, and the council used the pandemic as an opportunity to turn people’s lives around.

In addition, staff member Lorraine Currie was shortlisted in the Outstanding Individual Contribution category for the LGC 2021 Awards. This special award for 2021 aims to recognise an exceptional individual in local government who embodies the qualities of resilience, compassion, flexibility, innovation and creativity to cope with adversity.

Lorraine, who is an acting principal social worker and professional lead on the Mental Capacity Act, has been a fundamental member of the adult social care team during the pandemic, providing support and key action for those in the senior management team as well as her colleagues on the ground.

Lorraine Currie

One of the key areas of work that Lorraine led on during the pandemic was on Direct Payments. The work undertaken was truly co-produced with ‘Experts by Experience’, and has resulted in a level playing field before assessment conversations, as well as a vision statement which is also co-produced and entirely Shropshire-focused. Lorraine has reflected on the work over the past 18 months and feels that the work completed regarding Direct Payments was without a doubt her proudest element.

LGC Awards 2021

Dean Carroll, Shropshire Council’s Cabinet member for adult social care, public health and assets, said:-

“This is fantastic news! It’s great to hear we’ve again been shortlisted for such prestigious awards. Both the MJ Achievement Awards and LGC Awards provide a valuable opportunity to highlight and share examples of good practice.

“So, I’m very excited that we have been recognised for our housing, public health and adult social care teams. I just want to wish our teams the very best of luck in the finals.

“This recognition come as no surprise to me, as I believe we have the very best staff delivering these services for the people of Shropshire.”

Andy Begley, Shropshire Council’s chief executive, added:-

“I am absolutely delighted that we’ve again been shortlisted as finalists for the national MJ Achievement Awards 2021, and this year for the LGC Awards. Such accolades provide a valuable opportunity to showcase the amazing work that we do.

“Being a finalist not only allows us to show how proud we are of our achievements, but it will also provide our staff with the recognition they deserve.

“As a council, we are incredibly proud of our achievements across all of our services. These past 17 months throughout the pandemic have been particularity challenging for us, so I’m very excited that we have been recognised in our work.

“I wish everyone the very best of luck in the finals at both award ceremonies this autumn.”

Further information

MJ Achievement Awards

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.

The awards have a large number of high-quality entries across 17 different categories, showing the sheer variety of services provided by local government. Categories include:

• Local Authority of the Year
• Best Council Services Team
• Best Social Housing Initiative
• Care and Health Integration
• Chief Executive of the Year
• Corporate Director of the Year
• Delivering Better Outcomes
• Digital Transformation
• Innovation in Building Diversity and Inclusion
• Innovation in Children’s Services
• Leadership in Responding to the Climate
• Emergency
• Public Health Improvement
• Rising Star
• Senior Leadership Team
• Transforming Lives
• Workforce Transformation
• Community Heroes

The winners of the MJ Achievement Awards will be announced on Friday 17 September 2021.

LCG Awards

Twenty-five years ago, LGC launched the very first awards scheme to recognise councils’ greatest achievements. Today these awards – judged by the biggest figures in local government – remain the ultimate indicator of excellence.

This year see’s 19 categories which include

• Campaign of the Year
• Children’s Services
• Climate Response – NEW
• Community Involvement
• Council of the Year
• Digital
• Impact Diversity and Inclusion
• Economic Support – NEW
• Environmental Services
• Future Places
• Health and Social Care
• Housing Innovation
• Outstanding individual Contribution – NEW
• Public Health Partnership
• Rising Star
• Team of the Year
• Technology

The winners of the LGC Awards will be announced on 4 November 2021.

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