Leaders at Sunderland City Council are celebrating after the authority received national acclaim for the quality of its adult care and support provision.
An assessment by the social care regulator, the Care Quality Commission (CQC), has rated the council’s quality of adult care and support as ‘Good’ across all areas.
The audit, which took place in November 2024, gathered feedback from residents, carers, staff, partners and providers to assess how well the authority is meeting its responsibilities to residents.
Assessors reserved special praise for the Council’s ‘person-centred’ approach and its ‘innovative use of new technology’ to deliver care and support.
Its commitment to working with other service providers and partners to deliver the best possible outcomes for residents was also hailed.
Cllr Kelly Chequer, portfolio holder for health, wellbeing and safer communities, said: “This is a fantastic achievement by everyone involved with delivering adult care and support across the city.
“Over recent years, the adult care and support sector has had to weather a perfect storm of crippling cuts by consecutive Conservative governments, the Covid-19 pandemic and the UK’s ageing population, but despite this, our teams have never shirked from a challenge.
“Faced with real adversity, they’ve shown incredible resilience to continue delivering for our most vulnerable residents while ensuring nobody is left behind, and this is reflected in these remarkable results.
“The achievement really demonstrates our commitment as a local authority to doing everything in our power to put residents at the heart of absolutely everything we do.”
Sunderland’s ruling Labour Party made a commitment in its manifesto to ‘enable people with care and support needs to have choice and control’ and ‘support self-care’, and Cllr Chequer believes this achievement is yet another example of the party ‘delivering on its promises to residents’.
She added: “We promised that a vote for Labour would be a vote for better, more efficient adult care and support, and this is yet another example of how we’re delivering on that promise.
“Thanks to the hard work of council staff and our partners, we’re delivering the highest quality of services to our residents, enabling them to be independent for longer and facilitating the right support and information, while ensuring they continue to live their best lives.
“And with a Labour Government and a dedicated Labour Mayor for the North East now in place, both of whom have committed to tackling inequality and improving life chances of everyday people in cities such as Sunderland, we are confident that with the right funding and support, things will only get better as we continue building on this success and delivering the best possible outcomes for our residents long into the future.”