Where the journey began
The number of children looked after by local authorities in England is the highest it has been in the past generation. Due to difficulties attracting and retaining talent, Bedford Borough Council relied on agency staff, making up 52% of their social care workforce - a common story throughout the UK. This lack of continuity in service left the children with no friendly, familiar face when at their most vulnerable.
Bedford Borough Council’s Children’s Services sought out a solution to their own challenge of recruiting and retaining high quality social workers to ensure that the children in the Borough’s care received consistent, high-quality support when they need it the most.
Challenges to be met
- Bedford Borough, like many local authorities is tackling the challenge of retaining a high-quality permanent workforce. They needed to make themselves attractive to potential new employees in order to attract ambitious and dynamic talent.
- The key priority was to ensure that children receive consistent, high quality support when they need it the most.
- The council recognised the need to improve candidate experience and talent attraction – while safeguarding the Council’s employer brand.
- There was a high reliance on agencies — previously 52% of the social workers were agency staff and due to the low retention rate, there was no continuity of service. This was failing the children and needed to be addressed.
The outcome
Guidant Global’s partnership with Bedford Borough Council continues to go from strength to strength, and provide numerous year-on-year operational benefits. Not only has the partnership resulted in cost savings, but it has directly improved the outcomes for children - the main motivation of the Children's Services department.
Both parties are exceptionally proud of everything that we have achieved together, making a real difference to the Children, Young People and their Families within the Bedford area.
Read the full customer success story
To find out how Guidant Global helped the Children’s Services department achieve such impressive cost savings, alongside improving the quality of care the children received download the full customer success story.
Your true partnership starts here
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