I know first-hand the important work of the social care and early years sectors, so I was delighted to help present our annual Accolades awards alongside the broadcaster Garry Owen last month.
The Accolades are awards that recognise and celebrate excellent social care, social work, childcare, play and early years work in Wales; and I’d been looking forward to the event since I started my role as Chief Executive of Social Care Wales last summer.
These awards are our way of celebrating the vital, and often unseen work undertaken across Wales, in supporting children, adults and families in our communities.
They are a thank you to those who work in care – this is important as many care workers feel undervalued, despite the general positive regard the public and individuals using care and support holds for the services they provide.
Six winners were presented with awards at the ceremony in Cardiff:
- Blaenau Gwent County Borough Council’s Families First service
- Bridgend County Borough Council’s International Recruitment for Children’s Social Workers project
- Connecting Carmarthenshire
- Flintshire County Council’s Progression Team
- Avril Bracey, who was head of service for adult social care at Carmarthenshire County Council
- Sarah Sharpe, registered childminder at Poppins Daycare in Barry.
Many congratulations to the six winners and 11 highly commended finalists!
The Accolades aren’t the only awards we run each year – we also hold the Caring in Welsh award.
This award celebrates the amazing workers who provide care through the Welsh language. It aims to inspire others to start learning, grow their confidence and use their Welsh skills at work.
Workers don’t need to be fluent Welsh speakers, we’re looking for individuals who use the language when they provide care and support – a little bit of Welsh goes a long way!
We’re currently accepting nominations for this year’s award. So, if you know an incredible social worker, social care, childcare, play or early years worker who uses the Welsh language at work, why not nominate them for the award?
Nominations are open until 27 June and the winner will be announced at a special ceremony at the National Eisteddfod on 7 August.