'We want to make sure we continue to celebrate the services you provide'

Shwmae colleagues,

I wanted to start with a thank you, as more than 5,000 of you took part in our Have Your Say survey.

This survey gives us useful information about your experience of working in social care. We can use what you tell us to decide where we need to take action and will work with our partners to do this.

We’ll share the survey's findings with you later this year.

We recognise the importance of the work you do to support people, families and carers. We want to make sure we continue to celebrate the services you provide. I believe this is important not only for you, but also for giving people, families and carers confidence in the work you do, and to help us attract future social care workers.

We do this through WeCare Wales, our initiative with the sector to raise the profile of the different jobs you can do in social care and early years.

WeCare Wales has recently run campaigns about apprenticeships and volunteering. All of its resources are free to use and you can find them on the WeCare website.

We’re now in the final stages of organising the Accolades awards ceremony. Thank you for all your entries and nominations.

We’re running a public vote to decide the winners of two of the awards. So please take a look at the finalists here and vote for the workers you think should be crowned the winners.

The celebrations continued last week with Social Work Week. We ran a range of events and inspiring sessions to mark the occasion.

This month we also celebrated International Women’s Day. This year’s theme is ‘Accelerate Action’, which calls for strategies, resources and impactful solutions to make sure women have equal rights.

We’ve made significant progress towards gender equality over the last 100 years, but we still have a way to go. Please take the opportunity to challenge discrimination and celebrate the success of the women in your lives.

Best wishes,

Sarah