Devon teams shortlisted for Social Worker of the Year awards 2019

Devon will be well represented at prestigious national awards that recognise pioneering work in social care.

Three Devon County Council social worker teams have been shortlisted for category awards at this November's Social Worker of the Year awards.

• The Devon Prison's Adult Social Care Team has been shortlisted for the Creative and Innovative Social Work Practice award.
• The West Devon Community Health and Social Care team, (which is part of a joint health and social care team across Devon County Council and Livewell South West), has been shortlisted for Team of the Year, Adult Services award.
• And the Family Group Conferencing Plus Team, including Lifelong Links, has been shortlisted for the Team of the Year, Children’s Services award.

Each will find out if they have won at a national awards ceremony in London.

The awards are organised by the Social Work Awards charity, which aims to improve public awareness and understanding of social work by showing the positive impact of social workers in the wide range of roles they undertake.

Carol Milverton, Team Manager for the Exeter Health and Social Care team, said: "I am delighted that the team has been recognised for their work within the three Devon Prisons. It’s great to get this accolade. The team work tirelessly to ensure that prisoners social care needs are met effectively in a challenging environment working collaboratively with a host of other agencies and for that to be recognised at a national level is brilliant. My thanks to the team. We’ll wait to see whether we’re successful on the 29th November.”

Louise Higgins, Manager of the West Devon Community Health and Social Care team, said: "I am absolutely thrilled that the team has been shortlisted for the Team of The Year at the Social Worker of the Year awards. Integration is key in working together to help get the best possible outcomes for the people we support and the West Devon team do a fantastic job of making this happen. The team is looking forward to attending the awards in November with Devon and Livewell colleagues, and I wish the team the very best of luck.”

Debbie Marks, Service Manager of the council’s Family Group Conferencing Plus Team (including Lifelong Links) said: "The team and I are delighted to be shortlisted for this award. Thank you to the referrer who felt so passionately we should enter. I am very proud that the work the team do with families has been recognised in this way. The words from individuals, including young people, family members and partner agencies have been lovely to share and include in our nomination for whole team. Thank you to all who have made this possible.”

Councillor John Hart, the Leader of Devon County Council, said: “Congratulations to all of our teams for reaching the shortlist for these prestigious awards. These are awards that celebrates and recognises the best examples of pioneering social work. It goes to show that we in Devon are among the best, working hard to improve the lives of vulnerable people and to help provide the best starts in life for children and young people and their families. I wish all our teams the very best luck for the awards in November."