“We are here to make people as independent as they can be so that they are able to live their lives in the way that they want to.”
John Morgan, Executive Director
In Merton Adult Social Care, we look after our teams so that they’re able to focus on caring for the adults who need us.
Video transcript
(John Morgan, Director of Adult Social Care)
When you work in adult social care, you make a difference to people's lives every single day.
We are here to make people as independent as they can be so that they are able to live their lives in the way that they want to.
One of the things that I'm most proud about is that Merton pays the London Living Wage to our care workers.
We invest in our staff in Merton. I want to make sure that we've got the training for our staff to ensure that you and they have the skills to be able to do your jobs properly.
And we've developed a standalone apprenticeship post within our services to support unqualified staff that want to progress into qualified positions such as social workers or occupational therapists.
And that's open to anyone in the council to apply for.
We also have a strong internal training offer to all professionals across adult social care and public health, irrespective of your grade or experience.
So why would you want to work in Merton?
You'll be making a difference. Every single day is different and you'll be a valued team member.
What we do
Adults of all ages can need extra support for various and often complex reasons, and we support those with physical or learning disabilities, physical or mental health needs, and older people who need extra support.
Our approach to adult social care is person-centred and strength-based enable people to be safe, as independent as possible and to live the lives they want.
Where possible, we focus on reablement to help to prevent, delay and reduce the need for long-term support. This work supports people to regain the skills, independence, autonomy and self-determination needed to lead the life they want.
Video transcript
I’m Sarah Beveney and I'm a Senior Duty Social Worker, and I work with the Integrated Learning Disabilities Team.
So as a Senior Social Worker, I get to do a combination of the two: the frontline work, which means assessments, and care planning, and going out on visits. As well as a managerial element, which is supervising people, training, and kind of getting into meaty complex work.
It's enabled me to have conversations with people I wouldn't necessarily, and met people and communities I wouldn't have. And I'm really grateful for that. But actually, all I find I do is sow little seeds and you see that little chink of light. But you go and visit. You have that conversation. You enable them to see it slightly differently and the next time you go, she might be willing to, “OK, I'll accept some help.”
Being with the learning disabilities team is a better appreciation of people living with autism. I think it's those little interactions with team members. It's that humour and joy and celebrating what's worked well. It's bringing cakes in and having a chat. It's grabbing somebody who's done a really good piece of work or struggling and giving them five minutes to say, “Tell me about it. Tell me about what you've done.” And we all give that to each other. So that makes a difference.
What we’re proud of
We support staff to deliver excellence
- Dedicated apprenticeship posts to support people without qualifications into professional roles.
- We are a London Living Wage accredited employer, investing in our care providers and their staff.
- We provide a wide range of roles, with day opportunities, telecare, supported living, extra care, and employment support all delivered directly by the council.
- Employee support scheme and wide range of wellbeing activities.
- Great progression and development opportunities including access to a range of resources, platforms and programmes (including: CareKnowledge, Adult Social Care Development Academy, Merton Adult Tri.x and the Developing Together Social Work Teaching Partnership).
We nurture strong partnerships
- Our Senior Health liaison officers work closely with GP surgeries.
- We have an integrated health and social care learning disability team, with a full range of multidisciplinary interventions.
- We work closely with our local voluntary sector.
- Currently delivering a multi-agency carers strategy co-produced and led by people with lived experience.
- Our mental health social care staff work shoulder to shoulder with our mental health NHS trust.
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