Social Value Ideas for Blaenau Gwent County Borough Council

Youth funding gap after SPF

The youth service faces a significant funding pressure because Shared Prosperity Fund support for targeted work ended in March 2026 and there is no dedicated Welsh Government funding for universal pre…

“A large proportion of our targeted work has been supported by SPF funding, and the transition for that funding ended in March 2026. At the same time, …”

Youth work statutory plan

Welsh Government's new statutory framework requires Blaenau Gwent Youth Service to produce a five-year youth work strategic plan from April 2027, defining universal and targeted provision, governance,…

“This report's to provide an overview of the strengthened legislative framework for youth work in Wales and what it means for Blaenau Gwent and Blaenau…”

New youth service funding routes

The report explained that the replacement for SPF and related growth funds is restricted mainly to post-16 and has a much less favourable revenue/capital split. This policy environment blocks their us…

“So the replacement of SPF isn't just UK Growth, but it's UK Growth Fund, Trailblazer- Trailblazer ... and there's another, I can't think of the name o…”

Core youth service funding remains

Jo Sims clarified that core youth service funding continues and that the service is not facing an immediate collapse. She said around one-fifth of the youth service is core funded, with the immediate …

“So, the SPF aspect of funding is not continuing, but our core funding, at this point, is continuing, and so are the other elements of the grants that …”

New waste strategy adopted

The council brought forward its new Resource and Waste Strategy 2026-2031, designed to support statutory recycling targets and a long-term integrated waste service. It emphasises infrastructure, partn…

“"Pleased to be bringing you our new waste strategy. You see attached the strategy document itself. You'll have an opportunity today to provide comment…”

EPR funding to support waste works

Officers discussed Extended Producer Responsibility funding as a major income stream to support waste strategy delivery, including fleet replacement, infrastructure and capital works. Funding was repo…

“"So extended producer responsibility, I'm not sure if members have heard of that. So EPR moves the full cost of dealing with household packaging waste…”

Consultation response too low

The consultation for the waste strategy generated only 133 responses, which members described as poor and not representative. Officers said they would feed back the concern to the survey provider. The…

“"We undertook a public consultation exercise using a structured survey to gather views from residents, businesses, stakeholders, and service users, an…”

Rising social care referrals

Children's Social Services reported very high and increasing referral volumes, with 9,373 referrals over the financial year and the highest level in quarter four. The report attributes this to improve…

“Figure 1.1, this is a table that demonstrates the number of referrals received by Children's Social Services across the year. You can see that from th…”

CIW assurance check positive

Care Inspectorate Wales found overall positive practice in children's services, including visible leadership, strong children's voices, good safeguarding, and effective partnership working. The report…

“So what they say is that children's services were undergoing a planned restructure at the time of the assurance check to support longer term sustainab…”

High repeat safeguarding cases

The social services report highlights a significant rise in repeat referrals on open cases, peaking at 2,135 in quarter four. This shows persistent safeguarding concerns in existing cases and implies …

“Figure 1.3 then. This evidences repeated referrals that are received on open cases. So cases that are already open to children's services, where we re…”