Don't work here

Deborah Rees claims that she spotted serious problems with the care services the council was providing when she joined from Wiltshire County Council five years ago.

But when she told senior managers her fears, she says they failed to act upon her warnings and called her a troublemaker.

She said: "I brought to the attention of senior management the serious failings in the service area in which I worked four years ago. Since then, my life has been made a complete nightmare: I have had two significant periods off work with stress, have lost my career and am currently being threatened with dismissal for whistleblowing."

Her claims follow in the wake of a damning report about Swindon Council's social services department by the Audit Commission and Social Services Inspectorate.

Ms Rees, who lives in Melksham, says she has been shifted from one job to another since she made her allegations, despite being told her work is of high quality.

The tip of the iceberg came when, after eight months working as a planning officer for adults with learning disabilities, she was asked to re-apply for the job.

Despite carers formally backing her application, senior managers plumped for another candidate.

That person starts this month, yet Ms Rees is still employed by the council. She has no formal role, no work allocated to her and has been told to have no contact with service users.

Now she has reached the end of her tether and has decided to tell her story today because she feels it is the only way the council will sit up and take notice of its fundamental weaknesses.

She knows she is likely to lose her job by doing so, but is prepared to take the risk if it means that the standards of the services to children and adults might improve.

She said: "I think it is time certain local authorities are reminded that they are there to serve their people.

"I am aware of many other people who also have stories to tell, but the motivation for me is not for myself. The damage cannot be undone, but I want to try to make sure this cannot happen to anyone else."

Ms Rees has even bought the rights to the website, swindonboroughcouncil.com, on which she has told her story and offered a forum for further complaints about the council's services.

She has 30 years experience in social services, a postgraduate diploma and a master's degree in ethics. She joined the council as a senior social worker, before becoming assistant manager, then acting manager of the emergency duty team.

She says all manner of problems were evident with the service, including some staff refusing to work their hours, one staff member found working for another agency, some staff refusing to attend serious cases such as mental health assessments and people not recognising child care referrals needing assessment. She fell ill with stress and had time off.

She claims she reported the problems to senior management who launched a secret investigation while she was away. She says they did not show her the findings but accepted there were serious problems. Yet when she came back, she was told she could not return to her previous job.

Ms Rees says she was given various tasks by managers, but no formal position. After being told her work was "exceptional", she was set to be made co-ordinator of the joint review inspection.

She claims she worked hard on this and pointed out that a lot of work needed to be done to avoid a dreadful report from the external inspectors. But her whistleblowing led to her being removed from the job, she claims, and she was made asylum seeker team manager instead. Ms Rees says she worked hard to prepare to set up the team, but the move fell through and she again fell ill with stress.

When she came back some weeks later, she says her career followed a similar path being pushed from one role to another.

Eventually, she was given her latest job as planning officer for adults with learning disabilities on a temporary basis. She started some innovative schemes and built strong relationships with outside agencies, including the Swindon Users and Carers Network. Now she has lost that job and her future is uncertain, but her main fear is for the future of the council's services.

She said: "There is in-fighting in the department, an inability to collect reliable data, audit trails are not in place and IT systems are hopeless.

"The attitude towards service users and family carers is poor, a blame culture is operated.

"But the authority isn't just failing its people, it's failing its staff and that is made clear in the joint review report.

"Many managers and staff have left. I don't believe people should have to be made ill by their working environment and I believe it is wrong to have a consistently failing council."

Echoing a damning report

DEBORAH Rees is speaking out six weeks after the department was given a damning report by the Audit Commission and Social Services Inspectorate.

Much of what she says is backed up by the report. It told how the department was "not receptive to listening and receiving feedback and learning from its mistakes".

It said a number of staff gave examples of this, while it also said managers were quick to pass the buck and staff raised issues relating to discrimination, inappropriate use of language and a culture of jobs for the boys.

The report added: "The authority needs to ensure that systems are in place to ensure views can be heard and that the organisation can demonstrate it is willing to listen and act appropriately."

This week's cabinet meeting also heard how the department's spending is spiralling out of control heading £1.9 million into the red while the department's director, Marie Seaton, is currently signed off on sick leave.

One of her deputies, Jerry Oliver, is standing in for her until further notice.

He said he would not respond to Ms Rees' comments, but added: "We always welcome comments from any members of staff at any time, either through their team meetings or other channels.

"I am concerned she has sought to raise concerns that I'm not party to with the press and will be taking that up with her as her employer."