COUNCILLORS in Wrexham have been told that a plan is in place to move children's services up from an "inadequate" to an "adequate" rating in a year's time.

This follows concerns raised by Care Inspectorate Wales (CIW) about pressure on social workers and the impact this was having on children's services.

Care Inspectorate Wales said that children's social workers in Wrexham were facing "unacceptably high" caseloads of work.

They said the service was "inadequate", with the care given to youngsters having significantly deteriorated.

CIW have since conducted a number of visits to monitor progress to improve the situation and a special group has been set up by the council to address these concerns.

The latest report from CIW, following a visit in April, showed that the council was continuing to make progress and no children in the county borough were found to be at risk of immediate harm due to a poor response from the local authority.

CIW did, however, warn that caseloads for social workers remained too high, leading to key meetings for children being delayed.

The latest report from CIW was discussed by members of Wrexham Council's Executive Board, where councillors heard that steady progress was being made to address the concerns raised, with an extra £3.5m added to the budget to fund improvements.

Wrexham Council's chief executive Ian Bancroft told the council's executive board that the aim was to get the service from "inadequate" to "adequate" within a year, and then to progress to a "good" rating in the longer term.

He said: "I really welcome these discussions because of the importance of us making sustained improvements over a long period of time.

"CWI have been clear that the pace of improvement is critical to get right.

"They said that our pace of change is right at the moment.

"The aim is to get to an 'adequate' rating in a year's time and then to continue that journey to get to a 'good' service that remains good long term."

The council's chief officer for social services Alwyn Jones said that staff caseloads were being closely monitored and progress was being made to recruit more permanent staff rather than relying on agency staff, in order to help improve the situation.

Executive board members agreed with the recommendations in the CIW report.

Council leader, Cllr Mark Pritchard said he was pleased with the progress made and the pace of change, which ensure that improvements were being made properly and safely.

He added: "We are on a journey. It's not going to be easy.

"I can't change the past. All I can do is improve the future.

"I will work tirelessly and I have 100 per cent commitment from the chief executive, the chief officer for social services Alwyn Jones and the strategic team and Executive Board that we will improve children's services.

"We are committed and we will do it. We won't rest until we do."

Outgoing lead member for children's services, Cllr Andrew Atkinson, who is leaving the council on August 31, said: "The really important part is that it's about that pace of change.

"We have recognised exactly what needs to be done.

"It's about that sustainable change in implementing what we are doing in a sustainable way."

Cllr Marc Jones said: "I accept we are on a journey and it's one of those where we don't actually reach the end.

"I don't think we should underestimate the time and the resources needed for what's been a decade of austerity and cuts."