Wales ‘needs more placement schemes’

The National Association of Adult Placement Schemes in Wales has
called for Welsh local authorities to give a greater commitment to
schemes after they revealed only around half of councils had
one.

Tim Southern, deputy chair of the Welsh committee of the
association, said only 12 of the 22 local authorities had put in
bids to run their own schemes under the new national minimum
standards. He blamed this partly on a lack of awareness of adult
placements and a shortage of carers in some areas.

“We need to strengthen the position in Wales and are looking at
setting up a consultancy service where authorities can either buy
an off-the-shelf package to set up a scheme or we’ll work with them
to develop their own,” he added.