South Tyneside Council shortlisted for six prestigious national public sector awards

South Tyneside Council has revealed that it has been shortlisted for six prestigious national public sector awards.

Entries in five categories have made it onto the official shortlist for this year’s Association of Public Sector Excellence (APSE) service awards.

The success means that South Tyneside Council is also automatically nominated for the ‘Overall Council of the Year’ award in Service Delivery.

Cllr Tracey Dixon, Leader of South Tyneside Council, has praised the work of council staff and its elected members to help achieve the nominations.

She said: “We are incredibly proud of some of the innovative and transformative work we have been doing both within the council as an organisation and to support our communities, and it’s fantastic that these projects have received the recognition they deserve.

“I am delighted that the hard work going on behind the scenes to drive this council forward has been nationally recognised by our peers.

“It is testament to the hard work and dedication of our staff and elected members who turn up every day to serve the people of South Tyneside.

“I am particularly excited that the shortlisting across multiple categories has put us in with a chance of winning Overall Council of the Year.”

South Tyneside Council has been shortlisted in the following categories:

• Best Workforce Initiative award (for recent Organisational Development work).
• Best Health and Wellbeing Initiative including Social Care (for the innovative Virtual Memory Box for children in care).
• Best Community and Neighbourhood Initiative (for Cost of Living/Anti-Poverty work).
• Best Service Team: Sports, Culture and Leisure Team.
• Best Climate Action or Decarbonisation initiative (for Viking Energy Network).
• Overall Council of the Year.

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The Council created its Organisational Development Team in 2022 to help accelerate culture change through leadership development, learning, support and wellbeing offers for employees and elected members.

The team has played a key role in delivering the Council’s transformation to a modern and inclusive organisation.

South Tyneside Council’s Virtual Memory box was developed in partnership with Nebula Labs and gives young people in care a reliable, secure way of saving their memories and key moments from their childhood in a safe and secure way.

It allows young people to navigate a ‘living timeline’ of visual, audio and text memories displayed in a scrapbook style, with a chronological timeline to scroll through.

The 'Best Community and Neighbourhood Initiative' shortlisting is in recognition of work undertaken with partners to support residents to navigate cost of living pressures.

This work includes anti-poverty summits, an anti-poverty strategy, support to those with the lowest income, a network of Welcoming Places and the retention of a Welfare Support Team to ensure residents are receiving the help they are entitled to.

The team has also helped recover benefits at appeal which have been stopped by the Department of Work and Pensions - with more than £8.5million secured in the 23/24 financial year.

The Council’s Leisure Services team has overseen a variety of improvements over the last few years, including upgrades to facilities, increased memberships, improved customer services, and help in supporting residents to improve their health and wellbeing.

The Viking Energy Network, in Jarrow, is a UK-first renewable scheme which harnesses heat from the River Tyne and heats council-owned buildings, including residential tower blocks.

The project has showcased the Council’s expertise in low carbon technologies and making a significant contribution to the drive towards net zero.

South Tyneside Council has confirmed that it will find out in September if it has been successful at the APSE Service Awards 2024.