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Wirral Council's adult social care services have been rated 'good' by the Care Quality Commission (CQC), up from 'requires improvement'.
It is the first 'good' rating Wirral has received under the CQC's assessment framework for councils, which looks at how adults with care needs are supported by the council and its partners.
Inspectors found the council had worked hard to improve the range and quality of services, including care homes, and visited every CQC-registered home at least once a year.
They said waiting times for reviews had come down since the last assessment in 2024, when around two-thirds were overdue.
Waits for occupational therapy fell by an average of 42%, from 106 days to 61 days, and people had timely access to equipment and adaptations.
The council was also praised for:
- working with partners to offer specialist dementia support in care homes, so people do not have to move when their condition gets worse
- increasing extra care housing for autistic people, people with a learning disability, and people with mental health or complex needs
- good safeguarding, with risks identified and managed promptly
- involving people who use services, and unpaid carers, in boards and groups
But the report also found areas that still need work:
- some website information was hard to use on mobile phones, particularly for people with visual impairments
- information was not always fully accessible to disabled people or people who cannot easily read English
- the council did not always allow enough time to prepare young people moving from children's to adult services, so plans were not always ready in time
- reducing inequalities, the uptake of direct payments and financial assessments
Councillor Sue Powell-Wilde, chair of the council's Adult Social Care and Public Health Committee, said the rating showed that "despite increasing demand and significant challenges facing the care sector nationally, Wirral continues to place people at the heart of its services".
Sayyed Osman, the council's director for adults, health and strategic commissioning, said the judgement reflected "years of hard work", adding: "While we are proud of what has been achieved, we are not complacent."
Mary Cridge, the CQC's director of adult social care and local authority assessments, said: "Leaders and staff should be pleased with the positive findings in this report. They are aware of areas where improvements are needed and already had many plans in place to address these."
Last week we reported that Wirral has seen one of the biggest falls in hospital admissions for falls among over-65s.
The CQC says it will follow how the council's improvement plans progress.
