A CHILD support service based in Ayrshire is taking steps to address "significant concerns" raised by an industry watchdog.

It comes after Ayrshire Children's Services (ACS) were handed a weak rating following a visit from the Care Inspectorate.

Assessors called-in at the service earlier this month, having made the organisation aware they would be coming at short notice.

The service provides individual and group support to children and young people with additional support needs. 

ACS operates across three regions, including North and South Ayrshire, where it offers support in the community on an individual basis as well as group care in dedicated hubs called Ko-nekt. The hubs are located in Ayr and Ardrossan.

Care Inspectorate officials spoke with people using the service and also staff and management during their visit.

They also observed practice and reviewed documents before providing a rating on two areas of the service provided by ACS.

This returned a rating of adequate for supporting people's wellbeing and a weak rating for the organisation's staffing team.

An adequate rating is handed out when strengths only just outweighed weaknesses, with weak meaning that while strengths were identified these were compromised by significant weakness.

While assessors stated that staff were strong in their efforts to support service users, concerns were raised over a lack continued training opportunities, as well as overall staffing levels.

The Care Inspectorate report, published this month, said: "People had opportunities to build on their confidence and independence as staff worked hard to promote and support this.

"Staff knew people well and promoted an environment where people were comfortable and could have fun.

"The service needed to ensure that staffing arrangements were maintained at appropriate levels to ensure the safety of people.

"Improvements were required for staff to feel fully confident in their approach to protection
concerns. Systems around training required improvement to ensure that staff were confident and competent within their roles.

"Improvements were required to ensure that personal plans were consistently used to enhance care and support."

As a result of the findings, one area for improvement was identified for ACS - as well as three requirements which are to be met by a later date.

The service's CEO, Marianne Greenway, says work is already underway to address this.

She said: "We appreciate the feedback on our recent report and are especially pleased that the positive environment we provide for our service users has been recognised.

"Our priority remains creating a safe, supportive and nurturing space for children and young people with additional support needs.

"We take the comments on staffing seriously and have already started actively recruiting additional management and front-line team members to ensure we continue to deliver the highest standard of care.

"This is in collaboration with North Ayrshire health and social care partnership and the Care Inspectorate, whose support has been invaluable.

"We are incredibly proud of our dedicated team and deeply value their unwavering commitment.

"As always, we remain focused on strengthening both our services and our team to continuously improve, as recognised, the support we provide."