Children in Cardiff will get a new commissioner

Cardiff Council was ordered to reform after a report criticised its social services department as one of the worst in Britain - for exposing vulnerable youngsters to unacceptable risks.

The council announced on Thursday that it was seeking a "high-calibre" new director, paid at least �100,000 per year, to turn around the division.

It will also re-appoint two chief officer posts, and add a new children's commissioner, adults' commissioner and disability officer in the re-shuffle.

Failing

The move is council leader Russell Goodway's response to the damning joint review from the audit commission and the social services inspectorate in Wales.

Cardiff has fallen behind the rest of Wales in terms of the salaries paid to senior managers Cardiff County Council leader Russell Goodway

The report found a "macho" culture and communication failures had caused a backlog which placed vulnerable children and elderly people at risk.

They included the case of a two-year-old who had suffered a facial burn with a cigarette and alleged sexual assault.

In October 2002, Health Minister Jane Hutt gave the council a six-month deadline for improvement, otherwise the assembly government would consider taking over management of the council's social services.

Mr Goodway said on Thursday that the management revamp was the only way that the council would be able attract the type of candidate needed to improve the quality of social care.

Appointments

He said: "The council has carefully considered the salary packages currently being offered to senior managers in other Welsh councils.

"It is obvious that Cardiff has fallen behind the rest of Wales in terms of the salaries that it pays to its most senior managers, despite being the largest and most complex of all the Welsh councils.

"It is vital that we have someone who can ensure that our social care services become beacons for best practice across the UK and to build on the huge improvements made in recent months."

• Recruitment specialists will be commissioned to appoint the new director.

• Alan Chapman continues as acting director in the meantime.

• Chief officer posts for children's services as well as families and community care services - already filled on an interim basis - will be re-advertised on the existing �65,000 salary.

• Ted Unsworth and Margaret Sutherland continue as acting chief officers in the meantime.

• A new chief information services officer will be appointed, addressing the report's concerns about a communication breakdown.

• Former Western Mail editor Neil Fowler will come in as interim manager of information services until September.

The Unison union's Cardiff branch secretary Peter King, who represents council and other public sector workers, gave the move "a cautious welcome" but said it ultimately did not go far enough.

But he said the outgoing chiefs were being scapegoated for the council leadership's failures.

"The senior officers are being smuggled out the back door as scapegoats," he told BBC News Online.

"The culture of the organisation has to change, not the people.

"They have to bring with them a much more open, free and trusting attitude.

Responsibility

He said the council's new cabinet command structure, which mimics Westminster, removed councillors from crucial decisions.

Yet they frequently interfere with social workers' duties, he claimed.

"Managers are made almost impotent to take any decisions - that's what stymies the department," Mr King said.

"I'd like a more accountable system. Someone should accept that there is political responsibility. I am cautiously hopeful but not optimistic."

He said leader Russell Goodway was ultimately responsible.