One of the top Northamptonshire council officers wins prestigious local government award

'It’s not why we sign up to the jobs we do but I was delighted when my name was called out'
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One of the top council officers in Northamptonshire has won a prestigious award within local government.

Anna Earnshaw was named as 'corporate director of the year' at the Municipal Journal 2020 awards on October 2.

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The new chief executive of the future West Northamptonshire Council received recognition for her work as director of adult social care and deputy chief executive at Northamptonshire County Council (NCC).

The new chief executive of the future West Northamptonshire Council, Anna EarnshawThe new chief executive of the future West Northamptonshire Council, Anna Earnshaw
The new chief executive of the future West Northamptonshire Council, Anna Earnshaw

“It’s a real honour to receive this award from such a respected group and to be nominated alongside such brilliant public servants," she said.

"It’s not why we sign up to the jobs we do but I was delighted when my name was called out and the recognition it brings for us as an area and all our council staff.

“While I have been the leader of an adults’ service doing some great work to improve resident outcomes, these successes are thanks to dedicated frontline workers and senior staff who work tirelessly to do the very best they can for people across Northamptonshire.”

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West and North Northamptonshire councils were set up as new unitary authorities for the county to replace the current two-tier structure following NCC's financial collapse.

Anna started her new role in charge of the new unitary authority at the start of the month and its political leader, Ian McCord, was full of praise for her.

“When we appointed Anna, I said she was the best of the best. It’s very pleasing to see that opinion confirmed by a panel of industry experts," he said.

“Anna has done some amazing things at NCC. While most of the transformation work on the new council will take place after day one, her former directorate are ending a pilot stage and getting ready to launch a brand-new adult social care service this month.

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“I have congratulated Anna personally, but I think the real winners here are the people of West Northants who can have confidence that the person in charge of their local services is highly capable and widely respected by her peers.”

On Monday, NCC launched a new adult social care service with the new West and North unitary teams, which will be based in new community hubs spread throughout the county.

The launch follows two successful pilot hubs in Kingsthorpe and Corby and brings together a range of support services under one roof and embeds social work staff in their communities.

Central to the new model is the ‘three conversations’ approach, which aims to move away from the traditional 'assessment for services' and hand-offs and put people at the heart of what the councils do, focusing on what the person can do and treating people as the experts in their own lives.

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Northamptonshire County Council cabinet member for adult social care Ian Morris said: “This is an extremely well-deserved award for Anna, she has been an integral part of the county council’s journey over the past few years and has worked very hard within adult social care to improve services for the people that use them.

"I am pleased she will be continuing this excellent work as chief executive of the new West Northants Council.”