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Councils could face a hefty bill to move social care data to a new case management system in 2026.
The existing system, WCCIS (Welsh Community Care Information System), has been in use since 2018 but will become defunct next January.
It holds essential data and information on people who have contact with social services and, in some cases, health services.
The five councils which make up the Gwent region (Blaenau Gwent, Caerphilly, Monmouthshire, Newport and Torfaen) have decided to pursue a joint replacement for WCCIS – but migrating the huge amounts of data involved will come at a cost.
Why is Caerphilly in Gwent?
Caerphilly County Borough was formed on April 1, 1996, by the merger of the Rhymney Valley district of Mid Glamorgan with the Islwyn borough of Gwent.
Administratively, for local services such as the police and health, the borough now falls under a wider region referred to as Gwent. This comprises the council areas of Caerphilly, Newport, Torfaen, Blaenau Gwent and Monmouthshire.
Caerphilly County Borough Council estimates it will have to spend £182,000 on moving its data, while in Newport the anticipated total outlay is £176,000.
It is unclear what the financial impact will be for the other three councils, which were unable to provide estimated costs for migrating the data to the new system.
According to a Caerphilly Council report, a business case for additional funding – to cover those costs – was sent to the Welsh Government and “has been agreed”.
“However, to date there is no confirmed amount that will be provided,” a council committee heard recently.
Caerphilly has noted the “financial risks due to the uncertainty of the availability of additional funding from Welsh Government”, and may have to use its own social services reserves to cover that £182,000 bill without that support.
The Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS) contacted each of the five local authorities to find out what plans they were putting in place to cover the migration costs.
Collectively, they said: “We are waiting for confirmation from the Welsh Government on the level of funding available to support the migration to a new system. In the meantime, we have taken steps to ensure that the new system can be progressed, as this is essential to ensure the wellbeing of our citizens.”
A Welsh Government spokesperson did not confirm whether funding would be in place in time for the councils to pay for the migration work, but did say “we have received the business case for the social care element of the Connecting Care programme, and have been working with the Welsh Local Government Association on next steps, including funding”.
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