THREE staff from the Vale of Glamorgan Council have been recognised as 'care stars' in awards shining a light on people who helped during the pandemic.

Joanne Jones and Julia Sky from the council’s Healthy Living Team and Jane Carter from Flying Start have all been recognised as care stars in the Social Care Wales Care Stars Awards.

Care Stars is an initiative that was created to shine a light on the social care and early years workers who made a positive difference to people’s lives while the country struggled with the challenges of the pandemic.

Cllr Ben Gray, cabinet member for social care and health, said: "This is wonderful news – to receive three accolades for the Vale of Glamorgan Council is tremendous. My congratulations to Jo, Julia and Jane for the well-deserved recognition for their extremely valuable contribution through their work during the pandemic.

"I would like to take this opportunity to thank Jo and Julia for their dedication to supporting children and young people to access play opportunities, particularly those who benefit from additional support.

"Jane has also demonstrated the council’s values in her ambitious and open approach to supporting families throughout the pandemic and is an asset to our Early Years team".

In June 2021, the council were invited to nominate the paid care workers who they felt should be recognised for their outstanding contributions over the past 15 months.

The women were all nominated in the childcare, play and early years services category.

A total of 120 care workers from across Wales were nominated. A panel of judges then whittled them down to the twelve Care Stars that they thought deserved recognition for the inspirational work they had done. And of those twelve, three work for the Vale of Glamorgan Council - more than any other local authority in Wales.