Agenda item

Helen Blackman, Director of Children's Integrated Services, presented a report on the November 2018 Ofsted inspection of the Service and the actions taken to address the areas identified for improvement. The following points were discussed:

(a)  the 2018 full inspection of Children’s Services identified a number of strengths, including clear leadership vision, effective strategic partnerships, ongoing investment in early intervention and services at the edge of care, effective arrangements to identify and assess children at risk, effective oversight and multi-agency work with vulnerable children and young people at risk of exploitation, and stability of placement for the majority of children in care. However, the need for further improvement was identified in some areas to ensure that the full range of services are consistent in being good, and some over-complex processes were identified;

(b)  the inspectors felt that there should be more oversight of the 15 to 20 children in private fostering arrangements at any one time, as children in these circumstances have the potential to be at a high risk and, in some cases, may need to come into care. This oversight is now in place;

(c)  the inspectors considered that the action taken to safeguard a small number of children living in neglectful situations should have been carried out sooner, and that capacity should be increased for work with families where children are suffering from neglect. They recommended that the planning template used to address issues should be more bespoke and accessible for both families and social workers, be clearer in showing what the concerns of the professionals are and what action needs to be taken, by whom, and when;

(d)  inspectors identified some cohorts of young people and care leavers for whom appropriate accommodation was not available, with bed and breakfasts being used for care leavers in some cases. Some young people have also had to stay in Police custody overnight. Work is underway with the Police to avoid this wherever possible. Young people who enter the criminal justice system are often suffering from trauma and are vulnerable to criminal exploitation. In many cases, they have a criminal record before coming into care, so measures are put in place to mitigate against the risk of them being exposed to further exploitation;

(e)  inspectors felt that there is more to do to ensure that plans to achieve permanence for children are progressed more quickly, particularly plans for children to be adopted, so this is a major focus and a new audit framework is in place. Grant funding from the Government is in place to ensure that young people who want to stay in full care until they are 18 are able to do so, while semi-independence options are in place for young people who would prefer this kind of living arrangement. Steps are being taken to engage with young people on their ultimate transition from care as early as possible;

(f)  the inspectors felt that the quality of supervision for social workers should be enhanced, due to their work with vulnerable people and complex risks on a day-to-day basis. Further support has been put in place and grants are being sought for capacity-building, and a new system of training is in place for future cohorts of social workers, with an aim to recruit from local communities. The scheme has national recognition for its effective training of social workers and support is provided to social workers in accessing further courses during their careers. A new supervision model is in place with better recording, to enable more effective management oversight of cases. An updated pay model is also in place, with progression dependent upon the competence and skill of the social worker, but the pay grades are not as competitive as elsewhere in the wider region, or in comparison to the private sector. Consideration is being given to the introduction of a higher pay scale for people with the most critical responsibilities;

(g)  although a high volume of concerns are referred to the Service and some may be spurious, attention must still be paid to cases that appear to be very minor, as significant incidents often take place after a long series of minor ones. As such, it is necessary for the Service to be open and receptive, and to record and respond to the minor issues so that it is possible to identify any patterns in them that could indicate the potential for a greater incident in the future. However, many initial referrals are allocated to the Early Intervention teams for action, rather than added to the caseload of the social workers. Early safeguarding networks are in place in schools and support is offered to the safeguarding leads in other sectors, as part of the educational work carried out with the universal service providers to build resilience there. Partnership working is being developed to address youth and mental health support in schools, and a unified working approach is in place with children’s centres. There is additional investment in family resilience within the community with Parent and Family Support Teams carrying out targeted parenting work;

(h)  however, there is a shortage of back-office administrative support and, due to resourcing constraints, it is not possible to transfer capacity from front-line social work to back-office administration. Some administration apprenticeships are in place, but these still need to be funded from the overall budget. The existing management roles are also stretched. A review is underway to explore how Service staffing could be deployed differently but, ultimately, it is vital that social worker numbers are maintained due to the significant volume of cases;

(i)  work to promote and support the educational achievement of children in care, led by the Virtual School, was identified as a priority by the inspectors, who felt that there was more to do beyond the improvements and investment in roles that have been put in place to date. There is a drive to increase opportunities for care leavers, so one-to-one mentoring and support is available in schools on potential careers;

(j)  given the substantial needs for the Service amongst citizens, the level of resourcing available is challenging and staff are stretched, so it is difficult to develop all of the areas for improvement at once. Action to address the points raised by the inspection is being progressed in a staggered way as resources allow, with the primary focus on combating neglect. Refreshed training has been rolled out to the whole workforce to raise the understanding of neglect and how it can be identified, approached and addressed effectively. Additional training on trauma is also in place, as parents struggling with poverty and childhood trauma of their own may lead to the neglect of their children. The planning templates and the electronic case management system has been redeveloped to make case histories simpler and clearer;

(k)  the close focus on neglect has increased the demands on the capacity of the Service, with more children on plans for neglect and more children coming into care due to neglect – many of whom are teenagers. However, it has ensured that action is being taken for children suffering from neglect at a much earlier age than was previously the case, which is beneficial to their long-term wellbeing;

(l)  an Ofsted focus visit will take place at the start of February to review the current progress on the improvement plan, in the context of the high local needs, increasing caseload and financial challenges. To achieve ‘good’ in all areas will require a significant level of investment that cannot be put in place fully at this time. Improvement is being made and is ongoing, but it is difficult to respond to very complex issues with limited resources. However, this is also a national issue that is reflected in both the public and private sectors.

The Committee thanked Helen Blackman for her report.

Resolved to request that the outcomes of the upcoming Ofsted focus visit are shared with the Committee when they are available.