Agenda item

Report by Director of Children, Young People and Learning.

This report provides an update to the Committee on the latest position on external scrutiny of the service, the outcomes, and next steps.  It also includes information on the current workforce and recruitment and retention initiatives.

7.1        The Cabinet Member for Children and Young People, Cllr Russell, introduced the item which she felt was a positive report but acknowledged that there were challenges, particularly in terms of recruitment, which was a national issue.  The service was at a crucial juncture with one final monitoring visit before the full inspection (expected early 2023) and staff were focussing hard on practice inconsistencies, the recruitment position and transition to the family safeguarding model.

7.2        The Assistant Director (Children First Transformation), Mr Clark, introduced the report, which set out some key issues from external regulators, from Ofsted and the DfE, along with information on staffing levels. 

7.3        Members of the Committee asked questions and a summary of those questions and answers follows.

7.4        With the removal of the requirement to create a Children’s Trust, the role of the Commissioner had been stepped down, however John Coughlan had agreed to be the independent chairman of the Improvement Board.  The Director of Children, Young People and Learning agreed to share details with the Scrutiny Committee of the make-up of the Improvement Board and confirmed that recommendations from the Scrutiny Committee were fed into the Improvement Board.  It was agreed to invite John Coughlin to a Scrutiny Committee meeting to gain his independent perspective on the progress made on the improvement journey.

7.5        The staff survey was voluntary and had been shared with the whole directorate, including Education and Skills.  There had been disappointment at the dip in response levels and outcomes, but they were important to the management team and would be worked on.  It was accepted that there had been a lot of pressures and changes which could have led to more negative outcomes.  It was agreed to share with the Scrutiny Committee the full questions and outcomes document.  There would be a focus on improving engagement in the autumn survey including creating time for staff to do the survey.  It was confirmed there were other forms of engagement including leadership team drop-in sessions, office visits, stress awareness training and a staff conference in October which would focus on staff resilience through times of change.

7.6        The recruitment of social workers continued to be a national challenge.  The service had a 62 (12%) unfilled permanent social care jobs, with 46 staff full-time absent (eg due to maternity leave, long-term sickness, secondments and career breaks), and was using 78 (15%) agency staff leaving a net ‘uncovered vacancy gap’ of around 30 (6%).   During the pandemic, when work went virtual, there was an increase the proportion of agency workers supporting the service from out of county.  With the return to face-to-face work much of that support had been lost.  Recruitment was an absolute priority with the service working with Human Resources to fill vacant posts with the aspiration to have a fully permanent workforce.  The service was also closely monitoring work being done by Adult Services to recruit social workers and were noting any lessons learned.

7.7        All Social Workers recruited from overseas must be registered with Social Work England and were trained on the differences that working in the United Kingdom brings. 

7.8        The Grow Our Own scheme involved an annual apprenticeship scheme, and numbers were good, as shown in the report, and retention levels were good.  It was acknowledged that the pandemic had impacted on learning and extra support would be provided for a year.  Reaching a level of sufficiency would depend on future demand.

7.9        Retention payments were no longer used to retain social workers.  Feedback had been that a market-related supplement and a good working environment had reduced staff movement.

7.10     The timeliness of initial health assessments remained an area of focus for improvement.  A problem-solving event had taken place with health partners and an action plan developed to prioritise initial assessments for children we care for.  Improvements were being seen in the health referrals and clinical time space to provide the assessment, following the easing of Covid restrictions. 

7.11     The re-referral rate per 10,000 was in a much better place than 12 months earlier.  The County Council had moved from being radically above the national rate and now sat in the middle of the neighbourhood statistical and national rates.  Work was underway with multi-agency partners to further improve the rate.  The conversion rate from contacts to referrals was where it would be expected to be, but the recent volume is higher than expected and it is a priority to analyse and understand why. Viewing the figures over the year they were more in line with the national average.

7.12     The timeliness of initial Child Protection conferences had improved over the last 12 monthsbut was still not where the service would like it to be.

7.13     The comprehensive information system work was reported as progressing well and an ICT Integration Board, chaired by the Assistant Director (Children First Transformation), Mr Clark, met monthly, amongst lots of other work.  A timetable was being worked up and could be shared with the Scrutiny Committee.

7.14     The Family Safeguarding Model (FSM) is a nationally recognised approach based on working with families to work with their strengths and empower families.  Phase 1 involved a restructure to the workforce which took place in February 2022 and is complete.  Phase two provides workers who work with adults in families through partnerships with partner organisations like health and probation.  This phase is fully underway and it was hoped the full model will be launched by autumn 2022.  The aim of the FSM would be to work with families in a way that helps children remain within their families and receive the care they need to thrive.  The impact of this will be to reduce overall demand on children’s social care and to improve the Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) within the quarterly Performance and Resource Report. An independent evaluation of how the model was working would also be carried out. 

7.15     Resolved – That the Committee:

1.   Recognises the progress that has been made on the improvement journey and thanks service and Cabinet Member for their continued work.

2.   Welcomes John Coughlan continuing as independent chairman of the Improvement Board and agrees to invite him to attend a future meeting of the Committee to gain his independent perspective on the progress made on the improvement journey. 

3.   Raises concerns over some of the staff survey results around morale and resilience and requests that the full questions of the survey are shared with the Committee.

4.   Recognises the national and regional challenge of social work recruitment and will continue to monitor recruitment and retention of workforce through the Business Planning Group to have evidence that the interventions and strategies put in place are working. 

5.   Requests to have a copy of the Action Plan from the recruitment and retention problem solving event held on 13 May, once complete, to help understand how this is being addressed.