Agenda item

Report by Director of Children, Young people and Learning.

The Committee is asked to assess the impact of the first year of implementation of the new Early Help Model (implemented January 2022). 

8.1        The Cabinet Member for Children and Young People, Learning and Skills, Cllr Russell, introduced the report which she felt gave a positive picture of the redesigned service which had been implemented in January 2022.  She reported that initial challenges with recruitment had been resolved, that there was now good morale amongst staff and that the Ofsted inspection comments had endorsed the new service.

8.2        The Committee heard from Mrs Dickens, Assistant Principal at Midhurst Rother College and Designated Safeguarding lead.  Mrs Dickens reported that the College had a Dedicated Schools Team (DST) worker who was available to discuss incidents or situations and how best to deal with them.  They welcomed that from September the DST worker would be based in the school one day a week.  The College worked in a collaborative way with the DST worker to make decisions or referrals. The DST worker also helped to support sessions, family meetings, home visits and provided tailored support to young people and their families. 

8.3        The DST worker spends time in school with pupils running workshops on issues such as keeping safe on-line and health relationships, as well as supporting pastoral staff. 

8.4        Mrs Dickens reported that DST workers were also working with primary feeder schools to help the transition of pupils to secondary school. Half-termly meetings were held to discuss new students, concerns and review progress of those pupils already being worked with.

8.5        Staff from the College had attended a DST training day which had provided helpful tools which were being used in the school.

8.6        Members asked Mrs Dickens if there were any areas where she, or her colleagues across the county, felt there could be improvement or development and were advised that schools would always welcome more support, particularly in dealing with things earlier, but that the service was hugely supportive and the introduction of the DST over the last year had made such a difference.

8.7        Mrs Dickens responded that where families do not give consent to being involved, the school continued to work with the student in school, but having consent gave the best support for the whole family.

8.8        Members of the committee asked officers questions and a summary of those questions and answers follows.

8.9        Early Help is a non-statutory service. Ofsted comments suggested the service was good making a positive difference to children’s lives.  The service has been on a journey since the redesign was implemented and there is a clear practice improvement plan.  A key element for improvement is the time children wait to receive the service.  This was a national issue and in later 2022 the County Council had seen an improvement in the numbers of unallocated cases and waiting times had been reduced.  Officers would be happy to speak with Members who had individual reports of where the service was not meeting expected standards.

8.10     Referral rates into the service were 43% from schools, 18% self-referral, 15% from the Police and 11% from health professionals.  The proportion of Early Help Plan referrals had stabilised since the redesign and there are reduced numbers of children returning to early help and reduced numbers going on to require a social care intervention following a successful early help plan.  The DST teams and schools work closely with the Special Educational Needs Assessment Team (SENAT) where Special Educational Needs (SEN) has an impact on families.

8.11     Staff recruitment had been an issue at the start of the redesigned service, when nationally it had been a difficult time for recruitment.  A sustained campaign of working on a wider approach to attract new staff had been successful, there had been approximately 40 staff promoted internally and rates of vacancies were now at normal levels.

8.12     Children who might witness or be subject to domestic abuse are supported by the Domestic Abuse service. This service is well accessed and works in a similar way to early help by focussing support on the whole family and through linking with partners who might have contact with the family. 

8.13     The Early Help service works in locality partnership groups with a range of partners, including health and midwifery teams, and providers and community groups to identify pre-school age children and families who might benefit from support.  There is no dedicated early years team within the early help service but there are connections with the Education and Skills service who connect with nurseries and pre-schools.  Members expressed concerns that pre-school age children may not be helped soon enough.  It was reported there were nearly 600 early years settings in the county.  Officers reported that there were a number of early years care advisers and the SEND Early Years Team who could work with families and advise them.  It was suggested the Committee ask BPG to monitor the early identification of pre-school children and others not in school.

8.14     Developing a good governance framework is an important piece of work.  Locality Partnership Boards have been established in every district and borough, are chaired by a community representative and are responsible for setting an action plan.  They meet termly for discussion and planning and are arranging yearly event.  Information then feeds into the Supporting Families Board, consisting of a more senior level of partners who discuss where there are issues and gaps and report into the Children First Board. 

8.15     Communications with communities are being strengthened by the availability of localised information, greater understanding of local communities, their culture and languages with staff who can converse and understand cultural differences.  Social media accounts have been consolidated to give consistent messages.  A core group of staff have received social media training and are working with the Voice and Participation team to help improve engagement.  Information can be found in libraries and other targeted public locations. 

8.16     Work was underway across Children’s Services to improve the voice of children and families, look at their suggestions, ideas and feedback.  Members welcomed this and looked forward to seeing some information on feedback at a later Committee.

8.17     There were some clear, stable performance measures in the report but the move of early help data from a stand-alone case system into the main social care system along with the new offer meant that effectively the service were starting to measure from October 2022.  There was confidence that the new early help model was making an impact.  Staff were clear about direction and felt better connected to social care colleagues providing a continuing improved experience for children.

8.18     Resolved – That the Committee:

1.   Welcomes the progress made as a result of the redesign and particularly note the good work of the work of the Dedicated Schools Teams.

2.   Highlights the importance of a focus on the early identification of pre-school age children and those not in school and the Committee will consider how to monitor the reach to those children. 

3.   Highlights the support for children with SEND and the importance for Early Help and SEND services to work together to support those children accessing both services.   

4.   Recognises that communication of the service is key to make sure families know where and how to access the service, welcomes the work being planned to widen the social media reach and asks the service to explore how they are ensuring there is a wide online diverse offer.

5.   Asks that the Committee is provided with the outcome of the planned work to gain feedback from children and families using the service.