Agenda item

Report by the Executive Director Children, Adults, Families, Health and Education.

The Committee is asked to consider the recommendations in the report in order to ensure members are fully briefed on recent activities concerning children’s homes in West Sussex.

18.1   The Committee considered a report by the Executive Director Children, Adults, Families, Health and Education. The report was introduced by Annie MacIver, Director of Children and Family Services and Karen Wells, Head of Market Development. Before taking the Committee through a presentation (copy appended to the signed minutes), the Director of Children and Family Services advised the Committee that she took full responsibility for the recent Ofsted judgement and subsequent events. The Committee heard the following:

·         In June 2018, Seaside Children’s home was inspected by Ofsted and given an inadequate rating; a suspension of service notice was given. In August 2018, Ofsted visited the home again and judged that insufficient progress had been made. As the unit had not followed compliance as had been set out, a notice to suspend the registration of Seaside children’s home was issued.

·         The Children and Family Services Senior Management Team subsequently undertook quality assurance visits of the other children’s homes in West Sussex. Concerns were identified at two further homes; Cissbury Lodge and May House. The decision was made to gradually withdraw services from these homes following insufficient assurance of the stability of service.

·         On 29 August 2018 a briefing took place to inform members of the Children and Young People’s Services Select Committee, the Corporate Parenting Panel and the local member for Seaside, of the recent events, and to address any questions. It was agreed that an item on Children’s Residential Homes would go to the Select Committee as an open space to discuss recent events and future plans.

18.2   In discussion after the presentation, the following points were considered by members and answered by the Director of Children and Family Services, and the Head of Market Development.

·         The Cabinet Member for Children and Young People advised the Committee that the concerns about children’s homes had been under intense scrutiny by the Leader and Cabinet. He shared that the Children and Family Services Senior Management Team had been working tirelessly as a collective to create and deliver a Residential Improvement Programme. Members and officers agreed that whilst recent events were clearly unsatisfactory, this should be seen as an opportunity to refocus West Sussex County Council’s (WSCCs) offer of children’s homes to provide a stable and confident service. The Director of Children and Family Services added that regular conversations were being had with Ofsted, establishing a collaborative relationship with a mutual goal of culminating a highly functional residential estate. 

·         The Chairman stressed that the Select Committee’s purpose served to be a critical friend, and that children must remain the core priority to ensure services were as good as possible for our vulnerable young people. Members echoed they needed to know what was going on in children’s homes, and specifically where support was required.

·         Members asked for assurance of the safety and protection of the children who have had to be moved as a result of the temporary closure of Seaside. The Director of Children and Family Services provided reassurance that these children had been safely relocated, that transition visits had taken place and next steps were being taken for their care plans.

·         Members asked whether social workers and other staff in these homes were adequately equipped to deal with the difficult behaviours exhibited by some children. The Director of Children and Family Services explained that the previous training arrangements had not been robust enough, but that any staff redeployed from  the affected homes would be interviewed to assess their capability, and any gaps in knowledge or training be immediately addressed.

·         Members expressed concern that risks in these homes had not been identified or raised until the Ofsted visit. The Director of Children and Family Services explained that the Head of Children’s Social Care had recently attended the team meetings of staff in residential homes, and stressed that they have a duty to report and escalate their concerns. Members considered that social workers were advocates for these vulnerable children, and were disappointed that alarms had not been raised to protect them.

·         Members heard that this had occurred within a national context where the recruitment and retention of experienced social workers was increasingly difficult. The Director of Children and Family Services reported that Registered Managers (RMs) were incredibly difficult to recruit; the market options were limited in terms of individuals with the required skills and experience, particularly in view of liability for risk and high levels of accountability. Equally, the behaviours of some children were extremely challenging and volatile. The service’s aim was to recruit RMs for complex adolescents, with robust provision for both mental health and education.

·         A Residential Improvement Plan was being designed to build a wrap-around service. This would include partnerships with occupational therapists, speech and language therapists and mental health professionals, resulting in a wider support network. The Director of Children and Family Services described the strong steer from Leader and Cabinet that WSCC continue as the provider of in-house children’s homes. Independent organisations offer an incredibly expensive and inconsistent service and WSCC could do it better, as shown by the majority of the homes achieving good or outstanding Ofsted judgements. The Head of Market Development added that there would be a multi-level approach to the commissioning strategy including considerations of care, planning, infrastructure and investment.

·         Members questioned whether the presence of additional resources could have prevented the unfortunate outcome of the home closures. The Director of Children and Family Services explained that without additional resources going forward, the pace of improvement would be slower than desirable. There was limited capacity in terms of RMs and experienced social workers, and it would not be possible to achieve the full aspirations of the Residential Improvement Plan without an adequate workforce.

18.3   Resolved that the Committee:-

1.   notes the residential improvement plan in respect of children’s homes in West Sussex.

2.   works with officers to agree a protocol for communication with members following an inadequate inspection of a children’s home.

3.   notes the investment required in the children’s residential estate in order to build capacity – namely ongoing investment in the infrastructure and maintenance of the estate.

4.   notes the strengthened investment required in the children’s estate in order to build its capability – including the review of the grading of some posts, leadership capacity, an enhanced learning and development offer and support to management and staff working across children’s residential care.

5.   recommends all members be notified of contact details of children’s homes in their divisional areas.

6.   recommends that officers consider the establishment of an emergency budget for Residential Managers to deal with facilities management issues.

7.   adds ‘Developing a Safe and Sustainable Residential Estate’ to its work programme, and revisits the Residential Improvement Plan as part of this.

8.   recommends that any children’s home judged as Requires Improvement by Ofsted be reported to the Leader, Cabinet Member for Children and Young People, the Chairman of the Select Committee, the local member, the Chief Executive Officer and the Corporate Parenting Panel.

9.   recommends any facilities management issue that relates to a children’s home is prioritised.

10.                recommends a standing item for the BPG on children’s homes, which considers dashboard data of those difficult to recruit posts (Quality Assurance and Residential Managers), and oversight and governance.