The Childrens Services Improvement plan is in place to ensure progress is made at pace in accordance with the ILACs recommendation, Monitoring Visit outcomes and the Statutory Direction notice.
Corporate Parenting Board require regular updates on themes regarding improvement and this report covers overall improvements to date.
The Children’s Services Senior Leadership Team are presenting the overall outcomes for the first year of Improvement through a presentation at this Corporate Parenting Board.
Minutes:
The Director of Children’s Services presented a report, a copy of which had been circulated to each Member and a copy of which appears as Appendix 'B' to these minutes in the Minute Book. The Childrens Services Improvement plan was in place to ensure progress was made at pace in accordance with the ILACs recommendation, Monitoring Visit outcomes and the Statutory Direction notice. The Corporate Parenting Board received regular updates on themes regarding improvement and the report covered overall improvements to date.
The Children’s Services Senior Leadership Team presented the overall outcomes for the first year of Improvement through a presentation at the Corporate Parenting Board. They had worked with Corporate Directors to create a pledge on corporate priorities to young people. Key action points included:
- The number of unregistered placements – work was underway to ensure more placements.
- Need to be better at keeping in touch with 17-18 year olds.
- Ninety percent of supported lodgings carers were registered as foster carers.
- The voice of the child was consistently heard but there was a need to evidence the outcomes.
The Board raised a number of points and queries which were responded to, including:
- How many young people there were per PA and social worker. It was noted that this was dependent on the team. Caseloads for the assessment team were set at 25, the children in care team was at about 18 but was currently working in the low 20s. The target for the care experienced team was 25 but it was currently over due to staff shortages. The Council were committed to more recruitment.
- In response to a query about how this worked in terms of balancing the needs of the young people. It was noted that some would not need a social workers presence that often but that there was statutory guidance and requirements for how frequently visits should take place.
- In relation to the AQA launch for independent living skills, it was noted that this conversation didn’t suit all young people and the purpose of it need to be made clearer for all young people. Comments were received that the certificate made it feel as if young people didn’t know how to do day to day things. There were also concerns that as it was run by AQA, it made it seem like an exam. There was also an issue with housing in that they were not prepared to accept some young people without the AQA skills. It was noted that it would not necessarily suit everyone, but it had been useful for some.
- In response to a query on how the issues being actioned the Director advised that they would be listening and acting upon children’s and young people’s views on how services impacted them and developing a culture of accountability.
- It was noted that working with people in post-16 education a number were not fully aware of the virtual school or what a Personal Education Plan (PEP). A number of people were unaware that this was available to year 14. It was noted that these may look different to a traditional PEP and may look more informal depending on the path the young person was on.
- A member commented on the pilot scheme to allow members of public into family courts and the lack of awareness amongst the general public on what the issues were for social workers in court. It was noted that the pilot on these proceeding had not had anything to do with social care
- It was noted that there was a national shortage of social workers. During covid people began to make different decisions about their lives and the social work role. However, there were lots of people doing really good work.
- The government needed to do big recruitment campaign. Members raised the issue of whether the recruitment of social workers was an international issue.
- The Board considered the management of information to care experienced young people. It was noted that there was a shift to ensuring that anything written on a file should be done with the view that it will be read by the child or young person. However, nothing would be edited as from a legal point of view nothing could be changed retrospectively.
It was noted that the virtual school was doing a great job in the care leavers hub at the moment helping improve and update CVs. Kelly Twitchen undertook to feed this back to the team.