Agenda item

The focused visit to Children’s Services made by Ofsted in October 2020 resulted in a formal published letter on 27 November 2020. The letter, which is appended to this report, set out serious concerns about the quality of services, concerns which warrant urgent and immediate attention. Appendix A - the 15-point action plan - is the response to those concerns.

The Interim Corporate Director for Children’s Services at BCP Council 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 report related to the visit to Children’s Services made by Ofsted in October 2020, the serious concerns in the quality of services and the subsequent 15-point action plan - is the response to those concerns.the first national lockdown, during the Spring and Summer months of 2020. The Interim Corporate Director for Children’s Services gave an overview of this work and provided further information on the Action Plan and the position after four months post-Ofsted inspection. The key points of the presentation were:

•                4 Months on from the October 2020 Ofsted inspection the service area are continuing to make improvements. The entire academic year had been disrupted due to the COVID-19 pandemic, however the ambition of service area remains high and the throughout whole department relentless in their focus on the areas that were deemed in need of improvement, such as Corporate Parenting and Young People. The Committee heard that as system leaders there is an imperative to provide whatever is needed by young people.

•                Some of the service area’s staff were prioritised for the vaccine and there had been an increase in positive tests as the testing rates increased. The Action Plan does consider potential reductions in workforce due to COVID-19.

•                The most significant change in the 4-month period was on service area clarity and how the service orders their work. There were now processes in place that were clear and linear, so that staff and families could understand what work was being done, why and where, which was considered the bedrock of good practice by a Local Authority.

•                Keeping spirits and energy levels high within the service area was key to maintaining good leadership and workforce activity.

The Department for Education representative gave further detail around the 4-month progress of the Action Plan which included:

•                That the service has made a good start and there is strong political commitment to the plan, including cross party support.

•                The plan contains 7 ‘obsessions’ and 15 action points, which is the irreducible minimum so that all areas are delivered simultaneously.

•                Progress had taken place within the Multi-Agency Safeguarding Hub (MASH) which was heavily criticised by Ofsted last year. The services have been changed enough so that the right children were getting to the right service quicker. The family court application process, to remove children from parents where necessary, had also improved. These applications were much better handled, scrutinised and performance managed. Therefore, the service can improve as shown by such examples.

•                Improvements and changes should not happen too rapidly as there is a risk that staff could be alienated, and morale could decrease.

•                COVID-19 and lockdown had limited the progress that could have taken place, however it was important that the service continued to make steady progress/.

•                An improvement in the quality of front-line practice is what Ofsted are looking for next. Improving processes to have less delay and more focus will help, this is no guarantee though.

The Committee discussed the Report. Comments, questions and answers heard included:

•                A Committee member asked how the Council could be better corporate parents. The Interim Corporate Director for Children’s Services welcomed suggestions and personal input from Councillors on this matter and encouraged that any members able to should offer to help the Corporate Parenting service ‘love and care for a child that is not yours”, be this through employment opportunities or other support measures. The Committee agreed to arrange a communication to go out to all Councillors on this matter. Action

•                A question was posed on staff morale and staff turnover within the service. The Interim Corporate Director for Children’s Services clarified that pressures were not limited to the workloads. Good social workers will stay if they feel supported, as work is emotionally draining. Recruitment and retention payment has been well received and made the Council’s employment offer competitive. There were a combination of factors and creating an environment for social work to flourish is certainly one of them. The Committee heard that the service must invest in their staff and give opportunities to staff to assist in shaping the service they deliver. Across the service, which employs 1100 staff, there were some very happy and well performing teams and some in crises. It was found that many staff members loved the job but didn’t love the organisation which was down to past failures. The most important factor now is to get leadership and management correct in order to restore confidence over time. Members were told that the service must deal with any and all issues as they occur and as improvements take place, rather than ignoring them until later in time. A forum had been set up to gauge views of children and staff to track experience and see if these areas were getting better. What was found initially is that there was a high sickness level and subsequently a high utilisation of agency staff. A Committee member endorsed this view and stated that culture is as important as strategy and that there must be a change in culture and ensure children are at heart of everything. 

•                One member asked a question on transparency and the MOSAIC system that the service used.  It was explained that the system had caused issues. The system, if implemented properly and not corrupted by work arounds, is a system that good and outstanding Local Authorities use. The lack of clarity had manifested itself in the work-flow section of the system. Due to this, the service were migrating the care director cases onto mosaic and actioning at level of appropriate pace and some problem points within the system would be removed.

•                The Committee heard about the partnership academy and that meetings with staff and groups such as the parent carer forum were underway. It is important to include people in policy development and the academy was envisaged as a multi agency to ensure that frontline staff are trained and supported to the highest levels of practice. The Committee were informed by the representative from the Department for Learning that the work ongoing for the partnership academy would match the ambition of the Council in order to create a place of learning and development, for everybody.

•                The Interim Corporate Director for Children’s Services explained the role of the Independent Reviewing Officer. The officer provides high support and challenge to social workers and managers on the progression of plans for young people. The officer should be aware of the young people with specific needs and the areas that the service may have weaknesses in the consistency of knowing or assessing the needs of young people. This sits outside of the 15 point action-plan. Work was ongoing between the Head of Quality Assurance and the Independent Reviewing Officer to understand in detail how to engage with young people and affect change with pace and purpose. A sense of urgency was needed in that area of service and the example given was the court work.

•                A Member asked a question on the various levels of corporate input into the service. It was heard that the whole Local Authority should be considered a ‘family business’ in which employment and apprenticeship opportunities could be provided. Issues in Children’s Services were the remit of the entire Local Authority. The responsibility to improve the service stretches from the Leader of the Council to every member of staff. There is a high level of support from the corporate management and the focal point was the development of a care leavers’. This would enable young people and care leavers a place to drop into and call their own. Much of this work derived from the Regeneration & Economy Directorate. Work would also include the SEND cohort, to enable the Council to look after more people. The Chief Executive has the remit and responsibility for this and had been working with firms across and outside the Council to support vulnerable and looked after children

•                The Committee heard that there was an aim to improve the quality of educational and healthcare plan assessments and that there had been a thorough quality assurance framework that regularly looks at assessments. There are around eight assessments a month and now simple processes have been put in to help proofread and edit drafts before they are sent to parents. Some slight improvement was seen in the last month but would be an ongoing piece of work that required the focus from partners. A report would go to the Improvement Board containing more information on the EHCP assessments. This report would be made available to the Committee to better show the mature auditing framework no in place. Action

•                It was heard that the Council utilised Ofsted grades to measure the success of the service. The current, most important measure was to reduce the inadequate work and increase good or outstanding work. There had been an upward movement in the last few months which was an initial indication of a move toward the next grade.

•                On permanent school exclusions, the Committee heard that there were regular meetings with headteachers held and that there is a school inclusion team. It was explained that more needed to be done and that the aim should be for there to be zero permanent school expulsions.

•                On the steps to reduce inequalities, Members were informed that the action-plan be consolidated with the Children and Young People plan, most likely in 2021-2023.  It was a statutory requirement that the Council produce the plan by April. It is a two-year program to bridge gaps faced by disproportionately affected groups. The £1m recovery programme can’t be spent on schools but can be channelled on reduction of opportunities gap faced by children. This investment was currently out for consultation now, looking to populate the detail after, but will be to try reducing inequalities over a two-year period.

The Chair summarised the main points of the discussion, which were as followed:

·                The report was a 4-month progress insight into the 2-year improvement timeframe.

·                Corporate Parenting and how Councillors can engage with it.

·                Staff morale – using staff surveys and assessing workloads with a view to making improvements.

·                MOSAIC workflows.

·                The Academy; multi agency partnership.

·                Independent scrutiny and it’s role and remit.

·                Apprenticeships – their importance and viewing the Council as a family business.

·                Exclusions rates and targets.

·                The casework grading system based on Ofsted’s model.

·                Inequalities to improve over the 2-year period.

Resolved that the Committee note the content of the report and consider how it wishes to scrutinise delivery of the Action Plan over the next few months.