To receive the Children’s Services Performance Report.
Minutes:
Documents considered:
· Children’s Services Performance Report – May 2018
Discussion:
· There are no minutes of the twice weekly team manager performance meetings (Executive summary – point 2), but there are action points arising from matters raised at the meeting. Audits have been undertaken and will be made available to the Improvement and Assurance Board. These could be provided to scrutiny. (Outcome 1)
· There has been a considerable increase in approaches to the service during May and these have been referred to the locality teams rather than being referred to the Team around the Family (TAF). There has been no increase in workforce and therefore this will impact on performance over the coming months
· There is no lack of capacity in TAF but Powys People Direct (PPD) are not referring cases to TAF and Social Workers are not stepping down cases to TAF where appropriate. A review of PPD is being undertaken at present. TAF comes under the Start Well programme (previously known as the Children and Young Peoples Partnership (CYPP)).
· Start Well is co-chaired by the Director of Education and Senior Manager of the Health Board and includes senior officers from health, public health and housing. A report on the Start Well programme could be brought to scrutiny. (Outcome 2)
· The biggest increase in referrals has come from the Police and secondly from individuals. Usually referrals come from schools, health colleagues and then individuals.
· The increase is due to domestic violence cases and child sexual exploitation cases which are very serious and time consuming. Some teams are showing the strain and are reporting heavy workloads and increased sickness absence
· The increase in cases has meant the planned reduction in agency staff has had to be reconsidered and the Head of Service has met with the Finance Director and Chief Executive. Staffing will not drop below safe levels.
· In the short term there will be financial pressures which will be addressed by focussing on
o appointing permanent staff rather than agency staff (who cost 30-35% more)
o looking to appropriately reduce expensive residential placements – the Resource Panel is examining expensive placements to see if they are still meeting the need of the child or if different provision would be more appropriate. A report is being prepared for the Improvement and Assurance Board which could be shared with scrutiny (Outcome 3)
· Overall performance in May has held up with some small dips but not so far as to cause concern
· The improving trend has been affected by the increase in demand and it may be necessary to move people between teams to meet demand
· Fluctuations in demand are to be expected until the workforce is stabilised. A new Director is in post and a new Head of Service due to be appointed shortly who will address the workforce issue
· There are six children not included within the Looked After Children statistics due to the high level of protection needed in these cases. Members should be assured that they are receiving all the support that they need
· The number of children without a care and support plan has dropped from 161 to 120. Care and support plans are in place but for technical reasons the report is not recording this. The technical reasons need to be addressed (Outcome 4)
· It is difficult to compare the cost of placements with other authorities as their information is published less frequently. The aim is for more children to be cared for by Powys foster carers. A Resources Panel has been set up to ensure that those children coming into care are placed in the correct placement
· An analysis of the children who have become looked after over the last twelve months is nearing completion and can be made available to scrutiny. (Outcome 5)
· A pilot in north Powys to create a separate Assessment Team has been successful and it is intended to replicate this in south Powys. The childcare team in Newtown has had problems. Management capacity has been supplemented and the team now feels more successful and settled
· The service are meeting with the Police to explore closer working after incidents of domestic violence where information needs to be sensitively shared with school and health colleagues
· The national IT system is still causing problems and it can take hours to upload a report. The system is still developing as health colleagues join
Outcomes:
1. Scrutiny to receive a summary of the findings resulting from the audit of the twice weekly team manager performance meeting
2. Scrutiny to receive a report on the Start Well programme
3. Scrutiny to receive the report on the Placements project
4. The technical reasons behind the incorrect figures for those open cases without a care and support plan to be addressed promptly to ensure that Members can be properly assured that all children have care and support plans in place
5. Scrutiny to receive the report analysing the Looked After Children population in Powys
Supporting documents: