To consider the Children’s Services Performance Report for June 2018.
Minutes:
Documents:
· Children’s Services Performance Report July 2018
Discussion:
· Performance in % of assessments for children within statutory timescales has declined in June and July. There had been an increase in referrals during May which can take up to 42 days to compete. This increase led to capacity issues together with sickness in the assessment team in north Powys, and the failure to meet the timescales is showing in the June and July figures. August figures are expected to see an improvement but there may be an increase in demand when children go back to school and there may also be an increase after the next CIW Inspection
· 18 of the 30 overdue assessments were in the north and of these 17 were assessments were completed less than a week out of time. The service need to consider a staffing structure that allows for staff to be moved to support areas experiencing pressure
· There is a national problem recruiting and retaining staff which is particularly acute in Powys. Demand is being met by using agency staff but retaining staff is a constant challenge.
· At present the staffing structure is over establishment in response to the inspection. A new staffing structure will be implemented when the new Head of Service is in post and work is being undertaken to assess what the correct staffing complement should be
· With a high number of agency staff the workforce will be vulnerable to change as staff get better offers elsewhere. It is not just money which will keep staff in post. Social work staff appreciate working in a safe environment with supportive managers, have appropriate caseloads and get good supervision
· There is an authority wide concern that the county is suffering from a dramatic depopulation of the working age population. It is difficult for all sectors including agencies to recruit
· The recruitment package offered to social workers is the same offered to all staff across Powys. A relocation package is offered to staff who have to move to take up the post. The lease car scheme is cost neutral to the local authority. The package on offer is fairly standard across Welsh authorities
· Members outlined how they had undertaken visits to local teams and suggested closer working with colleges to encourage retention of local students
· A local Councillor drew to the attention of Members a local issue regarding how different departments work together
· The reporting of visits to Looked After Children needs to be amended to reflect that these visits are undertaken initially on a six weekly basis and after 12 months on a three monthly basis. This will record the number of visits to LAC undertaken against the number of visits that were due. It is also essential that the visits are timely, happen more frequently if required and are of good quality
· Consideration should be given to prevent the situation where reported information for one month changes subsequently to allow full confidence in the data presented
· The costs of placements has remained broadly static. A resources panel has been introduced and the service are moving to a central commissioning model to ensure the most appropriate and cost effective placements are commissioned
· Looked After Children will not be moved from appropriate placements but every effort will be made in the future to place children in the most appropriate placements as close to their home area as possible. Ultimately the decision is made on care grounds
· There are too many approaches to Children’s Services resulting in a Strategy Discussion and approximately half of these have been found to be unnecessary. A review on decision-making regarding strategy discussion is being undertaken
· There are a number of residential homes in Powys but at present no children are placed in these homes. The potential to use these homes where appropriate for Looked After Children needs to be considered
· It was confirmed that Child Protection visits should take place every 10 days and if the child is not seen then the visit is rearranged. No children on the child protection register have not been seen in a month
· There are 22 children waiting adoption in Powys but there are delays in the process as there is a shortage of adoptive parents across Wales
· Some childcare cases can be particularly distressing for staff and supervision can be an opportunity to talk through issues although it was confirmed that there was no specific counselling support for staff working on children’s cases over and above the offer to all Council employees.
· It was confirmed that transient families are treated in the same way as settled families in the county
· Sickness levels should be included in the performance report
· Calls were still being reported as unanswered in Powys People Direct
Supporting documents: