To report on the progress of improvement planning in Children’s Safeguarding resulting from the self-evaluation undertaken and reported to the Department of Education in July, 2013 in relation to the Herefordshire Safeguarding and Protecting Children Improvement Plan.

The Committee received a report on the progress of improvement planning in children’s safeguarding which had resulted from the self-evaluation that had been reported to the Department of Education in July, 2013 in relation to the Herefordshire Safeguarding and Protecting Children Improvement. The Director for People’s Services highlighted the following areas:

·         That the changes to leadership and governance that had been made over the period had contributed to the satisfactory progress that the Department had highlighted in their letter to the Council.  The Department was also taken by the evidence of the commitment and enthusiasm of staff and partner organisations. 

The Interim Head of Improvement reported that this process would be undertaken every six months, and was not an inspection per se.  It was possible that there could be an Ofsted inspection anytime from November 2013.  She went on to say that:

·         There had been significant turnover in front line and middle agency managers over the last six months. At the point of the initial inspection, the ratio of permanent to agency staff had been better.  AS a result of staff turnover it had been necessary to take on agency staff in order to grow the existing workforce quickly.  As a result of the newly qualified social worker assessment days, eight new staff had been taken on.

·         the performance data around the timelines associated with the speed and timeliness of assessments was of concern.

·         Recruitment and retention of social workers was the main issue facing the Council, as well as strengthening both the management and social worker practice.

·         A social worker academy should help to ensure that they felt sufficiently trained and supported to do their jobs. A new range of practice tools was also being instigated which would help the situation and influence the ability to offer timely assessments.

The Director went on to say that, in the longer term, workload and morale issues would be addressed.  There was a mix of both high and low morale at the moment and work was in hand to find ways to bring down the casework load for all areas.  This was not just for social workers, but also for family support workers.  The biggest cause for concern was the quality of practice decision making, which would have to improve.

She added that there would be a peer review of the Council’s work in October, and colleagues from around the country would be invited to Hereford in order to provide fresh insight and suggest alternative solutions to issues.

In reply to a comment from a Member regarding staff retention, she concurred that newly qualified Council staff were paid adequately, but within a competitive market, the higher end managerial staff were not remunerated as well in the County as they were in the rest of the country.  As a result, there were more agency than permanent managerial staff.  Front line management levels of pay would be increased in order to help solve this problem.

In reply to a comment from a Member, the Director went on to say that the comments made in paragraph 8.27 and 8.28 of the report before the committee were a fair summation of the position that the Council was in. Whilst there was much to be done, the peer review process would be very helpful to this end.

In reply to a further comment, she went on to say that there had been changes to the probation services, and the Youth Offending Service had been replaced by the West Mercia Youth Offending Service, and a discussion was underway between the partners as to who should host the service.  She undertook to provide Members with a briefing paper on the matter.

RESOLVED:

THAT:

(a)         The report be noted; and

(b)         A further update report be provided too the Committee in three months time.