To receive the outcome of the Ofsted inspection of children’s services and the council’s proposed response to areas for improvement identified.

The committee received a report from the Cabinet Member young people and children’s wellbeing which set out the outcomes of the recent Ofsted inspection and the action plan produced by the Council in response. The Director Children and Families and the Assistant Director, Safeguarding and Family Support introduced the report and explained that the inspection had been conducted under the new inspection framework which was focused on experience and outcomes. The inspectors had reviewed internal information such as the self-assessment and had conducted interviews with social workers.

The DCF outlined the findings of the inspection. The overall judgement was requiring improvement, but the judgement for the impact of leaders on social work practice with children and families was inadequate. There were a number of positive reflections on the services in Herefordshire and no child seen was at risk of significant harm and children at risk of immediate harm receive prompt and responsive intervention, ensuring they are safeguarded. The council’s self-assessment had already identified areas that were reflected in Ofsted’s report including capacity and caseloads of social workers. Recruitment to teams and performance management systems were also highlighted as an area of concern raised through the inspection. The action plan proposed a range of actions to address the findings of the inspection and some were already taking place. The effectiveness of the plan would be monitored and there was a need to refresh the plan every three months. It was recognised that there was a need to ensure a sustained cultural change to ensure consistent progress. The report and action plan would be presented to Cabinet for approval and a further visit by Ofsted was expected.  

The committee raised the issues below in the discussion that followed:

·         The committee referred to an article which contained details of the inspection framework and those elements which ensured a good outcome from an inspection.

·         The money that had been dedicated by Cabinet to support the recruitment of social workers would help to support elements of the action plan. Would this funding be maintained? The DCF confirmed that funding for capacity and staffing needed to be sustained to ensure improvement. The Council was in a relatively healthy financial position and a base budgeting exercise was underway to set out what was required to continue the staffing in next year’s budget. There remained challenges around the recruitment of permanent and agency staff. There had been some success but recruitment was an ongoing issue and methods for the recruitment and retention of social workers were being investigated.

·         The committee acknowledged that the report had some areas of concern but also contained positive elements.

·         The committee requested information regarding how the concerns regarding the continuity of social workers for children would be addressed. The ADS&FS confirmed that difficulties with recruitment of social workers had an impact upon the continuity of social workers but it was important that the service sought to ensure that the experience of newly qualified social workers who worked in Herefordshire was positive to ensure they remained with the local authority. Apprenticeship schemes were also being investigated but the problem of recruitment was a nationwide issue with 500 vacancies believed to exist across the West Midlands. It was important to offer social workers development opportunities and career development pathways to ensure that social work at the council was an attractive option and to encourage newly qualified social workers to remain with the authority. It was acknowledged that continuity was fundamental to social work to enable relationships to be developed between a family and the social worker and allow for proactive work to be undertaken.

·         It was queried whether the opportunity to be a social worker in Herefordshire had been promoted to the local university which offered relevant courses. The ADS&FS explained that the principal social worker spoke at events at Worcester University to promote opportunities at the Council. It had been found that students tended to stay in those areas where they had undertaken placements or from which they originated. The Council could offer placements and support/facilities to students but they tended to stay closer to those establishments where they were studying.

·         The committee contemplated those reasons why recruitment of social workers was such a problem. The reasons were felt to be complex and multi-faceted including the manner in which the media reported children abuse scandals. It was remarked that the issue with recruitment had existed for a number of years and the reasons should now be understood. The ADS&FS confirmed that problems concerning recruitment affected many parts of the country. It was acknowledged that social work was a challenging job and the coverage in the media did not help recruitment efforts but it was important that people were provided with a good experience when training and after qualifying to ensure that they returned to work for the council and remained in the long term.

·         The committee queried the outcome from the inspection concerning leadership and interaction between senior management and social workers. It was recognised that the work undertaken by social workers was very professional but problems with leadership had been highlighted. More information regarding how this would be addressed was requested particularly as it was felt that this would have an impact on the retention of social workers. The ADS&FS confirmed that performance management information for managers would be refined and improved. Better performance management would be introduced and new performance management systems introduced which would seek to support and challenge people without being punitive. The new performance management system was designed to promote change and encourage conversations about improving the quality of practice. The DCF confirmed that the funding agreed by cabinet enabled more team managers to be employed to provide improved supervision and through the budget setting process it was intended that the additional capacity would become permanent. There remained some interim positions in the service but most were now permanent. It was important that social workers: had a manageable case load; felt supported; and received development and training opportunities. A new model of practice for social work, ‘Signs of Safety’ was being introduced with support from Doncaster where the model already existed.

·         The committee queried the KPIs and action plans that were in place to realise the objectives of the action plan and requested detail of when evidence of progress against the action plan could be returned to committee. It was requested that a quarterly update report should be submitted to the committee with evidence of progress. The ADS&FS explained that each area of the service had its own action plan which were reviewed with heads of service on a monthly basis to ensure improvement had been achieved. Quarterly reports could be provided to the committee showing progress against the action plan.

·         The role of the cabinet member children and families and her interaction with children services and director was questioned. The DCF confirmed that there were regular briefing sessions with the cabinet member. There was a strong link between the cabinet member, the director and children services.

·         The committee raised the issue of the quality of life story work which had been a perennial area of concern. It was queried what was preventing improvement in this area. It was explained that a different approach to life story work would be undertaken in future and work would now begin at the earliest opportunity following contact between social worker and family to improve the quality and completeness of life stories.    

RESOLVED – That the committee:

·         endorses the action plan;

·         allocates a quarterly item to its work programme to assess progress against the action plan; and

·         welcomes those positive elements emerging from the inspection including: safeguarding arrangements; looked after children and early help; care leavers; children with disabilities; children at risk of sexual exploitation or wider exploitation; the Council’s approach to elective home education; and children who go missing.

There was a brief adjournment at 3.20 p.m. The meeting reconvened at 3.25 p.m.