To provide the Committee with an update on the workforce stream of the Children’s Services Improvement Plan – Phase 1, including an overview of workforce data.

The purpose of the report was to provide the Committee with an update on the workforce stream of the Children’s Services Improvement Plan – Phase 1, including an overview of workforce data. During his introduction, the Director for Children and Families highlighted the following points:

·         This was the first time that workforce related data had been presented to scrutiny.

·         Some of the messages in the report were uncomfortable but the service was working hard to support and develop their workforce which they recognised as their most valuable asset.  Children’s Services had been rocked by the high court judgement last April which triggered the wave of activity and change that continued today. The impact had undoubtedly been unsettling for staff who had seen changes in leadership and direction, and increased demands on service and performance, all whilst operating in the context of a global pandemic.

·         There were a number of locums within the service who had joined in the past year as it had had to increase capacity quickly.

·         There were signs that things were now changing; where there had been an increasing number of resignations this had now slowed and feedback from the staff reference group, and from practitioner and management forums, was more positive.

·         The Service was focussed on introducing a new range of initiatives which came together as the new workforce strategy. Documents that made up the strategy included the draft retention and recruitment framework, and the draft ambitions paper. Other elements included the support arrangements for newly qualified social workers and a career progression for social workers that would be introduced in April.

·         The leadership team was leading by example and working in a restorative manner to ensure that any vestiges of a bullying culture were stamped out.

·         The offer to staff in terms of pay scales and benefits was being developed but it was a very challenging and competitive environment in which to attract and retain staff as social workers continued to feature on the UK’s national shortage occupation list.

·         Mr Freeman reassured the Committee that his role was now permanent and that he intended to see the improvement of the service through.

During the discussion that followed with the Senior HR and OD Business Partner and the Committee the following principal points were noted:

·         Phase 1 of the improvement plan ran until 31 March and was about sowing the seeds and getting the basics right.

·         It was acknowledged that care staff were predominantly female but although the gender mix in Herefordshire was unbalanced, with only 14 male members of staff to 86 females, this was still a higher proportion of male staff than found in other Councils. 

·         Newly qualified social workers had a lower case load for the first year as part of their transition. Historically however they joined a team and invariably ended up taking on a full caseload. The new approach meant that they would stay within the academy and have a full year’s support before joining a permanent team.

·         The service was positioning itself to be more competitive; reviews of job descriptions and the pay and training offer had taken place and in addition retention interviews had been set up to capture and improve on the positive aspects of the role and workplace which had made staff want to remain with Herefordshire.

·         In Children’s Services, exeat interviews were offered on a one-to-one basis with either someone from HR or the assistant principal social worker.

·         The external national picture meant there was an increasing need to ‘grow our own’ social workers.

·         Advanced practitioners had been put in place to support newly qualified social workers and their experience had informed this report.

·         Online resources for social workers had been enhanced.

·         The Council wanted to be recognised as a caring employer who did it all it could to nurture relationships.

·         Councillors requested that quantitative data from the exeat interviews be included in future as it would be useful to know whether, for example, it was 10% or 100% of employees who had issues around their pay and conditions.

RECOMMENDATIONS:

Having reviewed the information provided, the Committee:

a)    Noted and welcomed this first workforce report to the Committee as an interim report, being part of the improvement plan process, and also welcomed the progress being made, including feedback and data from Council care workers and families, as part of the Committee’s aim to help improve openness and transparency in line with a “bottom up” scrutiny approach.

b)    Asked that the detail and information contained in the pdf documents on the Herefordshire Social Work Academy website be reviewed and brought up to date and that the Academy be promoted more widely so that it was more visible.

c)    Asked that in future the report provides more detail on the issues emerging from the exit interviews and includes a greater level of quantitative data. 

d)    Suggested that to encourage a greater uptake of the offer of an exit interview that there is also an option that they be conducted by an independent interviewer.

ACTIONS:

1.    That quantitative data for the report presented be sent to Committee Members.

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At the conclusion of this item the Senior HR and OD Business Partner left the meeting.

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