The Director of Children’s Services gave a presentation on transformation items his directorate were currently working on and their context with some case studies.  Cabinet were aware of the issues and work being done.  Some of the volume implications are seen nationally driven by the pandemic.  Members were informed that the first table showed the volume coming through Children’s Services giving a comparative snapshot year on year on 31st March.  The table showed increased volume, more child protection plans and increased complex cases.  The data gave members a comparison with our statistical neighbouring authorities and the national average for England. 

Members were next given an update on the statutory work force position.  At March 2022 there were 25 agency social workers, this reflected the trend in Berkshire with a difficulty in recruitment of professionals.  Agency “uplift” at current level costs us £340,000 a year compared to a permanent workforce.  The churn in the system often results in children not have a consistent social worker.  The additional demand during the pandemic have resulted in our caseworkers holding more cases than the national average.  More posts have been brought in to meet demand and retain quality of service.  A decision had been made to keep employing domestic support abuse workers even though the pilot scheme had ended, this was an example of having a workforce that met demand.  Pay and reward had been set to realistically meet the need of working in Berkshire and work continued within the market place regarding our children in care with focus on local placements and support for adoption.  It was important that when possible we keep families together.  Case studies showing the placement supply and costs were shown.

The presentation went on to show transformation opportunities with the graphic showing in grey showing a typical path a young person may take through the system from early help to becoming a child in need, maybe becoming a child in care and then becoming a care leaver. They may also have had additional needs, often during the school environment.  With regards to transformation we would look at the way we work within our practices, with our partners, making sure we get the right services in the right places and being involved early so we can effectively prevent escalation.  It was important to make sure more young people stayed locally rather then having to move away from the area for support.  Work was ongoing to increase the volume of foster careers and supporting more family members to come forward were appropriate.  We want more people to be educated locally, live locally and be able to be part of their local community.  To achieve this, we are working on effective connected systems and a sustainable stable workforce.  Examples of how this would be achieved was shown on the following two slides, such as early support work with health colleagues regarding well being and mental health, supporting local provision and replacing outdated systems with a digital end to end system making the best use of data.

The Chairman said he was aware of the excellent work being done by the directorate but asked if the director could expand on the foster care system and high needs placements.  Members were informed that we were looking at increasing foster careers, we currently had about 50.  Care placements currently cost about £3,500 per week where a foster placement cost about £500 per week.  Officers were looking at better ways of supporting foster parents and families to help support children in care.  We were looking at joined up support for the whole family such as access to our leisure facilities.

Cllr Clark mentioned that there had been increased costs over the last few years but transformation was helping provide effective services.  He mentioned the impact of the pandemic and asked if we were ready for future problems.  He was informed that there was no guarantee for future problems but working on increasing early intervention, better support for young people and families and increasing the fostering system.  It had been a difficult 18 months during the pandemic and support would be provided.

Cllr Price asked if more could be done to help prevent children entering the care system and was informed that yes more could always be done but there will always be a need for support and that was why there was investment in family hubs, investment in supporting families, being ready to meet future demands and working with our partners.  We were looking at better internal processes, better particle support such as getting a child to school on time so the benefit from learning opportunities and signposting families to services.  Cllr Price mentioned that there was a wealth of community volunteers and we could look at what more support we could provide them in their work.   

Cllr Rayner congratulated officers for the work they were doing as it was very complex and changing peoples lives for the better.  She said how she admired those who became foster parents, taking on the responsibility to help children especially during these difficult pandemic times.  If we can help foster parents with extra support we should.  With regards to agency social workers she asked if there was anything that could be done regarding recruitment of permanent staff and also asked about the Paris system.  She was informed that with regards to social workers the pandemic had shown that they could make their visits during one day and spend the next one at home writing up their notes from home which helps with their work life balance.  It also meant they did not have to live locally and some were attracted to the higher agency rates of pay.  We paid compatible with other authorities but could not match £43 per hour some agencies paid.   There was a shortage of skilled social workers and thus they could command higher prices as local authorities had a statutory duty to provide these services.  The authority had looked at creating roles for newly qualified social workers who needed experience before they could take on full caseloads, nearly all of these additional posts have moved into permanent positions within the authority.    Bonuses were also available when social workers stayed within their roles which has helped with stability of care for children.  With regards to the Paris system this had come to an end of its lifespan and work was underway getting a more modern system in place.  We were only one of three authorities still using the system as we had customised it to our need that maid it difficult to replace.  It was not just about replacing like for like but getting a new system that helps us work better, better data sharing and supporting our partners. 

The Sub-Committee noted the presentation.