Agenda item

An Ofsted inspection of the local authority arrangements for the protection of children in Medway took place between 7 and 16 January 2013.  The Ofsted report was published on 15 February 2013.  This report provides a summary of the actions since the inspection.

Discussion:

The Director of Children and Adult Services introduced the report which provided the committee with an update of the actions that had taken place since the Ofsted inspection of the local authority arrangements for the protection of children in Medway, which had taken place between 7 and 16 January 2013. 

She explained the changes that had taken place over the last 18 months in relation to the frameworks used for Ofsted inspections and notified the committee that the new inspection single framework had been issued the previous day.  The Director offered to provide the committee with a report about the new framework and how it will work at a future meeting.

She explained that there were several actions from the January Inspection that came under the following three broad areas: -

·        Staffing – to stabilise permanent staff, including at senior management level and reduce the use of agencies;

·        Social workers and managers needed to rebuild their confidence, their professional curiosity and management oversight;

·        Improvements to the multi-agency network – which had largely been covered during discussion of the previous item.

In terms of staffing she confirmed that the posts of Assistant Director, Children Social Care and Assistant Director, Partnership Commissioning had now been filled and there was an active marketing campaign ongoing to recruit both newly qualified and experienced social workers.  The children’s social care team was also undergoing a reorganisation to provide a tighter and clearer level of accountability, which had been supported by the staff.  Furthermore, the Children’s Trust was being replaced with the Medway Children Action Network (MCAN) (subject to approval by the Cabinet on 31 October 2013), which would enable a re-focus of multi-agency working and how services can be brought together to improve the early help offer for children and their families.

The Chairman suggested that this item be taken along side the following item, the Ofsted inspection of looked after children (LAC) services.  The committee then raised comments and questions, which included: -

·        Common themes from staff exit interviews – in response to a question the Director confirmed that the common themes featuring as reasons for staff leaving the local authority children’s social care team were: -

o       Natural turnover, for example, relocating;

o       Salary – some felt they could earn better income from working as agency staff;

o       Workloads – some felt workloads were too high.

      In relation to workloads the Director confirmed that levels had been too high but were decreasing and the reorganisation of the service would look to rebalance workloads and avoid any future build up.  In relation to working for an agency, the Director stated that the Council needed to get better about emphasising the benefits of being employees of Medway Council, for example, pension, sick pay and annual leave.  She also confirmed that a policy was now in place that if staff left to work for an agency they would not be able to work back at Medway Council as agency staff.

·        Capacity issues due to inducting new staff – concern was raised regarding the impact of the high turnover of staff in terms of inductions into procedures and practices.  The Assistant Director, Children’s Social Care explained that Medway had a very strong workforce development offer to support new staff in training.  Additionally, there was a minimum required standard for agency staff to enable smooth transition and resilience in the service.

·        Timescales for newly qualified social workers to become fully qualified – Officers confirmed that newly qualified social workers had to work for 12 months with managed supervision before they then gained their licence to practice with a full case load.

·        Accommodation offer for social workers – in response to a question about providing suitable accommodation for key workers the officers confirmed this was an area they were currently working on with Human Resources to see what could be provided locally.

·        Not all LAC knew about the Children in Care Council (CiCC) or how to complain – The Director confirmed that approximately 17 LAC had responded to the Ofsted inspectors’ questionnaire and not all had responded positively to knowing about the CiCC or how to complain.  Work was being done to improve this and some of this was being done by the CiCC through the big difference website (insert link here).

·        Concerns highlighted in the inspection relating to the Child and Adolescent Mental Health Service (CAMHS) – The Assistant Director, Children’s Social Care confirmed that this was an area of concern and he would be working with the Assistant Director, Partnership Commissioning to ensure contracts were being commissioned effectively and would provide the best outcome for Medway’s children and young people.  In addition, a Member confirmed that there was a Mental Health Task Group running and CAMHS was an aspect of that review which was being looked at.

Decision:

The committee noted the reports.