Issue - meetings

It was RESOLVED that the report be noted.

Lucie Heyes, Director for Children’s Social Care, introduced the report.

The following was noted in discussion:

1.    Overall, services were improving although for 6 out of the 12 months since Ofsted last inspected, COVID-19 restrictions had been in place, which had slowed improvement.

2.    By December 2020 it was expected that 85% of staff would be permanent employees. There was a live recruitment drive currently, and Members were encouraged to Tweet about it to raise awareness.

3.    The timeframe for a monitoring visit was unknown. Best guesses suggested it could be between January and April, but it could happen at any time.

4.    MASH thresholds had been raised due to COVID-19. These were being revised downwards but the intention was not to lower them to pre-COVID levels. Instead, a temporary Family Information and Support Service had been created to redirect families, where safe to do so, rather than to automatically escalate referrals to statutory services unnecessarily.

5.    Coroporate Parenting and services for Looked After Children had taken a back seat as there had been no permanent Head of Service until recently. Improvement in these areas need driving forward.

6.    There continued to be challenges with recruiting in-house foster carers

7.    Lack of suitable studio or 1 bedroomed independent accommodation for care leavers was placing a strain on the budget as many care leavers were having to take up semi-independent accommodation, which was costly.

8.    Work was underway to better align Housing and Children’s Social Care to reduce costs.

9.    Two Members had questions specific to their casework. The Director of Children’s Social Care invited them to email their queries directly to her after the meeting.

10.Members indicated that although scrutiny of Children’s Social Care improvement was next scheduled for March, should additional stresses arise, or should there be an earlier Ofsted visit, additional scrutiny may be requested in the interim.

It was RESOLVED that the report be noted.