Agenda item

RESOLVED that the report be noted.

5.    Children’s Social Care placements – costs and quality

5.1Lucie Heyes, Director of Children’s Social Care, introduced the report. She reminded the committee of the comprehensive improvement programme underway since 2018. The most recent self-assessment review from April 2021 confirmed steady and sustained improvement, although the pace of improvement had slowed due to the pandemic. Ofsted recently returned for a focused visit around children looked after (CLA) and confirmed that senior leaders had an accurate picture of the service, had already identified the key remaining areas to focus on, and that the improvement journey was on track. An internal audit confirmed that progress had been substantial.

5.2Lewisham is currently renewing the statutory placement sufficiency strategy and officers have been focusing on care leaver placements over the last 6 months. The service has only limited control over the increasing cost of placements as it is market-driven. However, due to positive changes in practice, there are now fewer children and young people entering the care system.

5.3 The following was noted in response to questions from the committee:

1.    The innovation grant for domestic abuse services has been utilised for the following: A domestic abuse consultation hub that supports social workers with connecting up various services for families; recruitment of some additional specialist professionals; and training for social workers on how to manage risk effectively and safely. The grant sits within a wider piece of work around reducing violence against women and girls, in liaison with housing, violence reduction and the Police.

2.    The foster care and recruitment strategy is part of the sufficiency strategy and officers are aiming to complete the work by the end of the calendar year. Work around foster care recruitment is one of the most challenging tasks as a lot of initial expressions of interests are needed to then be able to translate some into successful recruitment of foster carers. A large number of Lewisham residents who are foster carers are working for independent organisations offering similar rates of pay, but are profit-making commercial organisations. The Council needs to become employer of choice more often. There is anecdotal evidence that some independent organisations do some advocacy work which would probably not be appropriate for in-house staff. The Council service gets good feedback from foster carers and they feel well supported. It will be important that word gets out.

3.    Considering that there are many out of borough placements and that there is a drive for new housing developments in Lewisham, Section 106 agreements could be considered where families who want to foster can have access to slightly bigger homes than they are entitled to. The Chair agreed to raise this issue with the cabinet member for Housing and Planning. ACTION: Chair

4.    Concern was raised that costs for semi-independent accommodation seems to be disproportionally high. This is partly due to demand, partly due to commissioning arrangements not being sufficiently tight, which is being looked into. One positive development is the commissioning of 2-3 single secure placements for very complex situations to help keep individuals safe.

5.    All safeguarding enquiries come into the multi-agency safeguarding hub (MASH). All referrals are reviewed within 24 hours. Contact details will be circulated to all committee members. ACTION: Scrutiny Manager

6.    The service has a lot of resources and expertise for early help and edge of care provision, but it is not always joined up. This will be a priority for the newly appointed director as services are currently dispersed and need better co-ordination.

7.    There has been a recent shift from a focus on quality assessments to a focus on planning and a recognition that the quality of care plans need further improvement. A significant training programme has started in July 2021 and will continue until April 2022.

8.    The meeting noted that the recent Ofsted visit identified good leadership, which is very positive and encouraging. However, the original rating of Requires Improvement was made back in January 2016, so the Committee wants to see evidence of sustained improvement when it returns to monitor this in March 2022.