Agenda item

That the Committee notes and commends the progress made by the Children and Young People’s directorate on the children’s social care improvement programme and on improvements to placement sufficiency for children in care and care leavers.

This was the first substantive item on the agenda.

5.1    Pinaki Ghoshal introduced the report – outlining areas of progress and highlighting the recent positive feedback from Ofsted.

5.2    Pinaki Ghoshal responded to questions from the Committee – the following key points were noted:

·      Previous areas of overspending in children’s social care were reducing. It had previously been estimated that the annual overspend would be £4m – but work was taking place to reduce this.

·      The numbers of children in care in Lewisham was higher than the London average. Work was taking place to provide more early help and support to families to avoid children being placed in social care. This was a long term programme and it would take time to see improvements.

·      Measures were in place to support care leavers and further work was being done to improve the leaving care service.

·      Lots of work had taken place to improve placement sufficiency and costs.

·      The most expensive placements were residential placements. The costs for these placements had been reduced by – reducing numbers, challenging providers and ensuring fair contributions from partner organisations.

·      There had not been a significant improvement in the numbers of in-house foster carers. The Council was overly dependent on fostering agencies. The average cost of in-house foster care was £400 per child – as opposed to £1000 for agencies placements. More work was required to encourage foster carers to foster through the Council. Work was taking place to improve the experience for prospective carers.

·      Most independent foster care agencies were private organisations – and looked to make profits from being in business.

·      A number of measures were being implemented to increase the numbers of in house foster carers.

·      There were pressures on the numbers of foster carers available. Lewisham was below the London average for foster carers from within the borough.

·      One of the issues highlighted by previous Ofsted inspections was the sustainability and usability of IT systems and lots of work had taken place to overhaul and improve systems.

·      Work was taking place to increase the numbers of social workers employed by the Council (rather than through agencies) with a target of 90% of social workers to be permanent employees[1].

·      There had been a recent increase in the numbers of children referred to social care – which caused additional pressure on social work caseloads.

·      Responding to a question about the Council’s management of a complaint (and referral to the ombudsman) Pinaki confirmed that action had been taken to review processes and procedures. There was more work to be done.

·      Additional information could be brought before the Committee (in coordination with the Children and Young People Select Committee).

5.3    Councillor Chris Barnham (Cabinet Member for Children’s Services and School Performance) was invited to address the Committee – the following key points were noted:

·         The improvement programme for children’s services was a long term initiative.

·         The work taking place was improving the quality of services and stabilising the budget.

·         Lots of authorities were facing pressures in social care.

·         The recent Ofsted inspection confirmed that the areas identified by the Council for improvement were the right areas on which to focus.

·         More work was required to improve the cost and sufficiency of social care placements.

·         Officers should be commended for their hard work – particularly in recruiting and retaining newly qualified social workers.

5.4    Resolved: That the Committee notes and commends the progress made by the Children and Young People’s directorate on the children’s social care improvement programme and on improvements to placement sufficiency for children in care and care leavers.