Agenda item

The Panel was updated on performance information relating to Quarter 4 (January to March 2020) and the draft Financial Outturn 2019/20.

During the discussion, the following main points were made:

Education

·       For future presentations to the Panel, the Director of Education and Early Help would ensure the analysis and graphs appeared on the same page.

·       An analysis of those schools that had received an Ofsted inspection or monitoring visit showed that four Local Authority maintained schools had moved from ‘requires improvement’ to ‘good’ during the period.

·       Ofsted would resume visits to schools in the autumn and would visit all schools previously judged to be ‘inadequate’.

·       It was confirmed that any school placed in special measures would be required to consider moving to academy status.

·       There were currently 675 children in the County who were electively home educated, which was a reduction on recent months.  There were also 9 children who were ‘under enquiry’ to become home educated.  In the main, these were positive contacts from parents who felt their children had thrived at home.  It was important that officers were clear with parents what was required to home educate a child pointing out that appropriate work would not be supplied by teachers to support this.

·       There were currently 62 children registered as missing education.  ‘Missing Monday’ meetings were continuing.

·       The completion rate for Personal Education Plans was 100% through the COVID period and the Virtual School had continued to operate.

Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND)

·       There had been continued improvement in relation to timescales for assessment of Education Health and Care Plans (EHCPs) with 100% completed within timescales during the COVID period.  There had been very positive feedback from the Department for Education on this.

In response to a question about why a school would move from ‘outstanding’ to having ‘serious weaknesses’, Members were reminded that, previously, outstanding schools had not had to be re-inspected.  The new inspection framework had found some schools wanting in relation to leadership and management.  Under the School Improvement Programme, WCF had contact with all maintained schools and had identified some that may need intervention.  WCF officers were aware of the issues and they were now being addressed.

Children’s Social Care

·       Members were reminded that, at the end of March 2020, monitoring of Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) had changed with the development of 40 COVID-specific KPIs.  The data contained in the report covered the period up to the end of March and was, therefore, now out of date.  The report contained no additional analysis as the situation had now moved on.

·       The Service had performed well against the COVID KPIs and also when measured against the national picture.

·       An analysis of Q1 2020/2021 data for the Family Front Door (FFD) had revealed that demand for social care was starting to increase.  Last year had seen an average of 800 referrals per week with, on average, 49% requiring social work assessments.  In Q1 this was up to 1000 referrals per week with 1500 referrals received per week during June and early July.

·       Referrals from schools usually made up 17% of those received.  However, of the 1500 received per week in June, only 1% were from schools.  Demand for the Family Front Door had rocketed, but the number of cases requiring a social work assessment had dropped to 20%.  A significant percentage were not meeting the social work threshold.  This was a reflection of referrers’ attitude to the management of risk and need.  It may feel safer to refer to the Family Front Door but the impact of this could be that the FFD was not able to properly identify those children who did need intervention.  The Director of Children’s Social Care and Safeguarding expressed concern that early indicators may suggest that progress on risk management with partners had potentially gone backwards.

·       She went on to suggest that when schools returned in September there may be a further increase in demand as children and young people disclosed incidents which had occurred during lockdown.

·       It would be important to ensure that support services were known and accessible to families and professionals.

·       The number of Child Protection and Child in Need cases had risen as the service had not closed or stepped down any cases during lockdown as this would not have been appropriate given the disruption to service delivery.  There was now a need to restart the workflow within the system in order to manage new cases that would be coming in.

·       The COVID-19 period had seen great commitment from staff and low levels of sickness absence.  Staffing capacity remained good although caseloads had risen.

·       It was confirmed that the increase in referrals related to referrals from the police and health services equally.  The rate of conversion to social work assessment was currently approximately 30 to 32%.  Turnover of staff in other agencies meant it had been hard to get consistency.  Discussions with partners to improve the situation were ongoing.  It was recognised that the increase in referrals came from a genuine desire to help families.

·       It was agreed that for future reports:

o   Actual figures should be given for the number of children placed out of county as well as the percentage figure.

o   In relation to County Lines, figures should be disaggregated by district council area so any particular local problems could be identified.

·       A Member reported that a SENCO at a local school had informed him that she had had no problems getting through to the Family Front Door during lockdown.  It was confirmed that staff had been working at home and this had worked well.

Budget Monitoring 2019/20 Outturn

·       The figures in the agenda pack were still draft as they had not yet been fully signed off by audit.

·       There had been a £7.2m overspend on the Dedicated Schools Grant relating to the High Needs Block (in particular out of county placements and post-16 in-county provision).  The overspend had been added to reserves in line with advice to all local authorities.

·       In 2020/21 an additional £8.7m had been received towards High Needs.  This would keep pace with spending but would not address the historical deficit.

·       Former Children, Families and Communities (CFC) budgets which had been transferred to People and Finance (WCC) had shown a 4.2% overspend.  Adult Learning had overspent by £115k and work was ongoing to understand course activity.

·       Education statutory showed an underspend position as income generated had exceeded costs.

·       The overspend in relation to SENDIASS and Duke of Edinburgh was a result of exit costs when the Duke of Edinburgh service closed in September.

·       Remaining CFC budgets in the County Council had overspent by 0.6% (£549k) in the main due to Home to School Transport and Placements and Provision.

·       WCF budget figures were no longer draft as audit on these had now been completed and they showed a surplus of just under 1%, an underspend of £522k.

·       In response to a question about Home to School Transport, Members were informed that the budget for 2020/21 had been set in line with expected demand with inflation estimates built in.  The big risk in relation to this budget would be the impact of COVID-19.  It was suggested that there would be some degree of lost income from the closure of schools at the start of the financial year and also in September due to parents not wanting to use school transport.  WCF was talking to the Council about the impact of COVID-19.

·       The Chief Executive of WCF reminded Members that WCC would receive its COVID grant in three tranches.  WCC’s Chief Financial Officer had identified potential pressures in relation to Home to School Transport and potential additional costs were estimated at between £3.3 and £6m on a £17m budget.  It was hoped that this may come down in September once the detail of government guidance was known.  Home to School Transport was a challenge for all County Councils and lobbying through organisations at an Officer and Member level continued.

·       The Chairman reported that she was pleased with the excellent service the Panel received from WCF’s finance team with Members receiving all of the information they had asked for.  She asked for her thanks to be passed on to the team.

In conclusion, the Chairman asked the Chief Executive to pass on her thanks to all members of staff in Worcestershire Children First and let them know how grateful the Panel was for the work they did.