Agenda item

(Indicative timing: 11.20 – 11.50am)

The Panel was updated on performance and financial information for services relating to Children and Families.

Year-End Budget Monitoring

The Director of Resources highlighted the following points:

•                 The Cabinet had been presented with the provisional financial results for the Council on 1 July 2022 which was an overall overspend of £1.3m on a £355.5m budget.

•                 The Dedicated Schools Grant (DSG) had an in year overspend of £4.8m resulting in a cumulative deficit of £11.3m for 2021/22.   This was a deteriorating position and the predicted deficit position at the end of 2022/23 was around £19m. The deficit would sit on the Council’s balance sheet as an unusable reserve and be carried forward against future DSG income.  However currently the legislation enabling this to happen would expire at the end of 2022/23.

•                 High Needs funding and deficits were a national problem and the Government had recently issued a Green Paper for SEND. To address the future sustainability the DfE was investing a one-off £85m over three years in the Delivering Better Value in SEND (DBV) programme. This would support 55 local authorities with deficits to reform their high needs systems, addressing the underlying issues that lead to increased pressure, and putting them on a more sustainable footing. Worcestershire was one of the 55 Local Authorities and was participating in the DBV programme which was being supported by Newton Europe and CIPFA.  For information Authorities with the highest deficits would participate in the safety valve intervention programme. 

•                 Worcestershire was confirmed in Phase 1 - tranche 2, which would start in January to June 2023.  The Panel would be kept updated on any developments regarding the expected expiry of the legislation next year.

•                 WCF’s Outturn at the end of 2021/22 was an underspend of £51k, so effectively a break-even position. This was a good performance, as a result of the £3m savings target having been achieved as part of the 2021/budget.

•                 The WCF external audit had been completed at the end of June. The WCF Risk, Governance and Audit Board would meet in early July to review the accounts and sign them off, and the financial results would be fed through to the Council’s Group accounts.

Responding to Members’ questions, the Director of Resources agreed to provide:

·       The costs of the legal fees for SEND and

·       Clarification on the details of the CSC Safeguarding budget on the Outturn figures.

Performance Information

The Director of Early Help, Children in Need and Family Front Door (FFD) gave an overview of the key points relating to the Social Care data.

·       Pressure on contacts and referrals to the FFD had remained consistent. This situation was being monitored closely to check what the ongoing trend would be and demand with partners was also being reviewed to see whether the trends were similar.

·       The Director was concerned at the end of Quarter 4 with the fluctuations in the Social Work assessment data, although this situation was replicated in other local authorities. A deep dive had been undertaken to check whether there had been a significant change with the data at the end of Quarter 1.

·       Whilst there was a fluctuation in the number of CYP having a Child Protection Plan, the data set was stable and consistent.

·       In terms of Children in Need (CIN), there was a new entry on the data set showing the Supporting Families First function provided by a multi-agency team. This team was working intensively with families seeking to make positive and sustainable changes. The work of this team was being monitored and the impact that it was making would be seen in the data as the year progressed.

·       Children Looked after – the Director advised that although there were lower numbers of children coming into care, these were the right children. Work was currently being focussed on exit strategies for those older CYP where this was applicable. The pandemic had played a part in delaying this process and strategies were now in place to enable this to take place with the appropriate support for the CYP and for their carers.

Members raised a number of questions, and the following main points were made:

·       With reference to the 73% of CIN cases having been able to be closed, the Director explained this positive move had been made possible because of a close working relationship with the Courts and their timely decision-making relating to CYP with care proceedings. WCF had also been closely looking at the care plans of those CYP with kinship carers and care leavers to see how to achieve what was best for those individual CYP going forward.

·       Referring to mental health as being one of the areas of concern which led to a Child Protection Plan, the Director explained that the mental health could be referring to that of the child, the parent or both. Through the CIN work and the family safeguarding approach, the teams were keen to understand the needs of the family as a whole so that the factors placing a CYP at risk became apparent.

·       The peak in child exploitation figures was raised as a concern. The Director explained that with the Get Safe work which raised awareness as well as carrying out disruption activities and specific operations, it was expected and reassuring to see the rise in numbers showing the success of those activities.  There was also much ongoing prevention work which was carried out including within schools with the Designated Safeguarding Leads which they worked closely with, and also with youth services.

The Assistant Director (EQI) drew members attention to key aspects of the Education data:

·       The details for Q4 showed that there had been 38 Ofsted Inspection reports published between September and March. This number had now increased to 55, although not all of the reports had been published. The Director had been expecting a delay in the Inspection schedule, but with only 2 weeks left of term, the numbers were still 15 below what was anticipated at this stage.

·       The Panel was informed that 6 Academies had not been inspected since they converted to academies. Normally inspections would have taken place by this stage and so these schools were technically without an Ofsted judgement at this time, despite being rated ‘inadequate’ or requires improvement’ prior to academisation.

·       Given the outcomes of the local authority SEND reinspection, there had been a focus on SEND provision within the schools’ inspections. The Panel was informed that 25 of the 38 schools inspected had been judged very positively for their SEND provision. The School Improvement Team were working closely with the 3 schools whose SEN provision had been judged to require improvement.

·       The Panel was informed that the service was working closely with a Research school using their expertise and support for a project with all schools to ensure that every day teaching was as inclusive as it could be. Sixty schools had already signed up for the project, and in time they would be able to support other schools with this work. As part of this project, a Quality Inclusion Mark had been launched to recognise those schools on this journey.

·       Attendance figures in secondary schools had been heavily affected by the impact of Covid in the Autumn and the Spring. Whilst the figures showed a dip in March, attendance figures had improved since that time, although they were still lower than pre-covid times. It was recognised that some CYP faced a barrier due to anxiety and the trauma informed support was there to help staff support CYP in that situation. The Assistant Director also referred to a Department for Education Attendance Guidance Report recently published which was welcomed by the authority, as it stipulated that all schools had to work with local authorities to demonstrate how they were seeking to improve their attendance figures. 

Members raised a number of questions, and the following main points were made:

·       In order to be able to compare fairly and accurately local authority maintained and academy schools, a Member requested that a further table be added to the data, which excluded those schools which had recently converted to an academy but not been inspected. The Assistant Director agreed that this would be provided.

·       In respect of the increased numbers of elective home educated CYP, the Panel was informed that this number was not static, there had been changes between home and school and vice versa. After educating their children at home during the pandemic, some parents preferred this option. Communication with parents was key and the Team were ensuring that schools were having informed conversations with such parents to ensure they were aware of all the implications of their choice.

·       The increase in the number of young people not in education, employment or training (NEETs) for Q3 and Q4was queried. The Panel was advised that there was always an increase in September as young people were leaving school and in the process of securing a college place or job, and then the numbers reduced once this information was known. This year, however, there had also been an increase in Q4 because of increased numbers of young people withdrawing from college courses or apprentices. The Assistant Director advised that work was currently being carried out by the Careers and Skills Lead on this area, looking at this issue and how to support CYP effectively during the transition stage. In response to a question, it was also clarified that an unknown NEET was the number of young people, of which their situation was as yet unknown.  

The Director of All Age Disability provided an overview of the SEND data, highlighting the following aspects:

·       The Q4 data illustrated that there was an increased number of requests for Education and Health Care Plans (EHCP’s), with the number of children with an EHCP in June at over 4,700.

·       With regard to the statutory timescales, whilst there had been some progress from Q3, the figure for those where a decision was made within 16 weeks as of March was 34%. There had since been a positive change in May, with the figures rising to 69.8%.  For the percentage completed within the 20-week deadline, the May figure was 67.8%, although the Assistant Director wished to place a caveat on that figure in terms of the challenges that had been faced and how the figures had been compiled and she was therefore looking at processes and systems. 

·       The Panel was advised that in terms of the SEND Accelerated Progress Plan, there was a Monitoring visit on 22 September. The Assistant Director explained that she was the Lead on the workstream for the quality of EHCP’s.

Members raised a number of questions, to which the following responses were made:

·       A Member sought clarification on the numbers of EHCP’s which had been finalised. The Director explained that all 4,700 had been finalised, that involved an assessment being carried out and a plan issued. These plans would then need reviewing 12 months after having been issued. It was agreed that the Director would provide additional explanation and clarification outside of the meeting.

·       The capacity issue was raised and queried. The Panel was advised that some minor adjustments would be needed within the All-Age Disability Team structure, but in terms of the Education Psychology team, there was a capacity issue, which was a national problem. The Director was looking at a number of related issues including working smarter with partners, the importance of retaining staff and how to address the longer-term issue, by liaising with the Universities and becoming an employer of choice.

·       A Member asked that an update be provided on the Plan of a Page – ‘Effectiveness of Leaders and Managers’ outside of the meeting. The Director agreed to provide this.

·       With reference to changes in processes that the Assistant Director had referred to earlier, it was confirmed that work on this had already started. In terms of numbers of EHCP’s the Panel was assured that the focus was not on reducing numbers but ensuring that CYP received the right support when they needed it. Early intervention was important and could be of significant help.

·       In response to a Member’s request, the Director agreed to supply details of the number of tribunals that WCF was involved in.