Agenda item

(Indicative timing: 2.55 – 3.45pm)

The Panel was updated on performance and financial information for services relating to children and families.

Performance Information

The Director of Children’s Services briefed the Panel on highlights of the performance data for Quarter 1 (April to June 2022). The following main points were made:

·         Contacts at the Family Front Door (FFD) had established a consistent pattern to the previous 3 quarters, with an average of 3,500 per quarter. Whilst the number of contacts converting to a social work assessment had slightly reduced, concerns for children’s welfare remained high, with important information being received which was relevant to triangulate with other known factors. The Worcestershire Safeguarding Children Partnership had agreed to help fund the increased staff capacity required to effectively manage this extra demand.

·         The effectiveness of permanency planning was demonstrated by the care figures which showed that 31% of children in care had achieved permanence out of care in less than 12 months and 48% in less than 2 years, despite the impact of Covid.

·         There was currently a focused recruitment drive for foster carers. The numbers of kinship carers recruited had increased, which was very positive, with placement breakdown being much less frequent in such cases.

·         Management capacity of the Care leavers Team had been increased which would bolster and stabilise the service following a period of instability.

·         Child protection cases were rising and were now in line with the England average. The cases were also of an increasingly complex nature.

·         The Panel was informed of the challenges of Social Worker recruitment. The permanency in Team Manager roles was good which provided a supportive environment for social workers in the teams. The financial draw of agency work continued to be a difficult challenge to compete with.

Members were given the opportunity to raise questions and the following main points were raised:

·         A Member highlighted that the school attendance figures, particularly at secondary level, were not yet rising following the pandemic. The Director of Children’s Services highlighted that this was a national problem and that local authorities now had new responsibilities in this area. Efforts were ongoing to seek improvement in this area.

·         With reference to a query regarding the length of placements in foster care, the Director of Children’s Services explained that some could be short term if a child was going through care proceedings, though most would be longer term.  In order to prevent breakdowns in foster care placements, a ‘Buddy Carer’ initiative had been developed and was actively being recruited to, this would enable foster carers to have a regular break, whilst continuity was maintained for the child with them being cared for by their regular ‘Buddy Carer’.

·         With regard to numbers of agency workers currently used, the Director of Children’s Services advised that this currently stood at 35. It was noted that there was a regional agreement in place with 14 local authorities, setting an agreed cap on agency payments. As referred to earlier, the significant pay differential involved, at roughly three times higher, proved to be a huge ongoing challenge.

·         Panel members wished to have an opportunity outside of the meeting to ‘brainstorm’ and share any ideas for boosting foster carer recruitment. The Director of Children’s Services agreed to ensure that arrangements were made by the relevant Head of Service for this to take place.

2022/23 Forecast Outturn for Period 4

The Director of Resources highlighted the following points:

·         Over half of the current budget of £136m was ‘demand led’ relating to Placements and Home to School Transport. In terms of placements, the risk of an overspend could be mitigated by a £1.9m risk reserve, but at the end of period 4 there was a forecast £1.8m overspend, compared to £1m at the same stage last year. With the rising market costs and with demand for placements increasing there were concerns that the budget would be exceeded. The situation was being carefully monitored. The factors impacting demand on the Home to School Transport budget were highlighted, and the Director explained that these costs would be mitigated this year by a one off Covid payment and the use of a risk reserve.

·         The Director advised that the Council had budgeted for a 1.25% pay award, whereas the Government had recently announced a national pay award offer of 4.6%. If agreed, this would need to be funded from reserves this year and built into the budget for 2023/24. The additional pressure on WCF from this was around £1m.

·         The Director reported that the Dedicated Schools Grant (DSG) position was a forecast year end overspend of £4.1m, with a cumulative deficit of £15.4m at the end of 2022/23.  The Panel was reminded that the DfE statutory override would come to an end in 2022/23 and at present the Department was carrying out a survey to identify the financial impact this would have on local authorities. Early indications of the DSG budget for 2023/24 was that it would be increased by about 5%, but the Director advised this would not be sufficient to keep up with the demand.

·         The Council was one of 55 local authorities with a significant deficit which were taking part in the Government’s Delivering Better Value (DBV) Programme. This programme was being supported by Newton Europe and CIPFA and was seeking to understand the reasons behind the SEND differentials. The intelligence gained would be considered towards the development of a green paper which would be looking to offer a sustainable solution for local authorities. In the meantime, the Director advised that he had asked the DfE what would happen at the end of the 2022/23 financial year, as the above work was not expected to report back until later in 2023.

A Member commented that the Council’s Audit and Governance Committee had also been looking at the impact of what would happen to local authorities across the country when the statutory override was ended in March 2023. It was suggested that this was a false accounting situation, because whilst the money had come off the balance sheet, it would have to go back on at some point. It was a statutory duty that had to be carried out, but at this stage it was not clear how matters would be resolved satisfactorily. The Director gave an indication of likely levels of predicted total deficit should the situation continue, with some local authorities then finding themselves at risk of being issued with a Section 114 notice.  The CMR commented that there was a balance to be struck and that it was important that the Council was able to get some financial help to deal with this situation, as the Council’s deficit was very serious, despite not being at the highest level of deficit faced by some other local authorities.