Agenda item

(Indicative timing: 10.40 – 11.15am)

The Panel received an update on Worcestershire Children First’s Social Care and Safeguarding Quality Assurance Framework.  By way of introduction, the Group Manager Safeguarding Quality Assurance & Principal Social Worker made the following main points:

·      The Quality Assurance Framework covered three areas:

1.         Key Performance Indicators

2.         Feedback from Children, Young People and Families

3.         Audit activity

·      The aim was to build quality assurance into normal business practice and to evidence improvements and where the service made a difference for children.  The strength of WCF’s quality assurance framework had been recognised by Ofsted following a focused inspection visit to Children’s Social Care in 2021 and the service was proud that improvement had been recognised via independent verification.

·      Other areas covered by the framework were Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND) and Fostering.  Further work was needed in these areas but improvements were starting to be seen.  Improvements in SEND had recently been independently validated by the Department for Education/NHS England and officers had been asked to present to the Council for Disabled Children’s Regional Conference.  Officers understood that concerns remained but were proud of the achievements seen so far.

·      Complaints were seen as an opportunity to learn and dedicated staff were identified to undertake investigations with the aim of ensuring that families felt heard.

·      Staff understood the importance of ‘closing the learning loop’ and would strive to celebrate successes but learn when things did not go as well, by acknowledging what had happened and acting to improve.

·      The series of appendices to the agenda report aimed to show the volume and depth of quality assurance work and to highlight that this was a priority.

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

·      It was noted that feedback on SEND for Q2 2022/23 indicated that, although only 50% of people felt it was easy to contact a Case Worker, support was good once contact had been made.  The Panel was reminded that WCF had invested in staffing and training and had introduced a communication framework to drive up performance and demonstrate what good looked like.  This would be a focus for the next quarter.

·      With reference to workforce development, officers were congratulated on Worcestershire being ranked 1^st in the region and 12^th nationally in a survey of social workers commissioned by the Local Government Association.  A question was asked about how this had been achieved and whether pay was a major factor.  The Group Manager confirmed that the service was proud of this assessment as it had been achieved via an independent survey.  It was confirmed that social workers were not paid over and above comparable rates in other authorities.  Pay rates were in the upper quartile but not at the top.  When asked, social workers did not reference pay as a main reason for staying in a job.  Instead, consistent and stable management, good continuous professional development/training and management structure were stated as key drivers for staff retention. 

·      With reference to management oversight of SEND services, it was confirmed that this had been a challenge and a new template was being introduced to support this.  As an area of concern, new measures had been put in place which would be followed by a targeted audit to see if these were working and, if not, why not.

·      The Panel was informed that, although both internal and external compliments were captured and celebrated, only external compliments were recorded in the statistics.

·      In introducing the Education, Health and Care Plan Audit Procedure, staff had received support and training and compliance was good.  A Member of the Panel noted that the quality assurance framework had been highlighted as a strong area of practice by Ofsted and wished to record his thanks to everyone involved in this good work.

·      It was important that all key partners were on board with the approach to Quality Assurance and service improvement.  Feedback was given directly via the SEND Improvement Board, allowing all partners to take ownership.

·      Concern was expressed that the number of case file audits graded as ‘requires improvement’ was quite high.  The Panel was informed that a grading of ‘requires improvement’ meant that a case file had achieved the required baseline but showed the need for more good practice to be demonstrated.  Members were informed that if only one of the areas considered as part of the case file audit was graded as ‘requires improvement’, then that would be the overall judgement, even if all other areas were graded as ‘good’.  The service was ambitious and set a high bar as it wanted to demonstrate good practice and be judged as good.

·      The Chairman suggested that receiving complaints offered the service a clear learning opportunity.  Figures given in the agenda report showed that the highest number of complaints had related to communication and he asked how this was being resolved.  In response, it was pointed out that the majority of complaints relating to communication were in relation to the two largest teams, namely Through Care and Safeguarding and, when outcomes were considered, the percentage upheld was relatively low.  It was noted that these teams worked in a complex area of practice, often involving court proceedings.  Following up conversations in writing could be helpful in clarifying messages.

In conclusion, the Chairman thanked the officers for attending and reiterated the Panel’s congratulations on Ofsted’s positive comments in relation to the quality assurance framework.