Agenda item

For the Sub-Committee to receive the Early Help, Children’s Social Care and Education Dashboard.

The Sub-Committee considered a report set out on pages 27 to 36 of the agenda, which provided the Early Help, Children’s Social Care and Education

Dashboard, and updated additional ‘Red’ indicators reviewed at the previous meeting.

On M36, the Head of Social Work with Families explained that this was due to the high number of children Croydon was working with in comparison to other authorities, but that most of these children were within a legal framework. Members heard that factors, such as court timetables outside of social workers control, could lead to longer child protection plans as social workers waited for the conclusion of care proceedings. It was acknowledged that there were some practise issues and Members heard that work was ongoing to work more effectively, and with greater oversight, with children on child protection plans. The Head of Social Work with Families explained that, to improve in this area, the Council was seeking better joined up working internally, and with partners, to identify drift. Midway reviews on cases were also taking place at the nine month stage with the social worker, team manager, Child Protection Chair and service manager, to identify where cases needed to be escalated to a legal framework. It was clarified that meetings would be happening regularly before the nine month stage, but this was an important milestone as it indicated the third review of the plan and questions around why the Council were still involved with the child needed to be clarified. At the 12 month stage further reviews were happening, which would also include heads of service. The Sub-Committee were informed that the Council was committed to improving this indicator within six months.

On M20, the Director of Education explained that these numbers often increased during the transition to post-16 education as schools contacted the Council and follow up work began. It was acknowledged that the Not in Education, Employment, or Training (NEET) team was small and that work took some time as the figures were worked through.

Members asked if visits for children on child protection plans happening on time, and heard that primarily that they were; there were some exceptions due to a number of factors, for example, families who were hard to reach, or visits taking place on time but not being recorded in a timely manner. The Head of Social Work with Families explained that the PowerBI live dashboard captured this data, and that Team Managers were reviewing this daily to ensure that these visits were taking place. The importance supporting social workers and of quality social work interventions were highlighted as the most important factors for attaining the best outcomes for children and families.

The Sub-Committee asked that supervision was happening regularly and was of good quality. The Head of Social Work with Families responded that supervision was key and worked through a systemic model. Members heard that coaching and mentoring training was being offered to team managers around challenging cases, in addition to group supervision based on the systemic model. The Sub-Committee asked if this could be evidenced, and the Head of Social Work with Families responded that managers were being asked to demonstrate this through dip-sampling and being asked to consider if they were confident that practitioners were a ‘safe pair of hands’.

The Chair thanked officers for their full and open answers and the Sub-Committee praised the inclusion of the helpful commentary on the dashboard indicators.