Agenda item

To review the feedback of the July 2018 Ofsted monitoring visit on the progress made in areras of help and protection.

The Director of the Children’s Improvement Programme introduced the report which detailed the findings and actions arising from the third Ofsted monitoring visit which took place in July 2018. The report also included the published outcome letter which evidenced improving practice but alluded that pace of improvement was too slow, with children left in unacceptable situations.

The report highlighted areas of focus for the fourth Ofsted visit which was due to take place in October 2018. Feedback on the quarterly stock take and the progress of the relationship with Camden was included in the report.

The Sub-Committee was informed that following the monitoring visit, a number of actions had been taken to address some of the areas of concern highlighted which included the following:

-Reaffirmation of Management standards

-Management and Practice groups had been refreshed and refocused on actions points within the improvement plan.

-Focus on recruitment to address key issues of capacity and the retention of quality staff.

-There was a drive to address high caseloads which continued to cause concern

The Sub-Committee was informed that out of the 21 recommendations made by Ofsted, the approach was to draw out a number of priorities to focus on at any given time in order to ensure that achievements could be met as required.

The Sub-Committee was also reminded that the support received from London Borough of Camden Children’s Services was on a partnership basis and that they worked together on addressing identified need.

In response to a concern raised by a Member regarding issues surrounding the progression of cases of Section 20 accommodated children, which was felt to be a national issue, officers stated that the focus for the next meeting of the Corporate Parenting Panel was to look at extra support for this area of work and for all cases to be reviewed by the end of the year.

Officers pointed out that the last Ofsted monitoring visit had also raised this as an area of concern and stated that planning should occur at an earlier stage. Further resources were being put into this area to ensure that planning, reports and cases presented were timely and effective. Following a request by a Member, officers agreed to provide figures relating to Section 20 accommodated children.

It was noted that the quality of Care Planning for children was inconsistent, in particular the application of thresholds, with delays in certain processes. Officers acknowledged that on inspection it was identified that Croydon’s performance was poor and although there was improved understanding of processes, the challenge and progression of decision was not quick enough. This was a management issue and some of the support received from the London Borough of Camden was on how to maintain consistent practice and focus on the application of thresholds in a timely and proactive manner.

Following on from the July 2018 inspection, one of the actions carried out was the commissioning of a provider for three temporary social work teams to focus on incoming duty work, which would allow the other five Assessment teams to complete tasks related to existing cases. At the end of July there were 1800 cases in the Assessment Service, which had now been reduced to 1300. The Service commissioned had achieved the intended impact and had allowed for a steady flow and business as usual.

A Member queried how the impact of the Case Transfer policy would be measured and what a positive impact would look like at both a senior management level and to the ‘cases’ themselves. Officers responded that one of the challenges identified by Ofsted was the potential for unallocated cases in the Service and as a result they asked for a clear line of sight and policy on how these cases were dealt with. This information had been gathered for Ofsted. Weekly updates providing information on any case that had outstanding actions or was in between services was being gathered in order to maintain visibility and to improve performance. Data on capacity and volume was also being gathered on a regular basis in order to maintain an overarching overview of the Service.

The Vice-Chair queried the overall progression made on the plan and how the Council was progressing against the Ofsted inspection time frame. Officers stated that the Ofsted time frame had previously been based on there being 8 monitoring visits and then an inspection, this had now been reduced to 6 Monitoring visits. Croydon has had 3 visits to date with the next due to take place at the beginning of October. Ofsted had acknowledged that progress was being made but not quickly enough.

The Chair stated that pace increase was vital as per the monitoring visit and asked how confident officers were of progress. Officers answered that that whilst they remained confident, Members’ should keep in mind that the Council was still in the first year of the three year plan. Croydon was a large borough with many complexities and would require multi-agency working with partners and relentless hard work in order to drive improved outcomes for many years to come.

The Chair thanked officers for their answers

In reaching its recommendations, the Sub-Committee reached the following CONCLUSIONS:

1. Whilst there had been some notable improvements there was still a lot of work to be done and in some specific areas there remained an acute cause for concern.

2. In-depth evidence of partner’s commitment to improvement of safeguarding arrangements was needed.

3. Further information was required on the figures for children accommodated under Section 20, with high level cases remaining a national issue.

The Sub-Committee RESOLVED to recommend that:

1. Officers circulate figures on the amount of cases of Section 20 accommodated children to the Committee after the meeting.