Agenda item

·       David McWilliams, Assistant Director, Early Help and Family Engagement, Children and Young People’s Services Directorate. 

·       Background papers – Early Help storyboard – attached.   

David McWilliams, Assistant Director Early Help and Family Engagement, Children and Young People’s Services Directorate, was welcomed to the meeting to provide an update on Early Help.  David gave a presentation and welcomed Members’ questions and comments. 

David’s presentation covered the following information: -

·       Storyboard;

·       Early Help Vision;

·       Leadership team and structure for Early Help and Family Engagement: -

o   There was currently one vacancy within the structure.

·       What is early help?;

·       Contact and reach of other services;

·       One Family, One Worker, One Plan;

·       ‘Worked with’ – co-production – not ‘done to’;

·       Named worker;

·       Families are encouraged to find their own solutions to their own problems;

·       Ofsted inspections evaluation of the early help offer: -

o   Previous inspection feedback/outcomes had been that early help was not integrated enough.  A scorecard had now been established to target the work;

·       Early Help was working closely with the Multi-Agency Support Hub;

·       Early Help was working on step down / step up arrangements for families entering the service and withdrawing from it;

·       Re-referral rates were monitored;

·       Wider workforce implications – investment in people working differently and an investment in permanent staff;

·       Savings and efficiencies.  Early Help provided cashless savings, it was important to know unit costs;

·       Early Intervention Foundation (EiF);

·       Interactive social media was planned, including self-help guides;

·       The service included youth work, and so encompassed statutory duties;

·       The aim was to provide consistency across the Borough;

·       The drop in the ‘Not in Education, Employment, or Training’ rate to 6.4% had been due to Early Help teams getting in touch with members of the community to find out destinations. 

Discussion and questions followed David’s presentation.  The following areas were covered: -

·       Councillor M. Vines asked whether the delay in inspections of Children’s Centres was a good thing?  - David agreed that the additional preparation time was a good thing.  Children’s Centres worked to self-evaluation frameworks and knew the criteria that was required.

·       Councillor M. Vines asked whether self-evaluation was the most reliable method of assessment?  Were self-evaluators likely to reveal if they found issues of concern? -  David had witnessed the personal commitment of staff in what was a tough and challenging job.  They wanted to do a good job.  Sixteen people had signed up for the challenge and they had the energy and expertise to do this;

·       Councillor Ahmed asked about the online early help offer that included all agencies?  - David explained that a meeting had been arranged to discuss this proposal;

·       Councillor Ahmed asked about the cost of Early Help.  Did it include working with additional families who were new to the caseload, or were these families part of current caseloads? -  David explained that the Service had many links across the country to other Early Help provision.  He had his own network of peer support.  The Service’s PDR completion rate was at 100% and the next step would be to look at the quality of the completion.  Savings had been identified within the outturn budget;

·       Councillor Elliot asked about team sizes.  Were they receiving the right support, peer support and supervision?  How did ‘One Worker, One Family and One Plan’ work for families that had multiple needs?  When a worker was away, how were their cases covered?  David explained that the teams were large and based with other professionals working in the area with local knowledge.  Contingency planning was worked through with management and through talking to family members;

·       Councillor Hoddinott asked about how Early Help could assist with the types of issues that were brought to elected member surgeries, including issues relating to low level anti-social behaviour and housing issues.  David explained about the developing web presence, which would provide a library of information individuals and families could look at.  Elected members would be aware of who their local early help team were.  It was important that referrals did not bypass the front door;

·       Councillor Hoddinott asked whether the housing and police agencies would be keyed in to families’ workers? -  David explained how this development work was continuing but the Safer Rotherham Partnership meetings would be considered;

·       Councillor M. Vines asked whether there were any agencies that were not coming forward? – David was confident that with a credible offer, participation would remain strong and continue to improve;

·       Councillor Hamilton asked what success would look like? – David explained that this would be said by the families themselves.  Were they happy, how had things improved for them, along with complaints and compliments received giving a picture of the service; 

·       Councillor Hamilton asked whether the service had enough staff to respond to need? – David described his team as hard working who regularly worked beyond their hours.  There were currently the right numbers of staff, they had the right skills, but there was a need to ensure that they were maintained.  Deployment/ location of bases would be looked at.

Councillor Hamilton thanked David for his presentation and informative contribution to the discussion.  As the Early Help structure was at a formative stage, it was requested that a future update be provided. 

Resolved: - (1)  That the information shared about Early Help be noted.

(2)  That an update be shared in the future outlining the Service’s initial progress.