Agenda item

Sue Wilson, Head of Service, Performance and Planning, CYPS

The Deputy Strategic Director of Children and Young People’s Service, with the Head of Service Performance & Planning provided a summary of performance under key themes for Children & Young Peoples Services at the end of the first quarter in 2017/18 reporting year and also represents the monthly report for June 2017.

Good and improved performance in the last quarter includes:

-        Good levels of compliance across Early Help, Child Protection and Look After Children Services

-        Timeliness performance for Initial Contacts in Early Help has continued to increase reaching 63.6% engagement within three working days compared to 54.1% at the beginning of quarter 1.

-        41 out of 104 Early Help Assessments were completed within the target timeframe of 35 days which equates to 39.4%, a 4% improvement from May (35.4%).

-        Performance against the annual target for young people not in Education, Employment or Training (NEET’s) was 4.1% against a local target of 4.2%.

-        At 15.1% the in-month re-referral rate is at its lowest and therefore best performance since monitoring was introduced in 2015.

-        Initial Child Protection Conferences completed within 15 working days is good and improved on last month to 96.3%.

-        We continue to have no children subject to a child protection plan for two years or more.

-        Use of agency social workers continues to fall. There were 71 across the service at the end of June compared to 72 at the end of May and 78 in April.

Areas for further improvement

-        There were 288 contacts screened in June 2017 by the Early Help Triage Team which shows a decrease of 53 when compared with the previous month (341 recorded in May).

-        Uptake of Early Help Assessment by partners dropped during June with 9 out of a possible 97 (9.3%) being completed.

-        By the end of Quarter One data shows that 25% of children aged 0-5 across Rotherham had engaged with activities in a children’s centre (the annual target is 66%). 

-        Following low performance in May contact decision making within 1 working day of 78%, June has seen a further decline to 59.1%.

-        Although the number of new S47s started in June has decreased in previous months our rate per 10,000 population for the last 12 months has increased. (However the outcomes for the completed section 47s demonstrates that in the large majority (89.2%) the concerns are substantiated.)

-        Compliance in terms of CP plans remains low when compared to previous performance levels. 87.6% of children have up-to-date plans compared to 96.2% at the end of 2016/17 and 100% at the end of 2015/16.

-        Looked after Children (LAC) numbers continue to rise. At the end of June there were 522 LAC compared to 488 at the end of 2016/17 (7% increase in 3 months) and 432 at the end of 2015/16 (21% increase in 15 months).

-        Of the LAC Reviews completed in June 89.1% were completed within timescale an improvement on May’s position of 85.7% but below 2016/17 performance of 91.3%. 

-        At the end of June 63 of the 522 LAC have had 3 or more placements within the last 12 months and increase on the 58 at the end of 2016/17.

Discussion ensued on the report with the following issues raised/clarified:-

An explanation was sought on the children in need figures and rise in children in care. The overall trend for children in needs is falling, which reflects the developments in early help and developments such as ‘Signs of Safety’. In respect of children in care numbers, court judgements support the care applications.

Clarification was sought on the appropriateness and timeliness of assessments. The Safeguarding Board has issued guidance on referral thresholds to reinforce standards and feedback is given to partners if referrals are not timely.

Further details were asked in respect of foster placement sufficiency and stability. It was outlined that whilst some placements were changed because of planned moves, there were some placement disruption and breakdowns. Details were provided of support provided to foster carers to promote stability. Further clarification was provided in respect of additional investment into CYPS although current numbers of looked after children was exceeding projections and creating further budget pressures.

An explanation was sough in respect of case escalation from early help to child protection and further details would be provided in the next performance report. Assurance was given that early help were dealing with appropriate caseloads, some of these would be more complex, however these would not require a social care input.

Further details were requested on the stretch target for Families for Change and if the payment by results would be secured. Work was underway to establish how school attendance and employment can be improved across the cohort.

Resolved:-

1)    Members are asked to receive the report and accompanying dataset (Appendix A)

2)    That an update be provided be on Family Group Conferencing and Edge of Care in six months’ time.