Agenda item

To provide a summary of performance under key themes for Children’s and Young Peoples Service at the end of the 2018/19 reporting year.

The Acting Assistant Director for Childrens Safeguarding provided a summary of performance under key themes for Childrens and Young People’s Service at the end of the 2018/19 reporting year. The report detailed performance in relation to: Early Help and Family Engagement; Children’s Social Care; Education and Inclusion.

The Acting Assistant Director gave a brief presentation to the report which outlined areas which were working well; areas of concerns and actions to address these.

What’s Working Well

·           Timeliness of engagement with families in Early Help improved from 59.7% to 72.6%

·           97.2% people who completed the Early Help exit survey during the year rated the Service as good or excellent

·           Timeliness of Early Help Assessments had improved from 47% to 62.9%

·           The number of re-referrals into Social Care had further decreased during the year (23.1%  to 21.3%)

·           The number of referrals going onto assessment was 98.2% reflecting the quality of the processes in MASH

·           The overall Children in Need (CIN) population reduced by 295 from 1,678 to 1,383 and those with an up-to-date plan increased from 82.8% to 90.5%.

·           95.5% of LAC visits were undertaken in statutory timescales, some months 98%.

·           The Ofsted focussed visit recognised the significant improvements in permanency planning for Looked After Children.

·           EYFS, KS2 (for writing) were both above national average

·           Significant progress had been made during the year in developing a performance management framework for Inclusion Services which includes a version of “Insight”

What are we worried about

·           85.5% of Early Help contacts were triaged within 5 working days (against a target of 100%) but still improved performance on the previous year

·           46% of the families the Service were working with in the Families for Change Programme achieved outcomes that led to a Payment By Results (PBR) claim (871)

·           The rate of Section 47 investigations continued to be high, however, they were still appropriate and the correct decision for the child

·           Partners undertook 24.9% of Early Help Assessments (397), however, only 11 of those were undertaken by Health (0.68% of the total number)

·           The number of children in a commissioned placement (either Independent Fostering Agency or Residential) increased slightly by 1.8% from the previous year which meant that children were living further away from Rotherham

·           The overall number of Initial Health Assessments completed within the 20 day timescale decreased from 55.7% to 52% since the previous year

·           There had been a gradual decline of review health assessments during the year from a high of 92% to 83.7% at the end of March 2019

·           KS1 and KS2 Reading needed to improve to close the gap to national average

What do we need to do next

·           Continue to ensure that the right service at the right time was in place including work across CYPS and partners at all stages of the process particularly around thresholds

·           Continue to embed key strategies (sufficiency, demand and market management) to ensure that families were supported

·           Continue to work with families to achieve improved and sustained outcomes to achieve the Families for Change targets

·           Continue to work with partners in Health to ensure that they undertook a larger number of Early Help Assessments

·           Continue to work with schools to improve attainment in Reading through the traded services offer

·           Continue to strengthen performance management arrangements in Inclusion Services

In response to a query about persistent absence, details were given about a range of interventions in place to support and escalate concerns. Assurance was given that schools took action and raised concerns promptly, and these were monitored closely by the performance leads in Early Help and Family Engagement.

In respect of Early Help Assessments undertaken by partners, the Service was asked if there were any barriers which prevented these being completed. Early Help leads worked closely with agencies to clarify process and levels of involvement and co-ordination. It was expected that numbers of Early Help Assessments would increase although it was recognised that current levels were at a low base.

A query was raised in respect of immunisation and if there were any levels of concern in this area. Work was underway with Health colleagues on how this was recorded and this would be brought back in a future report.

Clarification was sought if the measure on customer feedback was focussed on those who had a positive experience of Early Help or if it included those who had been stepped up to Social Care or had not engaged. The Early Help Assessment had been adapted to capture feedback on closure and the feedback form reviewed.

The format of the performance information and the quality of the narrative was commended. A query was asked in relation to comparative information (benchmarking with other authorities) and its timeliness.  Work was underway with regional neighbours to draw together some comparative information to inform practice across other Early Help and Social Care Services. This would be shared as part of future reports.

The Chair asked for an overview of staff turnover, vacancies and caseloads and if there were any concerns in relation to these. Level of vacancies compared positively with authorities as did agency usage which was at a low rate.

Assurance was given that the performance in relation to Education, Care and Health Plans would improve.  A query was raised in respect of Young People not in education, employment or training and if there was a detailed breakdown of the cohort. Assurance was given that this was the case. The Cabinet Member offered to meet with the Member to provide further clarification.

Clarification was sought on accessing Children Centres and incentives offered to parents. Further details would be sought from the Assistant Director Early Help and Family Engagement on any criteria applied.

RESOLVED:

1) That the report and accompanying datasets (Appendices 1 & 2) be received and consideration be given to the issues arising.

2) That the Commission give further consideration to its scrutiny of performance.