Agenda item

The Interim Strategic Director for Children and Young People’s Services and the Assistant Director for Children’s Social Care attend the meeting to present a report that provided an update regarding the provision of the Children’s Social Care Service in the light of Covid19 pandemic. It was noted that report provided an update on the current position following a briefing paper that had been presented to the members of the commission in June 2020. The briefing paper considered in June was attached as an appendix to the officer’s report.

The report provided information on the number of social work visits that had been carried out since 23 March in person and remotely. The Assistant Director noted that during August the huge majority of visits had had been conducted in person, with appropriate risk assessment and safety measure in place and advised that all social work visits were now carried out in person. The Assistant Director advised that while virtual visits had now ceased, they had enabled essential contact to be maintained with families during the pandemic and that the use of technology would continue to be used to interact with families in the future in between visits.

The Assistant Director advised that face-to-face family time (contact) for looked after children and their birth families had been successfully recommenced, but that due to limitations on the building not currently possible to facilitate as many sessions as previously as the risk assessment of the building has meant that some rooms are not useable and the number of people that can use the building in a day has also been reduced. Therefore, physical family time was being complemented with virtual family time through phone call or video call.

The Assistant Director noted that close multi-agency partnership working had continued with a weekly meeting bringing senior staff from across the partnership together with a focus on problem identification and resolution and that these meetings had successfully facilitated by remote technology.

The report noted that the service had continued to progress work in key areas, and that this had meant that some significant legal decisions for children had been able to be made during the pandemic. It was noted that some legal decisions had been delayed due to lack of court time to hold these hearings, but that work had taken place in order to enable these hearings to be scheduled in order to ensure that the children impacted had the right legal permanency in place.

The Assistant Director advised that on 3 August we a pilot programme had commenced to enable more social workers to be able to have some office-based time, with case holding social workers from First Response, Locality/Disability and the Looked after Children’s service having been able to been able an office-based environment at Riverside House on a rota basis. The Assistant Director noted that while successful team and wider service networking had been enabled by the use of technology during the pandemic that social workers, due to the nature of their roles benefitted significantly from having the opportunity to have face to face interaction with colleagues. The Assistant Director advised that at the end of the pilot project feedback had been sought from participants that had shown strong support from social workers of being able to have office based time at Riverside, even if that was not their usual base and that looking to the future the majority of social workers would like a mixture of home and office working. The Assistant Director than the extension of access to office time would be impacted by local or national guidance surrounding the pandemic, but assured members that the individual needs of staff would always be considered when considering the allocation of office-based time.

The Assistant Director advised that there were some areas of concern for the department. One concern noted was the increase in the number of contacts received by MASH over the summer and the potential for referrals to increase further with the reopening of schools and the likely increases in contact with MASH and the subsequent increase in the flow of work to children’s social care and early help. The Assistant Director also noted that more support activities took place with children, young people and their families in order to ensure that there can be assurance that the required work to intervene and support families was in place to progress plans forwards in a positive way and timely way.

The Assistant Director noted that the continued presence of coronavirus in the community could result in children and families having to self-isolate, which could impact on the ability of a social worker to visit and work with a family. The Assistant Director assured members that contact with families would be maintained and that any delays to the progression of support related to the impact of the pandemic would be recorded as such on file.

The Interim Strategic Director for Children and Young People’s Services noted how impressively staff had risen to the challenges, such as extended periods of home working presented by the pandemic and advised that it was essential that all staff were supported effectively in the current situation. The Interim Strategic Director noted the wider challenges impacting on children and young people during the pandemic including having to spend periods of time out of school. The Interim Strategic Director noted that guidance regarding children having to stay at home if another child had tested positive for the virus had now been changed so that only close contacts, and not an entire year group had to self-isolate.  

The Interim Strategic Director also noted that the year groups who would be taking exams in 2021 faced significant disruption and as such may be impacted more significantly by the pandemic in regard to their exams than the students who had had exams cancelled in 2020.

Members asked for further information about virtual and in-person visits and sought assurance that every looked after child had had a face to face visit. The Assistant Director confirmed that all looked after children had received a face to face visit during the pandemic. The Assistant Director advised that if a child, or family member were unwell, that unless there was a safeguarding concern an in-person visit would not be made with the social worker using another form of contact. The Assistant Director advised however that only in-person visits were recorded as visits, with other forms of contact recorded as case notes.

Members asked if there were any plans to open the office bases in the community. The Assistant Director advised that there were no current plans to do so and that before they could reopen that Covid risk assessments would need to take place. The Assistant Director noted that staff had welcomed the flexibility in managing their caseloads and visits that home working had provided and advised that staff would continue to have that flexibility.

Members asked for further information on the staff survey had taken place and whether the responses had been submitted anonymously. The Assistant Director advised that the survey had been anonymous in order to enable honest feedback to be submitted. The Assistant Director noted however that informal feedback had noted the challenges of always working from home and that staff had welcomed the opportunity to have some time the office to network with and support colleagues in what was frequently a very challenging role.

Members asked how access for children with their birth families had evolved throughout the pandemic. The Assistant Director advised that options had increased as restrictions had eased, but that due to limitations on accommodation and the need to be Covid secure, the council’s facility for facilitating access could now only host six visits a day, whereas before the pandemic it had been able to host 21 visits a day. The Assistant Director advised that alterative options were used and depended on the individual needs of the child and the level of supervision needed.

The Chair commended the way in which staff had been supported during the pandemic and how they had embraced new ways of working as well as and how the service had continued to provide children and families with a high level of support.

The Chair thanked the Interim Strategic Director for Children and Young People’s Services and the Assistant Director for Children’s Social Care for attending the meeting and answering members questions.

Resolved: -

1)    That the report be noted.

2)    That a further progress report be brought to the December 2020 meeting of the Improving Lives Select Commission.