Agenda item

The Deputy Leader and Cabinet Member for Children's Services and Neighbourhood Working, the Strategic Director, Children and Young People’s Services and the Assistant Director, Children’s Social Care attended the meeting to provide a report regarding the current situation in respect of the delivery children’s social care services during the pandemic.

In introducing the report, the Deputy Leader noted that the report showed how well Children and Young People’s Services had continued to deliver vital services throughout the significant challenges created by the pandemic. The Deputy Leader stated that the effective delivery of children’s social care services during the pandemic had been a significant achievement and clearly showed the hard work and dedication of all staff involved in delivering services.

The Assistant Director Children’s Social Care advised that the reintroduction of national restrictions during November had not impacted significantly on the delivery of services.  The Assistant Director noted that having reviewed service delivery in view of the restrictions, it had not been necessary to pause delivery of any service as the guidance and risk assessments that had been put in place earlier in the pandemic had meant that services could continue to delivered safely.

The Assistant Director also advised that since the last report to the Improving Lives Select Commission in September that:

·       Social workers were continuing to undertake their work with the children allocated to them, with most children being seen person. A pre-visit risk assessment process was in place to ensure the safety of staff and families.

·       Staff had continued to use different technologies to engage with children, young people and their families so as to provide flexibility in using different ways to maintain communication between physical visits.

·       Performance against targets in relation to visits, assessments and plans had remained good.

·       Staff had continued to have access to office space at Riverside House, but less frequently than previously due to the reintroduction of national restrictions. 

·       Staff training and development was now being offered and accessed online.

The Assistant Director assured members that the processes and procedures that were in place to enable services to continue to be delivered during the pandemic in a safe way ensuring that children and families continued to be supported were working well. The Assistant Director noted that the caseloads being managed by the service were no larger than at the same point in the previous year.

The Chair thanked the Assistant Director for the progress report and the assurances that the report and the previous reports had provided. The Chair noted her thanks to the Assistant Director and all of the staff in the service who had worked so hard to ensure that children and families in the Borough had been looked after during the challenging period of the pandemic.

The Strategic Director, Children and Young People’s Services advised that Ofsted had undertaken a Focused Assurance of Children’s Services between 20 and 22 October. The Strategic Director noted that the purpose of the visit had been to examine the quality and impact of key decision-making across help and protection, children in care and services for care leavers, together with the impact of leadership on service development.

The Strategic Director, the Assistant Director, Children’s Social Care, the Assistant Director, Education and the Joint Assistant Director, Commissioning, Performance and Inclusion made a presentation to members that detailed the outcomes of the inspection.  It was noted that the inspectors had spent three days exploring in detail the work of service practitioners, with the inspection having been managed virtually, with inspectors given the opportunity to meet with early help workers, social workers and representatives from the education sector across the borough.  The findings of the visit had been summarised in a letter that had been published on the Ofsted website, with the letter being positive in respect of the work being undertaken by the service.

The presentation detailed some areas that the inspection had highlighted as particularly good that included:

·       Rotherham children’s services had reacted rapidly and effectively to the COVID-19 pandemic in the early months of 2020. 

·       Strong and effective multi-agency partnerships had enabled the early identification of vulnerable children. Senior leaders, managers and staff had had effective oversight of children and young people who needed to be safeguarded and supported.  

·       Dynamic assessments of COVID-19 risks had allowed children to be seen directly where it had been safe to do so. Detailed children’s assessments had enabled proportionate decisions to be reached, ensuring that families had received an appropriate level of support.

·       The voice of the child was a strength in assessments and had influenced care planning. However, the quality of written plans was not consistent for all children. 

·       Effective pre-proceedings planning enabled children to remain living with brothers and sisters or with extended family where possible. Children were supported to maintain contact with their families, utilising digital technology if required. Additional support to meet the emotional needs of children in care was available via the in-house therapeutic service. 

The Strategic Director advised that feedback from the Ofsted team had also provided areas for ongoing development and noted that it had been positive the areas that had been highlighted had closely linked with areas that the service had already identified as areas for further development.

The Deputy Leader advised that report had been overwhelmingly positive and had shown that that Children and Young People’s Services was delivering an excellent service to children and families in Rotherham.

The Chair and members welcomed the positiveness of the Ofsted report. The Chair advised that the outcomes of the inspection were as they had expected due to the positive assurances that members had received over many meetings where they had scrutinised in detail the services that were being delivered.

The Chair thanked the Deputy Leader, the Strategic Director and the Assistant Directors for working closely with the Improving Lives Select Commission in a way that enabled members to have confidence in the services that were being provided.

Resolved: -

1.    That the report be noted.

2.    That a further report be circulated to the members of the Improving Lives Select Commission by the Strategic Director for Children and Young People’s Services if any significant concerns or challenges arise surrounding children's social care service in the light of Covid-19 pandemic.

3.    That the service development plan created as a result of the Ofsted Focused Assurance Visit be circulated to members of the Improving Lives Select Commission.