The report of the Strategic Director of Children’s Services (Document “N”) is to provide an update to the panel on developments in respect of the Leaving Well ‘app’ a pathway planning tool for care leavers. 

Recommended -

That the views of the Corporate Parenting Panel are sought.

                                                            (Emma Collingwood – 01274 37123)      

The report of the Strategic Director of Children’s Services (Document “N”) provided an update to the panel on developments in respect of the Leaving Well ‘app’ a pathway planning tool for care leavers. 

The Assistant Director explained that the Through Care was a pathway planning process for Bradford care leavers.  The feedback from young people had highlighted that the process required reform and therefore efforts were ongoing to find an appropriate base pathway planning tool.  Evidence showed that where a suitable model had been implemented, positive results had been seen.

The Local Authority had a duty under the Care Act to ensure that care leavers were given a care pathway.  The pathway planning process starts when a young person reaches 15 ½ -16 years and 3 months; 615 young people were eligible for a pathway plan.  Those over 21 were also provided with a slim line version of the pathway plan.  Within this context, and given resource pressures, the Service had gone on a journey and engaged with young people and IT partners over a 12 month period to improve engagement and provide clarity in terms of pathway planning.  All Social workers now have a smart phone and tablet to communicate with young people, through an app based system.   A staged roll out had been undertaken and the early results were positive, with some evidence that not everyone was engaging with the technology.  Further take up would be encouraged, however existing systems can still be relied upon to bridge any gap.

The feedback from the roll out of the new system had been positive and the cost of implementation was modest. One of the benefits of the new system was the ability of young people to task their key workers with a to do list and young people could access the service 24 hours a days, with the provision to alert key workers to any problems and therefore the balance of power had now shifted to the young person.  There was an opportunity to expand this service and work was ongoing to evaluate the management data, with a view to improving services across different aspects of Children’s Social Care.

During the discussion  a Member ascertained information around management plans and what needed to be covered.  In response it was stated that the pathway planning from the App was uploaded on the system and work was ongoing on how this information could be better utilised in terms of better informing management plans.

In relation to a question on costing for plans going forward especially for those young people who were over 21, it was explained that a number of options could be looked  at with the new system, which would enable better transition planning to be done and that the App could be extended to those involved in transition services to provide a more holistic service going forward.

In response to a question on what other Local Authorities were doing in this area, it was explained that a number of Councils had developed similar systems, and that 20 Councils were part of the second pilot and Bradford was in regular contact with a number of Councils on how the App could be further improved.

In relation to a question on response times and how the App alerted key workers to a particular problem, it was explained that the App was essentially a communication tool and was not intended to replicate systems per se, and that any reviews with the young person would be undertaken in line with existing processes ie the care plan would be reviewed every 6 months.

Resolved –

(1)       That the Corporate Parenting Panel welcomes the report from the        Through Care team and the work undertaken to support young   people to successfully engage and navigate the new application, to have a voice and a clear pathway plan to their future and         aspirations.

(2)       That the Corporate Parenting Panel supports this pilot and future plans for investment.  This will evidence and assist to quality assure service to our young people during the restructure.

ACTION: Strategic Director Children’s Services