The report of the Deputy Director (Social Care) (Document “B”) presents the most recent information on the workload of Children’s Social Work Teams and updates Members on key pressures on the service. The workload analysis is based on activity up to 31^st March 2017.

There has been a slight rise to the overall workloads of social workers, and pressures upon the service since the last report was presented. The report demonstrates that Social Work Services for Children & Young People in the District remain strong, robust and well managed.

Recommended -

That the Committee consider further reports in the 2017-18 work programme to ensure the continuation of safe workloads and practice into the future given the current financial climate.

(Di Drury – 01274 437077)

The report of the Deputy Director, Social Care (Document “B”) presented the most recent information on the workload of Children’s Social Work Teams and updated Members on key pressures on the service. The workload analysis was based on activity up to 31^st March 2017.

There had been a slight rise to the overall workloads of social workers, and pressures upon the service since the last report was presented.

It was reported that there were 187 Social Workers (175 full time equivalents) in Children’s Social Care directly employed by the Council. This was a reduction since March 2016 when there were 211. In December 2016 the Service changed the way it calculated the number of social workers to exclude any with a zero caseload – this would include workers on maternity leave and long term sick leave. The decision was made because including workers who actually weren’t holding any cases was making the caseload average look lower than the true picture.There were 42 Community Resource Workers.

In response to Members’ questions it was reported that older children were allocated a Community Resource Worker as opposed to a Social Worker; this was not an issue for Ofsted; all looked after children had a Social Worker allocated to them; Community Resource workers were extremely experienced and their salaries were above a new Social Worker.

It was reported that an issue arising from the survey undertaken of social workers was the lack of IT equipment;  10 social workers had been issued with Samsung Tablets to pilot; this had been extremely positive and now agreement had been given to roll out a further 50 devices; Social workers were very enthusiastic about this as they believed it supported increased engagement with children and young people and also enabled social workers to work more flexibly and saved time for other tasks; Social Workers were also able to access emails while out on a job.

In response to a Member’s question it was reported that 32% of cases were handled by experienced Social Workers; the caseload balance was not quite right between experienced and newly qualified; there were a number of plans in place to maintaining experienced Social Workers; when the service was requesting a less experienced Social Worker to take on a child protection case there was a lot of support put in place for them.

A Social Worker who attended the meeting explained that new Social Workers were teamed with experienced colleagues and received a lot of support; if a Social Worker was not ready they did not have to hold child protection cases; working culture supported you when you needed it.

It was reported that social work recruitment took place every month. The Principal Social Worker (PSW) was leading on this and had established a more streamlined process.  The Service recently recruited 24 social workers with only 2 vacancies remaining. The next recruitment was targeted at experienced social workers to take place in August. There was still lots of interest to working in Bradford with the last recruitment having 59 applications. The PSW and Head of Social Work were working closely with workforce development colleagues on retention for experienced  social worker initiatives, manageable caseloads, regular good supervision and team support.  A leadership programme was being developed for team managers to support their professional development.

In response to a Member’s question it was reported that the number of children subject to child protection plans within Bradford was broadly similar to regional comparators and slightly lower than the national average.  The number of children becoming subject to a care plan for a second time was within an acceptable range but did not have national comparative figures for that; some children that became subject to a care plan a second time included children moving from other areas and was not always due to the work undertaken in Bradford.

It was reported that handling 18 cases was classed as a safe workload, Bradford was under that figure; a range of outcomes was looked at on a monthly basis and the Services was benchmarked against neighbours and national targets; the Service was performing well.

A Social Worker reiterated that she was satisfied with her caseload and always felt supported by Management and colleagues. She reiterated that her and her colleagues felt supported.

A Member suggested that due to the increasing demand across much of Social Care over the past 12 months it would be interesting to see the results of a staff survey.

The Strategic Director Children’s Services suggested that the Committee could set up  a task and finish group to have a look at the issues raised by Members such as staffing.

In response to Members’ questions it was reported that demand was increasing; it was a similar picture in other areas; poverty was driving demand; child population of Bradford continued to rise; there was an increase in referrals, assessments and an increase in the number of care proceedings. Applications to Court for an order in care proceedings increased in 2016/17 to 261 children in Bradford, compared to 205 children for the previous year 2015/2016. An analysis of children becoming Looked After in 2016 indicated that 1 in 6 were from Central and Eastern European (CEE) backgrounds.  A snapshot of children becoming Looked After in February 2017 demonstrated that half were not born in Bradford (either newly arrived communities of families that had relocated to Bradford for a variety of reasons).

In response to a Member’s question it was reported that Early Help was a working progress; targeted early help had been working for a year and was starting to make a difference especially in terms of referrals; assessments undertaken by Early Help eased the pressure on Social workers undertaking assessments; Early Help was working well but needed to improve.

The Chair requested that Early Help be placed on the Work Programme for September.

Resolved-

(1)       That the Committee welcomes the information provided and requests further reports be received during 2017/18 to ensure the continuation of safe workloads and practice into the future given the current financial climate.

(2)       That future reports shall include more information on national and statistical neighbour comparison figures.

Action:           Deputy Director (Social Care)