The Strategic Director, Children’s Services will submit Document “AE” which provides a summary of the volume of work undertaken locally relating to children, young people and families. It addresses education attainment and attendance, poverty levels, information about looked after children and other key issues.

Recommended-

That the report (Document “AE”) be received for information.

(Children’s Services and Health and Social Care Overview and Scrutiny Committee)

                                                            (Michael Jameson – 01274 431266)

The Strategic Director, Children’s Services submitted Document “AE” which provided a summary of the volume of work undertaken locally relating to children, young people and families. It addressed education attainment and attendance, poverty levels, information about looked after children and other key issues.

The Targeted Early Help Manager for Bradford East attended the meeting and gave an overview of the work of Early Help Services, she reported that:

·         Bradford’s “Families First” initiative had been involved with some 628 families in Bradford East.

·         307 families were currently being supported.

She also informed Members of an example of how a 13 year old child was helped by the service and how the work undertaken by the Service helped his attendance at school/Pupil Referral Unit.

It was reported that school attendance in Bradford East was currently at 93% and work was on going to make improvements in this area.

The Children’s Social Work Service Manager attended the meeting and presented an overview of work in his area which included:

During 2017, Children’s Social Care in Bradford East received:

10904 “Contacts”                                                                             

1832of which potentially required a service.                                         

2976 “Need Assessments”                                                            

914 “Section 47 Assessments” –  Child potentially at risk of harm                  

303 children with a “Child in Need Plan”                       

156 with a “Child Protection Plan”                                  

248 children “Looked after” by the local authority           

The Deputy Director, Children’s Services reported that a working party of Labour Group Members had been set up and had held meetings and drop in sessions with social workers who had also completed questionnaires; workload and pay was highlighted in the survey. It was reported that an improvement plan had been drawn up and that an additional £450,000 had been allocated in the 2018/19 budget to deal with the workload of Children’s Services.

It was reported that 8 assessments a day were undertaken in Bradford East; the referrals were  from schools or police call outs to domestic violence incidents. 

Members commented on the following issues:

·         What kind of cases were newly qualified Social Workers given? newly qualified Social Workers should not be given complex cases.

·         8 assessments a day for Bradford East was a lot if the Service did not have enough Social Workers; had the Service looked at home grown talent?

·         What impact would the reduction in Early Help and the Council Tax Reduction Scheme have on the Service?

·         What support was in place for families that were new to the area?

·         Prevention and Early Help was supposed to reduce the workload of social services, had that not happened?

·         Why was there such a large number of children missing from home in areas such as Little Horton (paragraph 2.6 of Document “AE”)?

·         There were 283 children known to be missing from education in Bradford East, what contact did the authority have?

·         Would have been helpful for Members if officers had included other reports that had been used in preparing the information presented to Members;  the report was lacking information such as the number of children home educated etc; needed to support children who experienced barriers to learning and who might be falling behind or not getting the same chances in their education because their family was experiencing poverty or other financial difficulties.

·         A Pupil Equity Group should be set up to support children in school who were affected by poverty.

In response to Members questions it was reported that:

·         Social workers in their first year of training received 12 cases and co-worked with experienced staff; staff needed over two and a half years experience before they were classed as experienced Social Workers; the authority needed 60 % of its Social Workers to have 3 years experience in social work.

·         Newly qualified Social Workers were supported by being allocated a low number of cases; regular supervision; Managers observed their case loads; offered half day study time; retaining experienced Social Workers was an issue for the authority.

·         The authority was in competition for social workers with surrounding authorities.

·         Social Work placements were offered to students from the local college and university; apprenticeship routes were being looked at.

·         Recruiting Social Workers was not an issue for the authority; Social Workers were head hunted by other authorities who paid more.

·         There was correlation between families living in poverty and demand on social services; rising poverty was a concern to the service and the demand it placed on it.

·         The reduction in Early Help and Council Tax Reduction Scheme would have an impact on the Service.

·         A number of measures were in place to help families new to the area; the challenge for the authority was for all schools to be good or outstanding; trying to progress more families to take up the 2 Year olds offer; it was difficult to persuade families new to the area to engage and efforts were being made to explain to them why education was a priority.

·         Bradford was chosen as one of the Education Secretary’s 12 Opportunity Areas; these were social mobility “coldspots” each receiving a share of £72 million to improve opportunities for young people in the community; Bradford’s share of the investment was £6million and would total 11.5 million; which would include £5.5 million for the Essential Life Skills funding over two years to enable children and young people aged 5-18 to participate in curricular activities.

·         Prevention and Early Help had reduced the demand on workload of social services in helping families to rectify issues; some families had been escalated into child protection thus helping families and children quicker; caseloads would be higher if there was no Early Help.

·         The figures for children missing from home included children out of education; families moving around authorities; some families chose not to send their children to school and opted for home tuition.

·         Education Safeguarding Teams looked into missing children and made enquiries to ensure they were safe and well; Early Help Services received a list of children not in education and the staff at Early Help did go out to visit the family to get the child back in school/training.

Resolved-

(1)                  That the contents of the report be noted and officers be thanked for its production.

(2)                  That a Pupil Equity Group be established to work up a reporting framework that advocates on behalf of the child.

(3)                  That a report be submitted to the Committee which includes schools causing concern and work being undertaken by the authority to support Hanson Academy.

Action:           Deputy Director, Children’s Social Care

(Children’s Services and Health and Social Care Overview and Scrutiny Committee)