On 7 November 2017 the Executive considered a report of the Strategic director of children’s Services that outlined the proposal to create a new 0-19 Prevention and Early Help service which would work across the District.  This new service would bring together a range of existing services to form a new set of preventative arrangements for children, young people and families.  By working in a more coordinated way with partners and communities, the new arrangements would deliver more effective and efficient ways of whole family and community based working.

The Council held extensive public consultation on a proposed preferred model between 15 November 2017 and 12 February 2018.  Peopletoo were commissioned to provide an independent analysis of the consultation feedback.

The report of the Strategic Director of Children’s Services (Document “BI”) sets out the Council’s final Family Hub model taking on board some changes arising from the consultation feedback. 

Executive is asked to approve this Family Hub model taking into account the analysis of the public consultation, changes made to increase front-line delivery and an updated Equalities Impact Assessment.

Recommended -

(1)           That the Executive, approves the Family Hub model of co-produced service delivery for prevention and early help and to the implementation of this model as per the timeline set out in Document “BI”.

(2)          That Executive agrees to the Strategic Director of Children’s, in consultation with the Portfolio Holder, producing a detailed plan on the best collective use of buildings across the Council, key partners and communities so we can sustain as much funding into frontline workers by 2020/21 which would be subject to further consultation as required.

(Judith Kirk – 01274 431078)

On 7 November 2017 the Executive considered a report of the Strategic Director of Children’s Services that outlined the proposal to create a new 0-19 Prevention and Early Help service which would work across the District.  This new service would bring together a range of existing services to form a new set of preventative arrangements for children, young people and families.  By working in a more coordinated way with partners and communities, the new arrangements would deliver more effective and efficient ways of whole family and community based working.

The Council held extensive public consultation on a proposed preferred model between 15 November 2017 and 12 February 2018.  Peopletoo were commissioned to provide an independent analysis of the consultation feedback.

The report of the Strategic Director of Children’s Services (Document “BI”) set out the Council’s final Family Hub model taking on board some changes arising from the consultation feedback.  Executive was asked to approve this Family Hub model taking into account the analysis of the public consultation, changes made to increase front-line delivery and an updated Equalities Impact Assessment.

The Strategic Director acknowledged the level of concern regarding the proposed reduction in the workforce and referred to the wide level of engagement and work undertaken with key partners.  He highlighted the need to focus on people, relationships and service provision and noted that as much funding as possible would be released from buildings to support this.  He advised that an additional £1m transitional funding had been allocated to support Early Help; that reductions had been made in the management structure; that the proposed workforce had been increased from 197 to 246 FTE and that the number of key workers had been strengthened.  He was confident that this was the best model given the available finance and opportunities would be sought to continue development of the service, for example, work would be undertaken with schools and GPs to develop the offer .

A member attended the meeting and spoke against the proposals for both Early Help and SEND Specialist Teaching Support Services which he stated would both affect vulnerable people in need of help.  He was concerned that the proposals would have far reaching consequences in the future with individuals failing to reach their potential.  He added that the skills and experience of existing staff would be lost which would not be regained even if  additional funding was secured.  He added that early intervention saved money and avoided other issues escalating later on.  He urged the Executive members to consider the effect of the proposals.

The Leader referred to the context in which the proposals were being considered and stated that due to Government cuts the Council was half the size it had been 10 years ago with £183m of Government funding in 2013-14 being reduced to nil by 2020.  She added that the Council was having to make difficult decisions because of the austerity measures imposed by the Government on Local Authorities.

A representative of UNITE the Union attended the meeting and expressed concern that the report was misleading regarding staffing numbers and consultation feedback.  He stated that staffing structures in March 2018 showed an increase in the number of front line staff being cut and more managers being recruited.  The Union felt that the Executive had been misled and/or UNITE had not been provided with appropriate information which could potentially breach s188 of TULRCA 1992 .  The staffing structures in March 2018 highlighted a further 35 posts for redundancy and asked for feedback in 15 days not 45 days as required by s188.  He urged Executive to defer the decision to allow the issue to be addressed.  He went on to add that the Union refuted the claim made by officers and the Health and Wellbeing Portfolio Holder that most people were concerned about the budget and not the model.  He added that the majority of respondents were concerned that the proposed model was flawed and could not work with a large reduction in staff.  The Union questioned Peopletoo’s independence as in September 2017 Peopletoo made a number of recommendations that endorsed the direction of travel for Prevention and Early Help.  He questioned how a consultation company could review the data independently when its purpose was to develop ways of making cuts (according to its web site) and as it had supported the proposed model.  He believed data had been heavily sanitised to justify the cuts proposed.  The Union still had concerns which had not been addressed regarding; how vulnerable children and families would be prevented from falling through the net given the large reduction in front line staff; where the evidence was of the model being effective in North Yorkshire and Lincolnshire; Education Social Work Service identified vulnerable young people through MARAC, what plans were there to ensure the link between schools and the Authority were maintained as the Union believed Domestic Violence notification was not sufficient in high risk cases.  The Union contended that the model did not save public money in the longer term and that problems could escalate into more serious and complex issues which would put more demand on the resources of the Local Authority and other public services.  He urged the Executive, in light of the serious concerns raised by UNITE not to approve the model.

A representative of Bradford Families Against Children’s Services Cuts that had submitted a petition to the meeting of Council on 20 March 2018 attended the meeting and questioned the decision to disregard a number of signatures on the petition which resulted in it not triggering a Council debate.  The Acting City Solicitor responded that the signatures were disallowed because they did not comply with the Council’s Petition Scheme which required signatures to be from people living, working or studying in the District. It was noted that Early Help had been the subject of a debate at an earlier Council meeting. The petitioner was of the opinion that if the proposals were introduced, more children could be in need of a Child Protection Plan and this would increase the cost to the Council; staff retention would be an issue due to stress in the workforce and children’s safety would not be able to be protected.  He felt that the proposals were flawed, counter productive and damaging. 

The Health and Wellbeing Portfolio Holder referred to the extensive consultation and thanked all those who participated and in particular the consortium of Nursery Schools for its thoughtful response to the proposals.  She stressed the importance of working with partners in Health, Police and Primary Care Hubs to deal with the issue of early help holistically.  She questioned the staffing figures referred to by the UNITE representative.  She pointed out that Peopletoo had been asked to carry out an independent review of the consultation and not the model.  She added that staff safety was a priority.  She explained that the changed proposals now included 4 family hubs with a stronger focus on working with schools, Primary Care groups and communities.  She added that the additional £1m would be allocated over a two year period of £500,000 each year.  She added that changes had been made to the management structure and 40.5 FTE had been returned into the service.  She stressed that the emphasis of the proposals was on safeguarding vulnerable children and that the focus on new communities and travellers would be retained.  She added that the report recommended that officers look at reducing the number of buildings and allocating the resources to frontline staffing. 

The Leader thanked everyone who had contributed to the consultation and advised that she had written again lobby Government for more funding for the service.  She stressed that the current structure was not sustainable and that inaction was not an option for the Council. If more funds became available they would be devoted to front line services.

Resolved -

(1)           That the Family Hub model of co-produced service delivery for prevention and early help be approved and the implementation of this model as per the timeline set out in Document “BI” be agreed.

(2)          That the Strategic Director of Children’s Services, in consultation with the Portfolio Holder, produce a detailed plan on the best collective use of buildings across the Council, with key partners and communities to sustain as much funding into frontline workers by 2020/21 which would be subject to further consultation as required.

ACTION: Strategic Director Children’s Services

Children’s Services Overview and Scrutiny Committee