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ITEM CA8
CABINET
– 21 NOVEMBER 2006
EXTERNAL
REVIEW OF CHILDREN'S SOCIAL CARE
Report by
Head of Early Years & Family Support
Introduction
- An external review
of the Children’s Social Care Service (since realignment of the Early
Years and Family Support Service), was commissioned by the Director
for Children, Young People and Families, in May 2006.
- The review was
commissioned to examine and make recommendations regarding:
- The budget and
spend issues in children’s social care, a service with repeated overspends
in previous years.
- The service
strategy, including a review of the "Placement Matters" strategy adopted
by the Council in 2005.
- Benchmark and
comparator data relating to performance, activity and expenditure.
- The review was
conducted by Tom Jones, an independent consultant with considerable
experience, including as a former Head of Children’s Services.
Review Findings
- The service and
strategy recommendations of the review are listed in the Action Plan,
which is attached at Annex 1 (download
as .doc file), along with the proposed actions to address these
recommendations. They address the service issues addressed in the report
and are designed to achieve the modernisation of the Early Years and
Family Support service, to support further integration of services within
the newly established Directorate and Children’s Trust arrangements,
and to deliver both improved and more efficient outcomes for children
and families. The financial recommendations are to be considered through
the Star Chamber process in November. Thereafter, copies of the full
report will be available to Members.
- A key recommendation
concerns the establishment of services and decision-making structures
that replace the existing, professionally-dominated models, with mechanisms
that enable and empower families and kinship networks to find solutions
for, and meet the needs of, their children. The role of the public services
becomes that of supporting families to make decisions and plans for
their children, ensuring that through such an approach children are
better safeguarded and enjoy better outcomes as a consequence.
- Such an approach
has a strong research and evidence base to support improved outcomes
and that families can and do make safe and secure arrangements for their
children. The same research also found that numbers of children in the
Public Care and formal child protection systems fall as a consequence
of child-focused, family-centred practice and management models.
- Developing this
strategic approach to our work in supporting families supports the Council’s
vision to safeguard communities and help disadvantaged residents to
live independent lives, and helps to achieve corporate priorities around
improving attainment, reducing crime and anti-social behaviour, and
decreasing inequalities.
- The report also
makes recommendations concerning service reorganisation and modernisation,
development for managers, and improved services for Looked After Children.
- The benchmarking
data in the review indicate the following:
- Oxfordshire’s
performance against key Government Performance Indicators has improved
steeply in two years. In 2004-05 Oxfordshire rose from 138th
of 152 local authorities, to 22nd, in terms of performance.
In 2005-06, first analysis suggests further improvement to 11th
nationally, and within the top three, against all indicators, of its
IPF comparator group of authorities.
- Oxfordshire
is a low spender on children’s social care services. It is within
the bottom quartile nationally, while in its IPF group it is 12th
of 16 in it’s spend. This is based on actual spend in 2005-06,
which in Oxfordshire’s case was £1.2m over its agreed budget. If the
budget figure is taken the Council falls to 15th out of
16.
- Oxfordshire
has a low spend on family support services – it is 132 out of 150
English authorities and 14th out of 16 in its IPF group.
- The proportion
of the budget spent on Family Support (i.e. other than on Looked After
Children) is 10th lowest nationally.
- The number of
children’s social workers per 10000 population is also 10th
lowest nationally, at 14.7, compared with an England average 27.2,
and IPF average of 19.1.
- The numbers
of Looked After Children in Oxfordshire are lower than comparator
authorities, while the types and costs of their placements are average
within the comparator group.
- Fewer placements
for children are jointly funded (Health, "education", social care)
in Oxfordshire than in other authorities.
- The report recommends
wide-ranging policy, strategic and service changes, as well as making
financial recommendations, designed to enable investment and strategic
change within the service, that will, over time, yield savings through
the effective delivery of support to families before their problems
become entrenched or critical, when family breakdown and risk of entry
to Public Care is harder to avoid or prevent.
- The Action Plan
also addresses the Review’s recommendations for more integrated prevention
and family support services across the Directorate and with partners
in the newly-formed Children and Young People’s Partnership and Board.
Financial and Staff Implications
- The financial
elements of the review are significant, and will be addressed through
the Star Chamber process.
- Significant service
reorganisation and re-modelling is also recommended that will require
consultation and carefully planned implementation, in order to modernise
the service and re-focus activity and decision-making to ensure that
interventions with families build on family strengths and place families
centrally in the decision-making for their children. A significant management
and staff development programme will be undertaken to achieve this refocusing.
RECOMMENDATION
- The Cabinet
is RECOMMENDED to:
- endorse
the strategy and service modernisation recommendations emerging
from the external review, enabling the Directorate to take these
forward;
- endorse
the policy shift towards the development of services and decision-making
models that mandate family-based decision-making strategy and
practice; and
- endorse
the Action Plan as outlined in Annex 1 to the report.
ANDY
COULDRICK
Head of Early Years and Family Support
Background
papers: Nil
Contact Officer: Andy Couldrick, Head of Early Years & Family
Support, Tel: (01865) 815833
November
2006
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