Agenda item

The Board will consider the Children’s Services Annual Complaints Report

Contacts:

Helen Sanderson, Complaints and Compliments Manager,

Yasmin Mughal, Complaints and Compliments Manager,

Kate Richardson, Complaints and Compliments Manager,

The Board considered the Childrens Services Annual Complaints Report which was presented by Sara Miles, Head of Service – Resources, Improvement and Partnerships.

The Board noted the annual report set out the compliments and complaints regarding Children’s Social Care during the period of 01 April 2020 to 31 March 2022 and that:

·         During 2021-22, 60 contacts (of 261) were made to team relating to 3 service areas of Care Leavers, Children Looked After and the Fostering Service

·         Of the 60 contacts, 41 were complaints and 7 were made by children and young people (C&YP)

·         All complaints made by C&YP were resolved to their satisfaction though the local resolutions process.

·         This was positive for both the C&YP and in terms of learning how best to engage C&YP.

·         C&YP were supported by the Children’s Rights Team through the process of raising a complaint.

·         Section 9 of the report detailed the nature of the complaints raised, with effective communication being one of the main areas where a complaint was raised by C&YP.

·         Section 10 highlighted the outcomes of the complaints, (i.e., upheld, partial upheld or not upheld).

·         Section 12 of the report highlighted the learning from any complaints, around information sharing, implementation of new policies and the timeliness of decisions.

·         The Children’s rights team worked closely with the responding managers across the 3 services areas to ensure responses were strengthened and to learn from the voice of C&YP.

·         There was an action plan around areas for development going forward Alongside this the team were looking to hold a practice learning day to further strengthen learning.

In response to a question from the Board around any significant thematic complaints,

Helen Sanderson, Complaints and Represent Manager, Family Support and Child Protection advised that a key element was managing C&YP’s expectations about what can practically be achieved through the complaints system.  The Complaints Team had been working closely with the Children’s Rights Team to address how to manage expectations from the start of the process.

The Board welcomed news of a practice learning day and noted the value in hearing the voices of children and young people noting previous Board discussions around this.

Ophelia Rix, Head of Service for Children in Care, Care Leavers and Looked After Children responded to advise that a plan was being developed in relation to the inclusion of C&YP’s voice in the work of the Corporate Parenting Board, which was to be presented to the Board at the appropriate time. This involved working in collaboration with partner organisations and the Children’s Rights Team to find a variety of avenues (such as a ‘takeover week’) to enable this, including arranging meetings at a time that was convenient to enable C&YP’s participation.  Linking into complaints, it was important to set clear expectations and appropriate timescales around the approach.

In response, the Board acknowledged comment about timescales but highlighted that the Board would be willing to be flexible about times of meetings to progress the work. 

The Board also highlighted the further work undertaken by the children’s social work team around listening to and responding to C&YP as positive and suggested that this piece of work be reported on to share the learning and best practices across Children’s Services.

RESOLVED: The Board noted the Childrens Services Annual Complaints Report,and it was agreed that:

1.    The plan in respect of the inclusion of C&YP’s voice in the work of the Corporate Parenting Board be presented to the Board at the appropriate time.

2.    The work undertaken around learning from complaints and engaging with C&YP be reported on to share the learning and best practices across Children’s Services