The Panel considered a report on Multi-agency developments around the
Children’s Social Care Reforms, presented by Robert Fordyce,
Head of Service and Practice Development.
Robert Fordyce highlighted the following:
- The Department for Education had
asked children's social care departments to get engaged in one of
the biggest reforms of children's social care in a generation.
- The government’s aim was for
every child to be given the best chances
in life, by
focusing on earlier intervention in children's lives, and
preventing children getting to the stage where they could no longer
live with their families.
- The three main areas for change
were: family help, support to children on child protection plans,
and involving families more effectively through family group
decision-making meetings.
- The ultimate
aim was for children and families to be supported to stay
together and get the help they need.
- The Children's Well-being and
Schools Bill required families to be offered a family-led
decision-making meeting before care proceedings were issued.
- Assessment templates were being
changed to one assessment and one plan for children, to ensure that
families did not have to complete complicated reassessments on new
forms when their level of service provision changed.
- Pathfinder local authorities had
been trying out these changes and Kirklees had been linked in with
them to learn what had worked well and what challenges they had
faced.
- Oversight of progression of the
reforms was being provided by the safeguarding partnership
executive group which fed into the chair's delivery group, and a
Family First Partnership program board that had been set up.
- A working group had been set up to
ensure that the renewed one assessment plan was easily understood
by families, using clear language.
- Quarterly updates were being sent to
the DfE on progress made and a quarterly newsletter was being sent
to partners.
- Engagement events had been held with
staff, and the Our Voice Team had been working with high school
children.
- Challenges included:
- There would be changes to some job
titles and job roles. In other authorities this had led to staff
leaving, so to avoid disruption, Kirklees needed to ensure that
valued and experienced staff remained in post.
- Effective working with Multi-agency teams.
- Meaningful and effective engagement
with children and families, building on what was already
known.
- Once reforms had been implemented,
reviews would need to take place to make sure they were
working.
- Ensuring partners had a shared
approach to risk management and a shared understanding of effective
intervention.
- Reforms should be implemented by
April 2027, with a plan completed by the end of the financial year,
although the Children's Well-being and Schools Bill was going through parliament more slowly than had
been expected.
- Next steps included talking to HR
partners and the unions to ensure that staff were well briefed on
any changes, and engaging with staff and
partners to ensure that the reforms were right for children and
families in Kirklees, and would make a positive difference.
- The reforms would be used as an
opportunity to make changes to the things that could be improved,
while building on current strengths.
In answer to questions, the Panel were advised
that:
- Partners in education, health and
police had safeguarding as part of a wide variety of other
responsibilities, but Kirklees was fortunate to have wide
representation on its subgroups and buy-in at senior leadership
level.
- Tom Brailsford and his peers in
health and police attended all the engagement events and were
well aware of the changes.
- The subgroups had the right level of
expertise to help guide the reforms.
- Police and health colleagues had met
counterparts in the pilot areas to find out how well the reforms
worked from a police/health perspective.
- Barriers to communication included
the difficulty of schools and the authority having different
systems to record safeguarding concerns. Education representation
was needed in those teams who could navigate both systems.
- Where a child had a social worker,
and a designated safeguarding lead in education had concerns but
could not immediately speak to the social worker because they were
unavailable, improvements could be made so that those urgent
conversations could take place more effectively.
- Libraries and other council spaces
were being considered as spaces alternative to schools where family
group decision-making meetings could take place.
- The local population needs
assessment would build up a big picture on a ward by ward level to get the right services and
support in the right places, using data that agencies already
had.
RESOLVED –
That the report be noted and Robert Fordyce be
thanked for his contributions.