Presentation
Minutes:
An update was provided on the response to Covid by Children’s Social Care.
In terms of what has worked well, it was noted that all service within Social Care and Early Help continued to be delivered throughout the initial lockdown phase. All vulnerable children where supported by their care team and family time continued to be offered to all through both face to face and virtually, which depended on a full risk assessment. It was also noted that all staff successfully moved to remote working and staffing level remained viable throughout. Great support was offered from ICT services to ensure staff and families could continue to work and make contact.
The service continues to RAG rate children on how they will work from home. Through a DfE grant, 500-600 laptops were provided to vulnerable families. It was acknowledged however that this was not an easy feat.
It was noted that there has been an increase in the overall demand in Children’s Social Care, with 11.8% more Looked After Children (LAC) compared to last year. The highest number of LAC that Gateshead has ever had was in the summer when there were 454 children, there was also a 9.6% increase in Children in Need. This created pressures as staffing levels have not increased and it also reflects the challenges faced by families. There has also been an increase in Early Help services with a 17% increase from last year.
Due to the increased demand on the service, more children have been place with Independent Fostering Agencies (IFAs), 24 more places than previous year. This has impacted on response time and has proven quite challenging.
During the most recent phase of the lockdown there has been more of an impact on the workforce with more Covid positive staff and therefore more isolation. The majority of staff have still been able to work but this has required the service to think differently regarding how direct work was undertaken.
In terms of lessons learnt, the merits of re-deployment have been seen with the successful movement of staff into children’s Homes. There has been successful recruitment of additional Social Workers at a time when other local authorities were putting their recruitment on hold. This has led to the appointment of some very experienced Social Workers. There has also been a number of benefits to using IT platforms, through teams, video meetings and virtual family time.
It was reported that, despite increased demand, services have been maintained and new initiatives taken up, such as the DfE Social Worker in schools programme which was launched in November. Through this programme there have been six Social Workers placed in schools across Gateshead, the initiative has been well received by schools.
In terms of ongoing challenges it was noted that maintaining good staff emotional wellbeing and morale is essential. Also, being responsive to staffing pressures and absences as an impact of Covid will continue to be challenging, although it was acknowledged that this has slowed down over the last week. A further challenge will be the ability to meet ongoing increase in demand, especially if the pattern of increasing number continues, this will be in relation to foster placements, residential provision and staffing levels.
It was queried whether the delays with partner agencies has led to increased cost burdens on the authority and whether there is any indication of what overspend there has been this year. It was confirmed that this is currently being worked on but that placing a child in a local authority placement is very different compared to IFAs and ideally our children and young people should be kept in local foster placements. Work is ongoing to increase the number of Foster Carers in Gateshead and it is hoped that due to the current situation, i.e. increased redundancies etc, more people will see this as an opportunity for a career change. Virtual open evenings are being held and so far 10 new families have come forward and assessments have started. It was acknowledged however that with a greater number or Foster Carers comes a need for more Social Workers, therefore it is expected there will be a large overspend on the budget this year, although Covid funding has also been received to offset some of that overspend.
It was questioned whether there has been an increase in the number of grievances within the Social Care Teams. It was confirmed that there has been no increase, the service has very robust managers who are very linked in with their staff. Although the service has had to adapt staff are receiving the support they need.
Committee requested that absence figures be shared to show yearly comparisons and also those absences relating to Covid.
RESOLVED - That the information presented be noted.