UPDATED: Not enough done to explore "alternative options" for Worcestershire children facing care, report reveals

Your Worcester News can today reveal how Worcestershire County Council, which has overseen rocketing numbers of looked-after children in recent years to nearly 700, decided to call in an outside team back in April for a voluntary 'peer review'.

The results of the exercise, which saw a team from around the country involved in social work, education and even the NHS probe Worcestershire's child protection services, have now been published so the public and councillors can see it.

It reveals:

- Where children reach the stage of being considered for care, the "exploration of alternative options is not robust or consistent"

- There are "significant concerns" about some referrals taking too long, with cases prone to "drift"

- Some social workers have workloads twice as demanding as fellow staff, and have to handle more individual children than "most authorities" would consider appropriate

- Crucial work is "often compromised" due to "inexperience or high workloads"

The findings come on the back of significant rises in the number of looked-after children in Worcestershire, which stood at 531 in 2009 but is up 30 per cent since then to around 690 today.

Former council chief executive Trish Haines has previously called the number of looked after children in Worcestershire "fairly high" - and only last year a report forecast it could hit nearly 1,000 by 2022 if the trends continue.

Last year council tax went up 1.9 per cent, the biggest increase allowed without staging a referendum, to pump an extra £4 million into the service, with children in care costing taxpayers just under £30 million this year.

Worcestershire's safeguarding children service had a 2010 improvement notice lifted in March 2012 and is now graded as 'adequate' by Ofsted, with the review an attempt to get a fresh perspective from outside County Hall.

Council chiefs have stressed that the work was not an inspection of any kind and was decided upon in-house to try and improve further - with its publication also voluntary.

On children in care, the findings state: "Though the threshold for a child meeting (the) criteria for the consideration of becoming 'looked after' appears appropriate, the gate-keeping and exploration of alternative options is not robust or consistent."

It says that for older children, there is "limited alternative provision" available and for younger ones, "alternatives such as family and friends, the use of special guardianship orders" or other "timely interventions" seem to be used "relatively infrequently" compared to other councils.

That shock critique is the toughest part of the letter, which spans 12 pages and is broadly positive in terms of the overall direction of travel in recent years whilst flagging up a number of concerns.

It says the council should produce a new two or three-year fully costed 'edge of care' strategy to focus heavily on families at risk of break-up.

The report also says despite serious efforts to recruit more children's social workers and offer them good support, with a cohort of around 200 staff, "there is a need to address on-going poor performance, issues of pressure and managing demand".

It calls the demands on staff a "mixed" picture, with some workers having "reasonable workloads" but high pressures placed upon others.

On the flipside it says the council is realistic about the challenges it faces and insists it has a clear system and strong leadership.

The findings will be reviewed by the council's watchdog-style children and young people's scrutiny panel next Thursday, June 25.

Councillor John Campion, cabinet member for children and families, said: "We're committed to improving the services we provide to children and families and we recognise this is a priority for this council.

"This was demonstrated earlier this year when an additional £4 million was committed to supporting the rising demand for this area, pressure which is also being felt nationally.

“The purpose of this was to gain insight and focus on key areas we can also improve on.

"Where this wasn't happening already, we are now putting in place clear and immediate actions to do just that.

"While this wasn't an inspection of any sort and there is no requirement to publish the findings, we feel it is right to be open and transparent with the public."

He added the review shown "a number of strengths" such as a "clear strategy and committed workforce".

He said it was "likely" spending would need to rise yet again next year, but was not going to forecast by how much this early.

At the moment, of the £77 million children service's budget just under £30 million goes on looked after children.

"We recognise that sadly, some children are not going to be safe in the environment they are in," added Councillor Campion, who took over the brief from Conservative Councillor Liz Eyre after a May reshuffle.

"But the prize for us will come from getting those outcomes for children right."

The work was led by the Local Government Association.

* To see the entire peer review document published by the council today, click HERE.

SOME OF THE KEY FINDINGS IN THE REVIEW

PROS

- The council has a "clear ambition" to improve and "sound" strategies for how to keep children safe

- The workforce, which has been beefed up in recent years, is very committed and benefits from strong leadership

- There is "a strong commitment" to address "increasing financial pressures"

- All residential centres for children in care across the county are graded either 'good' or 'outstanding by Ofsted

- Decisions are made in "timely fashion"

- The council innovates, for example the drive to employ more staff and launch projects to keep families strong

CONS

- Exploring "alternative options" for children who could go into care is "not robust or consistent"

- Work is "often compromised" when cases are re-allocated from one worker to the next due to "inexperience or high caseloads"

- There are "significant concerns" about the time it can take to respond to safeguarding referrals, with some cases prone to "drift"

- Some social workers were dealing with 25-30 caseloads of work at once, while others had half that amount – and "most" councils consider anything above 25 to be too high

- Management oversight can be "inconsistent" at times

- The council needs to establish a 'financial recovery plan' to help address its budget

WHAT HAPPENS NEXT?

THE council says since the review, which took place the week starting Monday, April 13, action has already started towards addressing it.

It has set a target of reducing social workers' individual case loads by 15 per cent across the board, mainly by keeping up the pace in recruiting new staff.

There are now around 120 full-time equivalent social workers dealing with children, compared to just 99 last year.

Since last year the council has made big efforts to make the roles more attractive, offering £4,000 'golden hello' top-ups to tempt new staff in as well as relocation packages worth up to £10,000, with that work currently ongoing.

It also says that rather than rely on around 37 agency staff a day, it's got that figure down to around 27 and aims to reduce it further.

During the review, the workforce was described as "a real asset" and the council's efforts on staff retention was praised.

Gail Quinton, who heads up the department, also told your Worcester News a new "prevention and intervention strategy" is currently being developed, focusing on what the council calls 'back to basics'.

Increasing the focus on fostering and deciding on a detailed financial plan are also priorities.

The council says 78 per cent of referrals lead to decisions being made about the type of response required within two days, with others taking longer to reach that first step.

During the review, a seven-strong team spent time with around 200 people involved in Worcestershire's safeguarding services.

The review team included leading figures from other councils in Gloucestershire, West Sussex, Humberside and Suffolk, as well as experts in education and health.

The next Ofsted inspection could come at any time, with it now being more than three years since the last one - although County Hall says many local authorities around the country have also not been inspected for quite a while.