Agenda item

The Executive Director of Children’s Services will provide the Panel with an update in relation to the most recent Ofsted Monitoring Visit (March 2022).

The Executive Director of Children’s Services provided the Panel with an update in relation to the most recent Ofsted Monitoring Visit which took place on 29 and 30 March 2022.

 

The visit was the third monitoring visit (plus a focused visit) since the last full inspection and was the first to take place ‘face to face’ following the lifting of Covid restrictions.

 

The areas covered were:-

 

·        Matching, placement and decision-making for children in care.

·        Planning and achieving permanence for children.

 

Inspectors found that Children’s Services ‘knew themselves’ and this was evidenced by its detailed improvement plan and accurate self-assessment (SEF).  This had been achieved through:-

 

·        Quality Assurance processes.

·        Robust reviewing processes and panels.

·        Audits with a crucial learning loop.

·        The Centre for Practice Excellence is a central focus for collating learning and improvement.

 

In terms of permanence – or ‘forever homes for children’, inspectors found:-

 

·        A systemic framework for permanency planning – less reactive and more forward-looking.

·        Stronger practice with children who had more recently come into care planning with more thought about early permanence planning.

·        Permanency plans now included parallel planning to avoid drift and delay for children.

·        Social Workers knew children needed permanence and what was required to achieve it.

·        Regular and high quality supervision actively contributing to early permanence planning.

·        Monthly Permanence Monitoring Group (PMG) meetings track and quality assure both plans and progression towards permanence.

 

The positives that came from the Monitoring Visit were summarised as follows:-

 

·        Children in care were visited regularly.

·        Most Social Workers knew their children well and had built trusting relationships with them.

·        Good direct work which was age appropriate.

·        Children’s voices were informing their planning.

·        Family time ensured:-

-        Children benefitted from safely assessed family time.

-        Family time with wider family members was well considered.

-        Sibling ‘Together or Apart’ assessments were completed quickly and relationships were maintained if they could not live together.

·      Children were brought into care in a more timely way through better Court applications.

·      Good feedback from the local judiciary and CAFCASS.

·      Child Permanence reports were sensitively written.

·      Social Workers understood the need for children to have life story work in order to understand their parentage and identity as they grew up.

·      Children’s records were written directly to the child by Social Workers who knew them.

·      Children were able to see the thought that went into planning for their forever homes.

·      Planning – evidence showed:-

-        Care planning meetings, supervision sessions, reviews and legal gateway were all well recorded forums for reflective and creative thinking.  They provided clear oversight of the plans and actions for the best interests of children, therefore, children experienced less delay.

-        Independent Reviewing Officers had improved oversight of children’s plans and there was evidence of mid-point reviews being carried out to consider whether plans were progressing.

 

Whilst there were many positives identified during the monitoring visit, some areas requiring further consideration were identified as follows:-

 

·        There was still some impact on children from a legacy of absent or poor planning.

·        Some children had experienced earlier unplanned placement moves and consequent disruption and instability.

·        There were a number of children placed with family members who had not been assessed and approved as connected foster carers. 

·        There were a minority of children with complex needs in unregistered children’s homes awaiting a suitably matched, regulated placement.  The carer’s ability to meet their needs was undetermined and unregulated.  (The Panel was assured that whilst a small number of children were placed in homes that were not regulated by Ofsted, Ofsted were satisfied that those children were safe and that the local authority had oversight).

·        However, leaders were aware of these children and all had individual assessments and cumulative oversight to mitigate against risk.

 

The findings from the Monitoring Visit in relation to people was:-

 

·        Senior leaders knew their services well.

·        Social Workers spoke positively about the determined efforts to make improvements and create the conditions for good social work practice through clear expectations and standards.

·        They valued:-

-        Support from their team members

-        Training and development programme.

-        Growing a supportive working culture.

 

The next steps would include:-

 

·        DfE Review – Representatives had met with frontline staff on 17 May and would meet partners and corporate leaders in June/July.

·        Ofsted Monitoring Visit – This would take place mid-July and would focus on Early Help, MACH and the Assessment Service.

 

In response to a query, the Panel was advised that there were currently 513 Children Looked After in Middlesbrough and that this had fallen from an all-time high of 702.  Of those 513 children, 49 were placed in external residential provision and 21 were placed in internal residential provision, therefore, the majority of children looked after were placed with foster carers.  Significant improvements had been made to reduce the use of external residential provision by increasing the numbers of in-house foster carers and reducing the number of external foster placements used.

 

The Chair thanked the Executive Director for the informative update and stated she was particularly pleased to hear that children in care kept in touch with their siblings and grandparents where it was safe for them to do so and that work had progressed in reducing the number of external placements.

AGREED that the information provided be noted.