The Council’s Strategic Director for
Community Solutions (SD) and Commissioning Director for Care and
Support (CD) introduced a report on the Targeted Early Help Review,
which provided an evaluation of the Council’s Early Help
service and the journey to date. The report highlighted
a number of improvements required, as
detailed through an Independent Review commissioned in January
2021, and outlined corrective action both already undertaken and
scheduled to take place over the next 12-18 months.
In response to questions from Members, the SD
and CD stated that:
- The original 2015/16 Business Case
outlined that Early Help would sit at the top end of Community
Solutions’ remit, in relation to challenging complexity of
need. Local Authorities often faced a challenge in determining
whether to place these ‘top end’, yet universal cases
underneath, or within statutory services, and this placement
differed between councils.
- 2015/16 council plans, although
borne out of sensible drivers and motivations, required services to
reduce their costs. Early Help demand also began to increase at
this time, and action to mitigate these pressures should have been
enacted sooner.
- Community Solutions was originally
designed to work more generally with residents, earlier in the
system. Nevertheless, following the OFSTED visit in February 2019
and the changing need in the Borough, it had been recognised that
there needed to be a greater focus on the cusp of care. As the
original design was not predicated on this, the Council had been
working to move the service forward in this way through its
Improvement Programme, which was agreed at its Early Help Summit in
September 2019.
- A major aim of the Improvement
Programme was to bring the disparate elements that were sat in
different places across Community Solutions, together into one
comprehensive targeted early help offer. Within that, the Council
brought in additional support to work towards the training and
skilling of its staff. It was recognised that the skill and pay for
these staff became less reflective of their new remit, and that the
new Targeted Operating Model (TOM) should have been reached sooner;
however, the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic redirected priorities.
The Council was now working with the Social Care Institute for
Excellence (SCIE) to develop the new TOM.
The Cabinet Member for Social Care and Health
Integration (CM) stated that when Early Help was transferred over
into Community Solutions, the Early Help service had already had
125 staff delivering this service. They therefore understood the
job and had received training, albeit the Community Solutions remit
was slightly different in that it covered universal casework. The
SD stated that the 125 staff members referenced was also the base
number of Early Help staff that started upon the establishment of
Community Solutions. A number of these 125 staff had retired, taken
redundancy or progressed into different
roles, which along with savings made, made it difficult to account
for these 125 staff members at present. It was acknowledged that
some skills had been lost, and that the ask for staff now was
dramatically different to that previously, which was the reason
that training and skills had been a key
element of the Improvement Programme.
In response to further questions, the SD and
CD stated that:
- Whilst the Independent Review had
suggested that reporting was inaccurate, the Council had since
independently validated that this was not the case. Whilst the
Council had shared approximately 85 performance measures with the
Independent Reviewer, only two of these had been highlighted by the
Review. Whilst it was acknowledged that the team should have acted
more promptly based on reporting information, staff were working in
difficult circumstances whilst the Independent Review was taking
place, with the second wave of Covid-19 resulting in high staff
absences at a time of increased demand and complexity. The SD had
also been waiting for the outcome of the Independent Review to
guide the service moving forward.
- The team had been in the process of
trying to acquire more temporary support to manage the situation at
the time. Reporting information that the team held was also
circulated widely, and managers had worked with the team to review
particular caseloads and manage
risk.
- A very experienced Head of Early
Help would shortly be commencing their role, to provide solid
management oversight going forward. A plan for the future of Early
Help was currently being designed; however, this may change in
coming weeks to ensure that it would be as effective as possible.
Commissioners would apply the same principles and processes as
currently applied to Children’s, Adults’ and
Disabilities’ Care and Support, so that Early Help could be
folded into the same performance management framework.
- A dedicated additional practice
lead, who was also an experienced Assistant Director for Early
Help, would be working with the Council in the short-term. They
would focus on providing managers with the support that they needed
to continue to develop their practice. The future TOM would need to
better consider the pressures on services to ensure that there was
an appropriate ratio of managers to staff, with smaller ratios
meaning that managers would have more time to concentrate on
practice-based supervision that would translate into the highest
quality casework and better quality
assurance.
- Whilst Innovate CYP, an
OFSTED-recognised improvement partner, had been commissioned for
six months to create the capacity needed to cope with pressure and
complexity in the system, and to help staff develop, they were a
temporary solution. The new model devised by the Council would
negate the need for Innovate CYP to work alongside the Council in
the longer term. Nevertheless, the Council could decide to
commission Innovate CYP for longer if necessary, and would ensure that there would not be
a gap between Innovate CYP leaving and the launch of the new model.
The new model would also reflect the increased demand in the last
12 months.
- The Independent Review had
highlighted that the Early Help service required more investment
than previously allocated and this was being reviewed. The CM also
noted that the required savings for the service had been approved
as part of a block for Community Solutions and that the Council
would need to scrutinise this method more in future.
- The Council was undertaking a
detailed review of open cases within the Early Help system and
about half had been reviewed so far. The caseloads had been
stratified based on potential risk and certain characteristics, and had been reviewed according to
potential highest to lowest risk. Innovate CYP was assisting in
providing capacity to achieve this task and the Council was able to
respond to any risk found through additional intervention, or
through moving the case into statutory Children’s Care and
Support services.
- The CD and SD would be very happy to
bring periodic progress updates to the Committee as requested.
The Chair emphasised the need to listen to
staff, acknowledge any faults and learn from these to ensure a
greater service going forward. The Committee also resolved
to recommend that the necessary funding was provided to ensure that
the Council could develop a robust TOM and to ensure a more
effective future service. The CM stated that she would do all in
her power to ensure that the new model developed was correct and
that the Borough’s most vulnerable were protected.