Agenda item

For Members to receive the results of Children’s Services Q1 performance for 2022/23  

The Chair welcomed Councillor Ash Lister (Cabinet Member for Social Services (Children’s)), and Deborah Driffield (Director of Children’s Services). 

The Chair invited Councillor Lister to make a statement during which he reiterated previous comments about the wish to provide as much of the detail behind the data as is possible. There are extreme challenges within Children’s Service in terms of the demands and the complicity of cases.

The Director outlined the fact that some of the performance data is good, but that there was room for improvement. It is a challenging situation.

The Chair invited questions from Members:

Members queried the target for vacancy rates amongst social workers.   The Director advised the service was on target with that vacancy rate; they are recruiting to all of the vacancies with newly qualified social workers; the number of placements offered to students has been increased so if they come to Cardiff for their final placement they are more likely to stay in Cardiff.  There is not a problem in recruiting newly qualified social workers but having a service made up of newly qualified social workers means there is a lack of experience across the board.  There is a lack of experienced social workers in the market so the vacancies are covered by agency workers which means there are no vacancies.  Further, it is not possible to change the pay and conditions within Cardiff Council.

The Cabinet Member highlighted the fact that no social work post is uncovered; it highlights the importance that is put on ensuring that every child and young person, were possible, gets that support, gets that intervention and gets the oversight to make sure that we can safeguard them as best we can.

Members discussed social workers pay and conditions, there was an awareness that social workers could earn more in England, in fact just over the borders – Bristol or Hereford whilst still living in this area.   The Director advised that following Job Evaluation there is a very clear framework in terms of grading; it is not within our gift to work outside of that.  There is currently a market supplement, that has made a huge difference but it is not permanent, it has to be reviewed every year.  Staff have been recruited on higher grades, but that has had a knock on effect, they have been paid more than those managing them.  It is very difficult; people will be brought in on higher grades but they will be doing very specialist child protection work.

A significant  amount  of work has been done to retain the newly qualified social workers; a number of posts have been developed which are called practice lead posts, they are supported by the manager, but by a practice leads that try and help with Court, there is a buddying system and a massive induction programme.  The feedback has been positive. 

Members discussed whether conversion courses for those currently involved in similar jobs could be considered.  They were advised that it is something that has been proposed. 

Members asked for information about sickness absence and how they compare, bearing in mind the challenges faced by the service, with other publicly facing services within the Council.  Members were advised that the sickness target for both Children’s and Adult Services was set at the higher rate because the level had always been high.  Children’s Services has come in underneath the target for a variety of reasons; working remotely has provided more flexibility in terms of child care and other caring responsibilities and has therefore had a positive impact; and 23% agency staff – they do not go off sick because they do not get paid. In relation to a slight increase, this has been caused as Children’s Services are not responsible for direct services provision, for example Children’s Homes and if people are off sick they are not allowed to go in. 

Members referenced the reduction in statutory visits and were advised that it is an area of concern; at the moment we are unable to confirm whether it is a recording issue or whether the children have actually been seen. A lot of work has been done in terms of trying to get resource assistants to work with social workers to make it easier for them to record information after their visits; you can now talk into your phone and it will translate it into text and put it on your case records. 

RESOLVED:

That the Chairperson writes to the Cabinet Member on behalf of the Committee expressing their comments and observations captured during the way forward.