Agenda item

Preparing For Our Inspection of Local Authority's Children's Services

To receive a presentation about how to prepare for an Ofsted inspection.

Minutes:

Jim Leivers, Interim Director of Children’s Services delivered a presentation and explained that an Ofsted inspection into Children’s Services was expected by the end of the year.

 

Some of the main points raised by Jim Leivers were that:

 

·           Wokingham Children’s Services had received a ‘requires improvement’ Ofsted rating at its last inspection in 2015;

·           The service was required to produce a self-evaluation;

·           Paul Senior, former Director of People Services had had a conversation with Ofsted and the service was aware of the questions that had been raised;

·           Ofsted would consider the previous inspections results and performance indicators;

·           The service had undergone a specialist inspection in relation to neglect in 2017.  Ofsted would be looking to see if the points raised had been addressed;

·           Ofsted would be looking that the service’s own self-evaluation and improvement plans, in conjunction with the Scrutiny Committee;

·           It was important to be frank and honest with the inspectors;

·           In the first week Ofsted would be looking at data, information and evidence, in the second week Ofsted would be speaking to leaders;

·           There could be as many as nine inspectors, and they would be testing the information given by talking to Social Workers;

·           The inspectors would be looking into 8-12 cases in detail and the Social Workers would be expected to demonstrate a high level of knowledge of their cases, or to have a comprehensive file system;

·           The inspectors would be considering the children’s experience and progress;

·           There were 26 agency Social Workers currently working for Wokingham, there was concern with the recruitment and retention of Social Workers;

·           The number of Child Protection orders had trebled and the population had gone up by a third, the increase in demand was a challenge for the service;

·           Estelle Kelleway, Acting Assistant Director for Early Help and Children’s Social Care had undertaken work with the Department of Education (DfE);

·           The Annual Review of Corporate Parenting Board was positive;

·           Ofsted would not be looking into Children In Care’s education records;

·           It was important to demonstrate how information was being used to improve practices;

·           It was recognised that the integrated service pathway, the transition service for young people into adult services needed improving;

·           Ofsted would also be looking at the quality of Social Workers, their training and development, supervision and support;

·           The Social Workers workloads would be considered, ideally this should be between 15-20 cases per Social Worker.  In Wokingham this was in the region of 20, which could leave the service vulnerable;

·           It was important to be able to explain shortcomings and demonstrate a plan for improvement.

The Chairman asked what were the real weak spots which had been identified.  Jim Leviers stated the main weak points were:

 

·           The churn of staff at the top of the organisation.  However, it was positive that a permanent director had now been appointed and that the recruitment process for permanent assistant directors had started;

·           The size of caseloads - this was too high;

·           The Local Authority was vulnerable at the front door;

·           A lack of integration in relation to transition into adult services.

 

The Chairman asked if the Local Authority should have been more prepared for the increase in demand and Jim Leviers responded that this was a national issue.

 

RESOLVED That the report be noted.