To receive and update from the Corporate Director of Children’s Services.

The Director for Social Care and Early Support gave a brief overview of the report which had been circulated as part of the agenda. The Committee had last received an update in October following the last Ofsted visit and had not been able to share the full outcomes of that visit until they were published on the 2^nd of November, which had been included within the pack. Overall Ofsted had found that children’s situations were improving due to the interventions Trafford were putting in place, but workforce instability and weaknesses in first line management were impacting on the quality of relationships and decision making for children. Performance management along with Corporate and Political Leadership were all seen to be very strong.

Following the visit Trafford had reviewed the improvement plan. The 8 Ambitions remained but 3 overarching priorities had been added of workforce stability, leadership and management, and the quality of practice. Workforce instability had continued with turnover being higher than desired. 14 new social workers had been recruited within the last 6 months and the DfE had recognised that Trafford had put all the correct things in place to improve the situation. The Committee were informed that since the visit Trafford had introduced a management restructure, supervision frameworks had been revised, the Leadership Forum had been established, and the quality assurance framework had been implemented.

The Director for Social Care and Early Support spoke of the services first “Practice Fortnight” with sessions attended by 750 practitioners and mangers, which included a session from a headteacher explaining what it was like to run a school. In the next year it was planned to have a “Year of Practice” with learning and development opportunities available for all of the workforce. In addition, a strengthening practice programme had been commissioned, which was a three-year investment in practitioners. A programme for managers and leaders was also under development, which would enable them to provide additional support and leadership to staff.

Feedback from the DfE review, held the previous week, stated that everyone they spoke to within Trafford’s Children’s Services was passionate about making a difference for children, which was unusual to see with an authority under improvement. The Director for Social Care and Early Support concluded their overview by stating that Trafford still had a long way to go on the improvement journey with variability in practice still being an issue, but that addressing this was a priority going forward.

Following the overview, the Chair noted the ongoing issues with management oversight and asked what steps could be put in place to reach a level where the Committee could be assured it was robust. The Corporate Director for Children’s Services responded that the Leadership Forum brought together all the Heads of Service and Practice Managers and gave them the opportunity to review what was going well and identify areas to be strengthened. The Forum was integral in building consistency across services and turning shared expectations into tangible decisions. The Forum met every two weeks and looked at audit information along with examples of good and bad practice.  In addition, the supervision framework had been redeveloped in partnership with practitioners and managers which ensured supervision, advice, and guidance were helpful and consistent across services. The Leadership Forum, Supervision Framework, and formal external programme were all key platforms which would enable the service to have confidence in everything managers do.

Councillor Maitland asked whether this work linked into what Jan Haworth was doing. The Corporate Director of Children’s Services responded that Jan Haworth was an expert in child protection and planning and had been commissioned to work with Child Protection Conference Chairs and Independent Reviewing Officers, who were responsible for reviewing children’s plans. That piece of work would look at whether Trafford were effective in progressing those plans. Jan Haworth had also been asked to conduct a piece of work talking to children and families to identify whether plans were meaningful and helpful.

Councillor Maitland asked about the 4P approach and why there had only been limited progress so far. The Corporate Director of Children’s Services responded that the approach linked to safeguarding and youth justice. The approach had been developed in other areas and was shown to be effective when working with police. The progress had been limited so far as it required a full system change and the change journey had been delayed by the pandemic.

Councillor Blackburn asked whether the rate of turnover had impacted the audits of practice and when it was expected that the requires improvement rating would move to being good. The Corporate Director of Children’s Services responded that improvement was being seen with more audits being rated as good. The service was also seeing an increase in the number of compliments being received. The Corporate Director of Children’s Services was confident that when the service was reinspected Ofsted would validate the improvements the service had made.  

RESOLVED: That the update be noted.