Agenda item

The IRO report is produced in order to provide the Director for Children’s Services, the Lead Member for Children and the Corporate Parenting Board with information pertaining to the work of the Independent Reviewing Service (IRS) which is responsible for monitoring and reviewing the care provided to children and young people for whom the Local Authority are corporate parents.

The Deputy Lead for Safeguarding and Quality Assurance: Children and Young People introduced this item to the Panel. She informed them that the annual report provided information on;

·  The profile of the Local Authorities Looked After Children,

·  The IRO Service structure and development,

·  The inclusion and participation of children, young people and their parents

·  The review and monitoring of individual care plans for Looked After Children,

·  Area’s for development over the course of 2019-2020.

She said that the IRO is often the most consistent relationship (after a child’s primary carer) for a child and young person who is looked after. The IRO role for children and young people is so valuable as it can prevent the needs of children being overlooked, decisions being forgotten and the journey of children and young people being lost.

She explained that whilst there has been an increase in the child in care population it has been possible to reduce the average caseload for the IRO’s as a result of the Independent Chair role.

She stated that the IRO Handbook suggests that for a full-time IRO it would be good practice for their caseload to consist of 50-70 looked after children.  The current average caseload within B&NES is 47 per IRO.

She said that within the reporting period the IRO Service has chaired a total of 454 review child in care meetings for children and young people and that this is only a 1.5% increase on the previous financial year. She added that given that there has been a 14% increase in the number of children and young people becoming looked after this year, this small increase could therefore be related to;

·  Children and young people facing less disruption and therefore not requiring additional review meetings, and

·  Sibling groups remaining together reducing the number of reviews required.

She informed the Panel that the gender breakdown remains stable in relation to previous years and reflects the national picture and that at the end of this reporting period, there were 87 (45%) females and 105 (55%) males accommodated by the Local Authority.

She said that with regard to ethnicity the data shows that whilst the majority of children and young people looked after by the Local Authority are largely White British (73.4% (141)), there are 41 children and young people from Black Minority Ethnic Groups. She added that it is important that the cultural needs of the children and young people looked after are taken into consideration when identifying placements and the services on offer.

She stated that to ensure children and young people in the care of the local authority remain connected to their local community, family and friends, and to limit the level of disruption in a child/young person’s life, local authorities should always first try to place a child or young person in care within the geographical area of their family home. She added that the challenge however is ensuring that the identified carers have the appropriate skills to meet the child and young person’s needs and that any risks of being within relative proximity to their family can be managed.

She said that in Bath and North East Somerset a large percentage of looked after children are placed within the boundary of the local authority or within a 20 mile radius.

She informed the Panel that Bath and North East Somerset continues to have a small cohort of young people (6) who have arrived in this country unaccompanied and seeking asylum or who have been trafficked.

She explained that all children and young people should be able to speak with their social worker ahead of their child in care review to talk about who they would like to attend their meeting and where they would like for the meeting to be held. All IRO’s promote the participation of children and young people in their review and consider how best meetings can be held to facilitate children and young people’s attendance.

She stated that within the current reporting period out of 454 reviews, 358 included participation of the child / young person. She added that as the data demonstrates this does not always involve the child being physically present at the review and verbally contributing but includes participation through the attendance of an advocate and other persons within the child / young person’s network.

She said that one of the key functions of the IRO is to resolve problems arising out of the care planning process and whilst IRO’s are expected to establish positive working relationships with social workers of the children for whom they are responsible this should not prevent the IRO from addressing any concerns they may identify for a child in respect of their placement, care plan, resources available and poor performance.

She added that currently there is no data report available that can collate how many informal and formal issues are raised by an IRO in any given year, however all IRO’s are expected to inform their Manager in supervision of any issues that have required the use of the informal and formal stages of the dispute and resolutions Protocol. She said that this has identified this as being one of the key areas for development in the coming year (2019/20) and will be working with the Business Intelligence Manager within the Council and the Service Designer for the Liquidlogic Children’s System (LCS) so this data can be captured.

She said that she was proud to work with so many committed members of staff who act with compassion and are always looking to improve.

Councillor Paul May asked how colleagues respond to queries raised by her.

The Deputy Lead for Safeguarding and Quality Assurance: Children and Young People said she felt able to have the sometimes difficult conversations and had no concerns with escalating an issue if not satisfied.

Councillor Andrew Wait asked if any further comment could be made on the percentage of Children and Young people having 3 or more placement  moves within a 12 month period.

The Deputy Lead for Safeguarding and Quality Assurance: Children and Young People replied that the matching of children is crucial and that it is not always possible for them to be placed in long term care in the first instance. She added that placements must meet the needs of the child and that unfortunately some relationships do break down.

The Panel RESOLVED to;

i)  Note the increase in numbers of children and young people placed in the care of the Local Authority and the performance of the Independent Reviewing Service in reviewing the quality of the care planning for these children.

ii)  Recognise the complexity of the work that is required with children and young people and continue to support the IRO Service in ensuring that the Local Authority fulfils its statutory responsibilities to the children and young people in care

iii)  Support the need for additional data reporting to be made available so that there can be greater understanding of the use of the Issues Resolution Protocol and whether there are any themes as to the concerns identified by the IRO Service for the children and young people in the care of the Local Authority.

iv)  Promote the IRO Services key areas for development for 2019-2020 with colleagues in the Council’s Children’s Services.