Agenda item

The Panel review the annual report so as to ensure members are appraised on the care provided to children for whom the Local Authority are responsible.

The Deputy Lead for Safeguarding and Quality Assurance (Children

and Young People) introduced this report to the Panel, a summary is set out below.

The 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.

Following a re-structure at Director Level, the IRO service now sits under the

Director for Education, Inclusion and Children’s Safeguarding. The change in

Directorate has not caused any disruption to the work of the IRO’s and has

preserved the high level of independence that IRO’s in Bath and North East

Somerset have.

The IRO service has been fortunate to gain some additional administrative

support this year, this has enabled the service to review some of its processes,

consider alternative ways of communicating with carers of children in care and

provides much needed support to the IRO’s in terms of their work.

All full-time members of the team receive monthly supervision with part-time staff receiving supervision on a six-weekly rotation. Supervision allows opportunity for reflection, consideration of the needs of the children placed in the care of the Local Authority, review of performance, statutory compliance and areas for development / learning.

The numbers of children and young people in care in this reporting period is fairly static from the previous year, with more children leaving care in the last 12 months than entering which is the first instance in which this has occurred for the last five years.

The appointment of an IRO when a child or young person comes into care is the responsibility of the IRO Service Manager. Allocation will be determined by the existing workload of the IRO, whether the child is already known to an IRO or Independent Chair, the number of children in the family, the location of the

child’s placement and the complexity of the child’s needs and level of care

planning required. It is important that IRO’s have a workload that is reflective of

their capacity and expertise.

The IRO Service chaired a total of 528 child in care review meetings in 2019-

2020, an increase of 74 from the previous year when the number of children and young people in care was higher. An increase in the number of child in care

reviews can raise question as to placement stability, however the stability rate for children in Bath and North East Somerset remains fairly static.

Between the 1st April 2019 and the 31st March 2020 there were only 19 reviews

that could not be held in timescale and as such this means that on average

across the year 96% of the reviews held were within the appropriate timeframe.

This is a significant improvement and is beyond the 87% target set for the service.

In Bath and North East Somerset, the gender breakdown has again remained stable and is line with the national picture, with males accounting for 54% of the children and young people placed in the care of the local authority and 46% female.

As of the 31/03/2020 the largest cohort of looked after children were 10-15 year

olds who accounted for 44% of the entire number of children and young people

in care of the Local Authority. Young people aged between 16-18 were the

second largest group accounting for 22%, with children under 12 months old

being the smallest at 5%. The ages of children in care has therefore remained on par with last year and mirrors what was seen nationally across England as of 31/03/2019.

Of the 181 children and young people in the care of the Local Authority as of the 31/03/2020, 99 (55%) were subject to a full Care Order, meaning final decisions about their long-term care had been made. 21 (12%) children were subject to an Interim Care Order, meaning these children are yet to know their permanence plan and 25 (14%) children were subject to a Placement Order with the Local Authority therefore having permission to undertake family finding with the view to these children being adopted. The remaining 35 (19%) children were in the care of the Local Authority with the agreement of the child’s parents.

Due to the geographical size of Bath and North East Somerset and the small

communities found across the authority it is not always possible for a child to be placed within their local area, in this reporting period 124 (69%) children and

young people in care were placed outside the boundary of the local authority or

20 miles away from their family home.

The number of young people in the care of Bath and North East Somerset who

are unaccompanied and seeking asylum remains very low accounting for 4% of the entire child in care population. As of the 31st March 2020 there were seven young people in the care of the Local Authority who were seeking Asylum, with three of these young people having arrived over the preceding 12 months.

Feedback from children and young people continues to be a challenge for the

service. Following the poor response rate last year from children and young

people the manager of the IRS wrote directly to all children and young people

aged 11 - 17 years (124), their carers and where appropriate their parents in

order to obtain their thoughts on the child in care review meetings and the work

of the IRO.

Out of the 124 letters sent, only 19 children and young people responded. Whilst this small number of children and young people are not representative of the entire children and young people in care, their feedback is important and has been discussed in supervision with every IRO and will be considered in terms of service development.

The Chair asked if all of the IRO’s within B&NES were female.

The Deputy Lead for Safeguarding and Quality Assurance (Children

and Young People) replied that they were and that nationally it appeared to be a female role. She added that she could not recall any recent applications from male candidates.

Councillor Liz Hardman said that the report was very thorough and that she fully appreciated the work of the IROs. She added that she also welcomed the attempts made to gain feedback from young people. She said that she would support further work to increase the number of local Foster Carers.

The Director of Children & Young People replied that they continued to recruit Foster Carers through the period of lockdown and were due to have a further 11 households available.

Councillor Andy Wait asked if there were any specific arrangements in place with other Local Authorities given that a large number of children are placed outside of B&NES.

The Deputy Lead for Safeguarding and Quality Assurance (Children and Young People) replied that there is no criticism from the IRO on Foster provision and that it is the quality of carers that is important alongside taking into account the sometimes complex needs of the children concerned.

Kevin Burnett asked if there was role for the IRO following a final review having taken place.

The Deputy Lead for Safeguarding and Quality Assurance (Children and Young People) replied that there was no statutory requirement for involvement after the age of 18, but support can be offered and discussions would take place in the build up to the final review.

Kevin Burnett asked for further comment on a young person’s entitlement to advocacy.

The Deputy Lead for Safeguarding and Quality Assurance (Children and Young People) replied that all young people have access to an advocacy service. She said that a review question would be added to ask ‘Was an advocate offered?’ and that data on this would be provided in the report next year. She added that the work of Off The Record and the involvement of Jasmin Miller in her Young Ambassador role was so welcome.

The Panel RESOLVED to;

i)  Note the consistently high number of children in care reviews that are held within statutory timescale thus ensuring the needs of children and young people in care are being appropriately reviewed and care plans effectively scrutinised. The IRO manager has ensured that IRO’s have a workload that allows them to have the capacity needed to maintain good oversight of care planning for children and young people in care.

ii)  Note the number of children and young people in care that are placed over 20 miles from their family home / community and consider what additional support can be provided to children’s social care to increase the number of foster carers available within Bath and North East Somerset. Children need to feel that they can maintain connections with the important people in their life even if they are unable to live within their families.

iii)   Consider the positive feedback that was received directly from children, young people and their carers about their experiences of the Independent Reviewing Officers within Bath and North East Somerset. Feedback from children, young people, their carers, parents and other family members is an area that requires greater resources and focus.

Recognise the quality assurance mechanisms in place within the Independent Reviewing Service and the use of quarterly reports to highlight to senior managers within children’s social care the delivery of child in care reviews, themes identified by Independent Reviewing Officers, recommendations being made at child in care reviews and an understanding of the escalations and challenges made by IRO’s.