Agenda item

The Head of Service, Children’s Quality Assurance and Safeguarding presented the IRO Annual Report to the Panel, outlining statutory duties, service performance, and areas for development. Key points included:

·  Disruption to service due to structure changes, impacting review timeliness.

·  220 children in care at year-end, with a majority in the 10–15 age bracket.

·  Focus on placement stability, family reunification, and advocacy for children with disabilities.

·  Introduction of midway reviews and strengthened dispute resolution protocols.

·  Internal audit rated the service “substantial assurance” (level 4/5).

Councillor David Harding asked if increased foster carer allowances would improve the number of available placements and placement stability.

The Head of Service, Children’s Quality Assurance and Safeguarding replied that while financial incentives might help, the quality of support is so crucial.

The Director of Children’s Services & Education added that a plan to find additional carers was incoming as part of the work from the South-West Fostering Hub.

Kevin Burnett queried the IRO’s role in the adoption process and involvement if placements breakdown.

The Head of Service, Children’s Quality Assurance and Safeguarding replied that IROs provide a robust oversight that includes visits to prospective adopters, instigation of a 20-day review and that if a placement should break down an IRO would be allocated to analyse if all services were in place.

She added that she had no concerns with the timescales for the adoption process and that they work in close collaboration with Adoption West.

Councillor Liz Hardman questioned the delays in social work reports prior to a review taking place.

The Head of Service, Children’s Quality Assurance and Safeguarding said that she was confident improvements will be made and that there were ongoing efforts to strengthen practice and oversight. She added that all Social Workers know their children very well.

Councillor Hardman commented that she was also concerned about arrangements for young people post 18, placement stability and visits to children in care.

The Head of Service, Children’s Quality Assurance and Safeguarding replied that she was aware placement stability issues and that IROs will discuss any concerns raised with carers. She added that levels of concern over these areas had reduced since the summer.

Councillor Joanna Wright asked about out-of-area placements and local children’s home provision.

The Assistant Director for Children and Young People Services explained that there is no in-house provision currently and said that ongoing sufficiency planning was being undertaken.

The Director of Children’s Services & Education added that the Council were considering whether it would be possible for them to develop their own children's homes.

Councillor Hardman asked if any further comment could be made on the recently released budget proposals – savings of £390,000 through reunifications and £75,000 through optimizing commissioned contracts.

The Director of Children’s Services & Education replied that the intention is that the savings will be delivered by an increase in family reunifications and step downs from residential placements. She added that officers would look at whether any contracts can be varied and that a review of individual care packages will likely take place.

The Chair explained that further budget discussions would take place at the January meeting.

She also requested interim updates on key areas of concern from the report, including social work practice and placement sufficiency.

The Panel RESOLVED to;

i) Note the stable numbers of children in care, the improvement in child in care timeliness compared to the previous year (2023-2024) and the rigour of the IRO service in reviewing plans for children in care. IRO’s continue to offer challenge where there are themes impacting on children in care evidenced by IRO’s use of the revised dispute resolution protocol.

ii) Consider the feedback received and the findings of internal audit on the IRO service, where the service was awarded level 4 – substantial assurance. The service has good awareness of the areas requiring improvement which are areas of focus for 2025-2026.

iii) Promote the role of the Independent Reviewing Officer (IRO) for the children in the care of the Local Authority. Recognising the value that IRO’s offer to children in care, the relationship at times being one of the most long standing and providing consistency for the child. IRO’s seek to form positive relationships with the children in which they are allocated, empowering them to participate in their child in care reviews and share their wishes and feelings.