Surrey Children's Improvement Plan€¦ · Surrey and Signs of Safety), and launched a single front door MASH (Multi Agency Safeguarding Hub). Most critically our social workers continue

Working together as one team so all children are seen, safe and heard

Surrey Children’s Improvement Plan

October 2017 – September 2018

Surrey Children’s Improvement Plan: October 2017 – September 2018 Version date: 25.01.2018

2

Contents

Part 1: Introduction p 3-4

Part 2: Progress so far p 5-6

Part 3: Our focus for this year p 7-16

Part 4: Ensuring this plan makes a difference p 17-26


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Part 1 Introduction

SEEN, SAFE, HEARD

EEN, SAFE, HEARD

We are all committed to ensuring children in Surrey get the right help, care and protection at the right time so they are safe and can succeed

In June 2015, Ofsted judged Surrey County Council’s arrangements to safeguard children from harm as ‘inadequate’. As a result we began a significant three-year improvement programme.

We have made some positive progress over the last two years as shown in Part 2 of this document. However we know support and services are not yet good enough for our children. We want the best possible outcomes for every child and we have more work to do together over the next year to achieve this.

This refreshed Improvement Plan (October 2017-September 2018) summarises how we will build on the foundations we have established and further accelerate and embed improvements for children over the next twelve months.

We will continue to put the child first and essential to this is understanding what difference we are making to children and their families’ lives. We asked children we support what is most important to them. They told us:

I need help now

I want to talk to someone I trust

I only want to tell my story once

I want to belong

I want to be happy and safe

I want to be with friends and family

I want some fun To ensure we respond to what matters for children we have made three commitments for children. It is our job to make sure that all children are seen, are safe and are heard. All the actions we take must be focused on meeting these commitments for children. Hearing children means ensuring the views of children, young people and their families are always sought and listened to by all practitioners and inform decision making. The

voice of a child or young person must be recorded and taken into account no matter what their age or ability to communicate directly. This can be done in a variety of ways including direct engagement and discussion with parents, family members, carers, or other professionals. Putting the child first means working together as one team in partnership with local communities, families and children in Surrey.

Challenges to ourselves

We use three questions to identify what else we can do to ensure progress and impact for children:

Are we putting the child first?

What difference are we making for children?

Are we working as one team for children?

Our commitments for children

Children are seen

Children are safe

Children are heard


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Part 1 Introduction

SEEN, SAFE, HEARD

EEN, SAFE, HEARD

What are the needs of children, young people and families in Surrey?

Approximately 287,600 children and young people live in Surrey. Most do well because they have a safe, stable and loving home life and make progress and achieve well in school. But, there are thousands of children and young people in Surrey who face challenging home and family circumstances. There are approximately 6,000 children in Surrey that are at high risk or in urgent need of care and protection and need a social care intervention. In addition there are many more thousands of children who require some earlier help and specific support so problems don’t become more serious and difficult – these might relate, for example, to disputes in the home, an illness or disability in the family, or parenting problems. Surrey’s overall population of children and young people is growing, with increasing demands being put on public services. For example, an additional 16,000 school places have been provided since 2011, with thousands more needed over the coming years.

The number of contacts to Children’s Social Care has risen by 28% from 60,915 in 2011/12 to 77,811 in 2016/17 and demand is forecast to rise further, with numbers of children in need forecast to rise by 20% over the next three years.

Deprivation does exist in Surrey and there are groups of children and young people who experience poorer outcomes. Around 10% of children and young people live in poverty. Pockets of poverty in Surrey are often close to the most affluent areas where differences can feel more marked for children and can lead to social isolation and poor integration.

There are emerging risks which Surrey’s children and young people may be exposed to, including traditional harmful practices, child sexual exploitation and child trafficking. It is important to understand the prevalence of these within the Surrey population in order to inform the planning of services and prioritisation of improvements which may be needed in response to this emerging need.

For more details see:

The Health and Wellbeing of Children and Young People in Surrey - The Independent Annual Report of the Director of Public Health, Surrey County Council 2015-2016

The Joint Strategic Needs Assessment 2017 for Safeguarding Children

SSCB Annual Report 2016-17

http://www.surreyi.gov.uk/Resource.aspx?ResourceID=1705




https://www.surreyi.gov.uk/ViewPage1.aspx?C=resource&ResourceID=1796

https://www.surreyi.gov.uk/ViewPage1.aspx?C=resource&ResourceID=1796

http://www.surreyscb.org.uk/documents/2017/09/sscb-annual-report-2016-2017.pdf


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Part 2 Progress so far

SEEN, SAFE, HEARD

Stronger foundations and self-awareness

Since launching our three-year Improvement Plan in summer 2015 we have improved our services for children from what was a very challenging starting point. Progress was not made fast enough in some areas, particularly during the first year. However the pace and impact of change is now growing. Since 2015 we have put in place new leadership arrangements, grown stronger partnerships, developed deeper insight from data and audits, established more stable and engaged teams with lower caseloads, introduced a strength-based framework for sustained practice improvement (Safer Surrey and Signs of Safety), and launched a single front door MASH (Multi Agency Safeguarding Hub). Most critically our social workers continue to demonstrate real commitment for their work and “know the children they are working with well” (Ofsted Monitoring Visit, April 2017 report).

A key feature of our culture of improvement to date has been the development of stronger self-awareness at an organisational and individual practitioner level and across the partnership. We are now actively seeking and using data and insight so we identify what is working well for children and what still needs to be improved. This has been supported by the development of better performance data, assessment and audits of practice quality, feedback from staff, children and families, and external challenge from the Department for Education (DfE), Ofsted and peer review teams. We have started to see the benefits of the stronger foundations that are now in place, with some examples of improved practice quality. In particular, the roll out of the Signs of Safety casework model as part of our overall Safer Surrey approach is driving cultural change and practice improvement with positive feedback from practitioners. However, we also know that practice is not yet consistently good enough for all children.

In particular:

There are children still waiting too long in situations where they are not assessed, helped or protected quickly enough, with thresholds for support sometimes applied inconsistently.

We are not always providing our looked after children and care-leavers with all the support they need.

We do not always hear enough from children to ensure the right support is provided, for example there are delays in holding return-home conversations after children go missing.

We need to better understand what support and early interventions make the most difference for children and ensure these are well signposted, joined up and available to those that need them.

For more details on work in 2015 and 2016 see:

Children’s Improvement Plan 2015

Children’s Improvement Plan 2016

https://www.surreycc.gov.uk/__data/assets/pdf_file/0007/67363/Childrens-Improvement-Plan-2015-090915.pdf

https://www.surreycc.gov.uk/__data/assets/pdf_file/0019/103294/Childrens-improvement-plan-2016.pdf


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Part 2 Progress so far

SEEN, SAFE, HEARD

“…they [my personal advisor] are the best person in my life, supporting, caring and guiding me…” We know that when we get things right for the children we support it makes a lasting positive difference to their lives. Equally, we know that when we don’t it has a significant negative impact. The contrasting quotes here from two different young people who have recently left care reflect this very powerfully.

“I felt forgotten [when I did not get the support I needed from my personal advisor]”

Our promise to children Based on the evidence of progress so far and feedback from staff and children and families we believe we are now on the right track to develop good and outstanding services for children over the coming years. This plan sets out the next stage of work we will complete to accelerate improvements in specific areas of weakness and embed consistent practice in all aspects of our work with children. We will be making these improvements at the same time as responding to the growing needs of children and families in our communities, and operating within financial constraints. It won’t be easy but we are confident we have identified the right actions and will be relentless and tenacious in delivering the improvements that children in Surrey deserve. We are all committed to ensuring that all children are seen, safe and heard. This plan is our promise to children.

Members of the Surrey Children’s Improvement Board Cllr David Hodge CBE, Leader of SCC (Chairman)

Ben Bartlett, Vice-Chairman (Secondary Schools Phase

Council)

Cllr Clare Curran, Cabinet Member for Children (SCC)

Diane McCormack, Acute Director of Children’s

Commissioning (CCG)

Elaine Coleridge-Smith, Chair (Surrey Safeguarding

Children’s Board)

Cllr Hazel Watson (Leader of the Surrey Opposition

Forum)

Jon Savell, Detective Chief Superintendent (Surrey

Police)

Julie Fisher, Acting Chief Executive (SCC)

Mary Ellen McCarthy, Executive Principal of the Lumen

Learning Trust (representing the Primary Phase Council)

Cllr Mary Lewis, Cabinet Member for Education (SCC)

Cllr Nick Harrison (Leader of Residents Association and

Independent Group)

Paul Walsh, Chairman (Special Schools Phase Council)

Rose Durban, Interim Director of Children’s Services

(SCC)

Vicky Stobbart, Director of Nursing, Quality and

Safeguarding (CCG)

Our Improvement Board is made up of members from the

Council and partners representing key agencies delivering

services for children including from health, police, schools

and the SSCB. Our improvement advisor from the DfE,

Clive Harrison, also attends the Improvement Board.


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Part 3 Our focus for this year

SEEN, SAFE, HEARD

This plan

This Improvement Plan for 2017-2018 has three areas of focus:

There is a fuller description of these overleaf and in Part 3 a full list of the strategic actions we will take to deliver improvements in each area. All of these actions will be completed in partnership, but for each there is a named “Improvement Board champion” who will lead the work. This plan is underpinned by the operational and legislative practice standards for safeguarding and early help services.

As part of partnership working the actions in

this plan are aligned with a wider set of

shared key improvement actions agreed by

the Surrey Children and Young People’s

Partnership – these have been agreed to

meet our overall Surrey ambition that:

“all children, young people and families will be

happy, healthy, safe and confident in their

future”

The improvement work outlined in the plan is

also aligned with the Surrey Safeguarding

Children Board (SSCB) and other strategic

partnerships and groups. For example, there

are links to the work underway in partnership

to improve support and services for children

with Special Educational Needs and

Disabilities (SEND) which is overseen by the

SEND Partnership Board.

We will continue to track the impact our improvement actions are having on children and families - arrangements are in place within the council and across our partnerships to ensure robust scrutiny of progress and the Improvement Board will continue to oversee this. You will find further information on our website here.

The Quality and Effectiveness of Frontline Practice

Capacity, Capability and Culture

The Quality of Partnership and Governance

https://www.surreycc.gov.uk/social-care-and-health/partnerships-and-programmes/childrens-improvement-programme/improving-special-educational-needs-and-disability-services

https://www.surreycc.gov.uk/social-care-and-health/partnerships-and-programmes/childrens-improvement-programme/childrens-improvement-board

https://www.surreycc.gov.uk/social-care-and-health/partnerships-and-programmes/childrens-improvement-programme/childrens-improvement-board

Part 3 Our focus for this year


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SEEN, SAFE, HEARD

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Regular cycles of learning

We will continue to focus on this so that our professional practice with children and families is consistently of a good quality. By continuing to embed the Safer Surrey approach we will ensure we always focus on the child and support children and families to use their strengths and play an active part in developing solutions that improve their lives.

We will continue to focus on this so as needs and demands in our communities change we have the right people and leadership in place across our partnership to respond effectively. Leaders will continue to focus on creating the conditions for high quality practice to flourish within a supportive and collaborative learning culture where staff feel trusted. We will continue to adapt and develop our teams so staff have manageable workloads and the tools and skills to provide the help that children and families need.

We will continue to regularly review the impact of our work – from an individual case level up to the overall picture across the county. This includes further strengthening the routines we have in place to enable us to understand what is working well, what we are concerned about, and what action is needed to improve lives for children – and we will ensure the right people are able to reflect on these findings and put the learning into action.

We will continue to focus on this so we can work even better together as one team across all agencies, focusing our efforts in a coordinated way and sharing information and lessons learnt to make a difference for children. We will continue to develop our governance arrangements ensuring they provide robust challenge and assurance on behalf of children. We will also build on the good approaches we already have in place to make sure there are ways for children, young people, families and staff to share their experience and shape the design of services.

Key strategic actions The Quality and Effectiveness of Frontline Practice


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1) The Quality and Effectiveness of Frontline Practice

Why are we focused on this?

We will continue to focus on this so that our professional practice with children and families is consistently of a good quality. By continuing to embed the Safer Surrey approach we will ensure we always focus on the child and support children and families to use their strengths and play an active part in developing solutions that improve their lives.

What difference will this make to children?

We will know children are seen, safe and heard because our practice across Social Care, Education, Health, Early Help and SEND will reflect it. We will be listening to children their families, carers and other professionals and consistently using that feedback to help inform and improve our practice. A strengths based approach will be evident throughout our practice with children. School attendance should be very high with the numbers missing out on education, training or employment being very low, from the early years to post-16. Our social workers will see children through visiting them at home and will often see them alone. Our initial child protection conferences, ‘core groups’ and the reviews of safety plans will happen on time and these meetings should be well attended by children, families and the professionals that support them. Health visitors will see children and continue their vital role in keeping all newly born children safe. When children go missing from home, care or school we will respond proactively and seek to see those children to assure ourselves that they are safe and to hear why they went missing.



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Key strategic actions we will complete in partnership this year (Oct 2017-Sept 2018)

Ref Key strategic action Board

champion

Ofsted Rec (s) 2015

Delivery Mechanism

1.1

Monitor timeliness across all areas of practice using up-to-date performance information and identify actions to improve timeliness while delivering improvements in the areas already identified as priorities including: Public Law Outline (PLO) and achieving permanence, Child & Family Assessment (C&F) process, Child Protection visits and Initial Health/Dental Assessments. What we learn from our QA work, listening to the voice of the child and performance information will inform our improvement decisions.

Director of Children’s Services (DCS) (SCC)

10, 13, 14, 17

Safeguarding Programme

1.2

Ensure practitioners in all agencies have a shared understanding of thresholds so that they are applied appropriately and consistently across all parts of the system. Evaluate the effectiveness of the use of the Levels of Need Guidance to support children and update it incorporating feedback from staff and partners

Chair (SSCB) 4 SSCB plan

1.3

Develop and implement an effective system for Missing Children that identifies & reduces risk, builds intelligence & understanding of why children are going missing and where they are going, disrupts any activities of concern and ensures children are returned in a timely way with the required support in place following the return home.

Joint Chair (SEAMMB)

6, 23, 24 Missing Multi-Agency Action

Plan

1.4

Tackling child sexual exploitation (CSE) is a local strategic and operational multi-agency priority. We will review and update multi-agency CSE operating procedures, ensure compliance across partners and implement a method for measuring compliance to achieve an improved multi-agency operational response to CSE.

Joint Chair (SEAMMB)

3, 5, 12, 23

CSE Multi-Agency Strategy

1.5

Evaluate the effectiveness of MASH arrangements across Surrey and continue to monitor the improved MASH, alongside partners, assuring that actions in the MASH Development Plan are positively impacting timeliness and quality of decision making at the front door, including timely feedback to referrers. MASH procedures and contacts will continue to be monitored, and updated, in collaboration with partners to ensure we have the best practice in place to identify, but also to assess and analyse risk to children, harm to children and to respond in ways that best meet their needs.

DCS (SCC) / Chair (SSCB)

4

Safeguarding Programme /

MASH Development

Plan

1.6 Further develop and embed an integrated approach for safeguarding oversight of children who are in Elective Home Education, CME (children missing education), engaged in less than 25 hours of education, or in alternative provision

DCS (SCC) / AD Schools & Learning

23, 24 Continuous

Improvement Service



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champion

Ofsted Rec (s) 2015

Delivery Mechanism

1.7

Ensure our children in care are healthy, aware of their choices and are supported to have improved health and well-being – including timely initial health assessments, review health assessments and dental assessments. Ensure children leaving care can access their health histories, know how to do so and that they are provided in a timely and secure way.

CCG lead / AD Children’s Services

22 Corporate Parenting Strategy

1.8

Recognise the vulnerabilities of unaccompanied asylum-seeking children (UASC), work closely with partners to effectively reduce risks such as those related to trafficking, CSE, FGM and possible radicalisation. Establish rigorous systems for tracking missing unaccompanied asylum-seeking children and ensure we have adequate placement provisions for them within the Looked After Children service, including a focus on improving health assessments for these young people

DCS (SCC) / AD Children’s Services


1.9 Promote and develop a schools led improvement system that ensures vulnerable children are safe, thriving and achieving good learning outcomes.

School Phase Leads / AD

Schools and Learning

Schools

Improvement Plans

1.10

Review practice and procedures for children living with, or vulnerable to, Domestic Abuse (DA) and reduce its overall prevalence, ensuring there are effective services in place to support those children experiencing DA, including: - Support and information services to help survivors make safe decisions about their future and to help repair the damage done. - Effective processes for the sharing of information across agencies to ensure greater consistency in the definition of harm and sufficient awareness of DA across all agencies to maximise opportunities for early intervention and prevent DA from occurring. - Focus on procedures to work with known or suspected perpetrators to break the cycle of offending behaviour.

Joint Chair (DAMB)


1.11

Continue to implement the Children’s Services QA Framework for Vulnerable Children so learning is used at an individual practitioner and service level to improve outcomes for children. This will incorporate any recommendations from the internal audit position statement from mid-2017. Further develop and embed the QA Framework(s) for the rest of Children, Schools and Families directorate.


25 Continuous

Improvement Service

1.12

Evaluate the effectiveness of early help arrangements across Surrey and develop and deliver an

integrated early help offer for children and families in need. Reduce the likelihood of children and young

people entering care or other acute and specialist services, where this can be prevented, with families

receiving whole family help and support at an earlier stage of intervention

DCS (SCC) / AD Commissioning & Prevention

Early Help

Transformation Programme



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SEEN, SAFE, HEARD


champion

Ofsted Rec (s) 2015

Delivery Mechanism

1.13

Reshape delivery of the Edge of Care service to better meet the needs of local families with multiple needs, including through support and intervention at an early stage and working better across partnerships to deliver an effective service more efficiently to help reduce the number of children coming into care.


Early Help

Transformation Programme

1.14

Review and update the Corporate Parenting Strategy for 2018 onwards and continue to deliver Action Plans and respond to needs and priorities of looked after children and care leavers. This includes ensuring children have right support and plans in place so we meet our pledges to them as Corporate Parents on placements, contact, choice, skills and safety.

DCS (SCC) AD Children’s Services

15-22 Corporate Parenting Strategy

1.15 Review and improve mental health and emotional wellbeing support and services for children and young people, ensuring they are accessible and improve outcomes.

CCG lead / AD Commissioning and Prevention

Joint

Commissioning Strategy


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Key strategic actions Capacity, Capability and Culture

SEEN, SAFE, HEARD

2) Capacity, Capability and Culture


We will continue to focus on this so as needs and demands in our communities change we have the right people and leadership in place across our partnership to respond effectively. Leaders will continue to focus on creating the conditions for high quality practice to flourish within a supportive and collaborative learning culture where staff feel trusted. We will continue to adapt and develop our teams so staff have reasonable workloads and the tools and skills to provide the help that children and families need.


Children and families will be listened to, we will hear what they say and use this

learning to inform and reform our practice. The voice of children and families

should be evidenced in our case recording, minutes of meetings, performance

reports, our policies and plans and most importantly in the conversations we

have every day and the leadership of all of us. Hearing children is a vital step in

our journey to put the child first. When children come into the care of the local

authority we will assess their health needs promptly, conduct timely reviews of

care placements and work to ensure placement stability that is close to home.

Ensuring that children are seen, safe and heard often starts at our safeguarding

‘front door’ where all decisions will be made within 24 hours and we will get

children the right help at the right time.


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Key strategic actions Capacity, Capability and Culture

SEEN, SAFE, HEARD



champion Ofsted Rec

(s) 2015 Delivery

Mechanism

2.1 Embed Safer Surrey within Children’s Services, across the Children, Schools and Families directorate and across the partnership through the rollout of the Signs of Safety, strengths-based approach.

DCS (SCC) 25 Safeguarding Programme

2.2 Implement the Joint Commissioning Strategy and related plans to address identified needs for vulnerable children as developed by the Children and Young People Partnership Board – this includes ensuring the wider Surrey workforce is developed to meet needs

DCS (SCC), DCC Police, CCG lead

Joint Commissioning Strategy

2.3 Continue to enhance understanding of the council’s capacity in each service area and rebalance resources to best meet demand while reducing reliance on temporary workers.

DCS (SCC) Safeguarding

Programme

2.4 Review and refresh the Children’s Workforce Strategy and continue to build on progress so far through the Workforce Development project, ensuring staff are skilled and supported and we have the right people in the right place, at the right time


12 Safeguarding Programme

2.5 Further develop the MASH so it meets timeliness and quality targets, including timely feedback to referrers – this will be underpinned by a sustainable staffing model and appropriate and effective management of demand, delivering improved outcomes for children through procedures that effectively identify and assess risk, harm and the needs of children.

DCS (SCC)


2.6 Continue to complete targeted team wellbeing assessments where issues have been identified, produce plans to reduce sickness absence in these areas and complete an annual health check for all children’s social work staff


Continuous Improvement Service

2.7 Strengthen performance and insight reporting at both a management and operational level across Children’s, Schools and Families services to support a culture where we use information to continuously improve practice and target improvements where they are needed most.

DCS (SCC) 23, 24 Information Management Programme


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Key strategic actions The Quality of Partnership and Governance

SEEN, SAFE, HEARD

3) The Quality of Partnership and Governance


We will continue to focus on this so we can work even better together as one team across all agencies, focusing our efforts in a coordinated way and sharing information and lessons learnt to make a difference for children. We will continue to develop our governance arrangements ensuring they provide robust challenge and assurance on behalf of children. We will also build on the good approaches we already have in place to make sure there are ways for children, young people, families and staff to share their experience and shape the design of services.


The children’s partnership will deliver consistently good practice that is sensitive to the context of a family, where our practice is restorative and compassionate. We must go beyond asking what is ‘working well’ and work with risk and harm – with love - restoring children to safe homes, supported by their families and nurtured by their communities. The evidence for this transformation will be demonstrated in our learning audits of practice and learning circles with practitioners. By working together as one team for Surrey children we will make a lasting difference to our practice and its impact on children and families.


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Key strategic actions The Quality of Partnership and Governance

SEEN, SAFE, HEARD



champion

Ofsted Rec (s) 2015

Delivery Mechanism

3.1 Quality assure practice improvement on a monthly basis and ensure robust management oversight and supervision for MASH, Assessment, Children in Need Services, Child Protection, Looked After Children and Early Help services. We will ensure learning is reviewed and followed up with identified improvements quickly embedded into practice.

DCS (SCC) / AD Children’s Services, AD Commissioning and Prevention

1, 2, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11,

13, 17

Quality Assurance Approach

3.2 Develop processes to ensure the skill of health practitioners are used to their full potential as partners of the MASH team, jointly assessing information and analysing risk, need and harm.

CCG lead 4 Safeguarding

Programme

3.3 Ensure Senior Managers across the Children, Schools and Families services are held to account for improving performance through regular evidence-based accountability meetings. Managers should know and understand the practice and improvement models and their role in delivering the actions within this plan.

DCS (SCC) 23 Continuous Improvement Service

3.4 Continue further development of the Children, Schools and Families Extended Leadership Team following the 12 month high performance leadership development programme and role model Safer Surrey behaviours across Leadership.

DCS (SCC) Safeguarding Programme

3.5 Further develop the relevant scrutiny and internal assurance mechanisms within each agency to help achieve consistent understanding, provide robust support and scrutiny across agencies and enable leaders to prioritise work and make difficult decisions

All Improvement Board Members

Continuous Improvement Service

3.6 Support the development of a culture of continuous learning across member agencies and respond to local and national policies and agendas through the development and maintenance of the Surrey Safeguarding Children Board Learning and Improvement Framework

Chair (SSCB)

SSCB Learning & Improvement Framework

3.7 Hold regular Improvement Board meetings with membership from the Council, partners and other key stakeholders, to oversee, drive and scrutinise the delivery of improvement work outlined in the Children's Improvement Plan

Leader of SCC (Chairman)

Children’s Improvement Plan

Part 4: Ensuring this plan makes a difference


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Commitments, Improvements & Challenges

When assessing our progress delivering the strategic actions outlined in this plan we will always put the child first and

focus on our commitments for children.

Working together with all key agencies delivering services for

children, we will focus our improvements on three areas,

all essential to ensuring we deliver improved outcomes for children and families.

When assessing progress against this plan we will

consistently ask ourselves three key challenges, take

action in response and embed this learning into our work.



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Improvement Board & Governance

There are several layers of governance in place to monitor progress in delivering the actions and achieving the outcomes for children outlined in the Children’s Improvement Plan:

Strategic Partnerships

Internal Oversight within agencies

Change Programmes within agencies

The Improvement Board will continue to shape and drive the delivery of the strategic actions in this plan. It will review the difference we are making for children and will identify issues where additional commitments and actions are required to ensure improvement. It will link to other statutory boards - such as the Surrey Safeguarding Children Board and Corporate Parenting Board – and groups to ensure there is joined up delivery, focus and accountability across the system.



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Quality Assurance

Across the partnership there are a variety of quality assurance processes in place to review the quality and effectiveness of practice for children. These vary in specific design but all our quality assurance arrangements seek to ensure:

A focus on outcomes and impact for children

A culture which is open to challenge and willing to learn from it

A workforce which is skilled, supported, and committed to on-going learning and development

Through our shared work to embed the Signs of Safety practice model in all our safeguarding work we are applying three key aspects of quality assurance:

Case audits in collaboration with practitioners to support learning and reflecting the essential elements of the practice that delivers outcomes

Family feedback on practice and staff feedback on organisational fit and leadership – focussing attention on the way workers practice and organisations lead and manage

Core data for monitoring case trends and outcomes

There are also some common steps in all our quality assurance methods. The diagram below illustrates these typical steps – it is important that each stage is proactive, to inform action and improve outcomes for children who are at the centre of our work.

Standards - Know our standards and practice model Tools - Use a range of QA tools to asses ourselves Analysis - Analyse the results when using those QA tools Review - Review how well we are delivering services Learn - Learn from this process to improve practice Impact - Assess the outcomes for children and families


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Measures that Matter

Using performance data as well as qualitative information is essential to understanding the impact we are having on children

and families and monitoring our progress delivering the improvements within this plan. This information will also help to

identify areas of concern that require corrective action.

The key measures listed below will be used to track the impact of this plan. These are a sub set of the more comprehensive

range of qualitative and quantitative measures that are included in the Council’s Children’s Performance Compendium.

Service leaders and operational managers continuously review and assess the information and this helps us target our efforts

in areas that will have the greatest impact for children and families or where improvement is needed. It is also used by the

Improvement Board to scrutinise progress, to identify and investigate areas of concern in detail and to acknowledge and

celebrate improvements when they are improving the lives of children.

Note on Benchmarking Data: Where benchmarking data is available it has been applied to the measures shown here and

can be seen, and scrutinised by the Improvement Board in the revised Performance Compendium. Further benchmarking data

is included in the ‘Surrey in context’ section of each page of the Children’s Performance Compendium (where relevant). Any

changes to targets have been rationalised through regional comparison and national published data.


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Measure Baseline

31/12/16

Actual

31/12/17 Target

Impact on Children &

Families

Contact,

Referral and

Intervention

No. of contacts to the

MASH per month 3732 4466

For tracking purposes – to

understand the impact of police

triage, application of thresholds

and management of our

resources.

Partners make appropriate contacts to the

MASH in line with thresholds for referral to

children’s services leading to the completion

of timely assessments to identify need and/

or step down to Early Help.

MASH contacts timeliness

- % with a decision made

within timescales

66%

18% (average of all

levels within 1

working day)

Level 4 – 90% within 4 hours Level 3 – 80% within next working

day Level 2 – 90% within 3 days Level 1 – 90% within 5 days

Contacts should be allocated ASAP to

ensure Early Help & Social Care teams can

provide the support required without drift or

delay.

% of Referrals to

Children’s Services that

are re-referrals

25% 28%

Re-referrals reduced to 22% of all

referrals per month (this is above

the national average for 2016/17

but in line with the regional

average in 2017/18).

Ensuring effective decision making and

providing quality support to children and

their families will reduce the re-referral rate.

Child & Family

Assessment Timeliness -

% completed within 45

days

89% 82%

84% of child and family

assessments are completed within

a 45 day period

Assessments should be completed in a

timely manner so that the support needed

by children and their families is provided

without delay.

Assessment - Staff

caseloads - No. of cases

per FTE

26.9 28 22-28 cases per FTE

Staff caseloads must be closely managed to

ensure Children's Services have the

capacity to meet demand Intervention - Staff

caseloads - No. of cases

per FTE

21.4 21 15-20 cases per FTE


22


SEEN, SAFE, HEARD

Measure Baseline

31/12/16

Actual

31/12/17 Target


Families

Child Protection

(CP)

% of Initial CP

Conferences held within

15 days of the first

Strategy meeting

63% 24%

80% of Initial Child Protection

Conferences held within 15

working days of the strategy

meeting that initiated S47

enquiries.

Completing work within statutory timescales

decreases risk, stress and uncertainty for

children and families because they are

getting the help they need when they need it

% of CP reviews held on

time 100% 95%

90% of Child Protection reviews

are held on time

% of CP plans open for

over 24 months 2.4% 1.8%

Less than 2% cases open for over

2 years

% of CP visits held within

10 working days 68% 89%

90% of all child protection visits to

be completed within 10 working

days

Public Law Outline (PLO)

timeliness - % of

Decisions made within 12

weeks for children in PLO

NA 35%

Decisions for 90% of children in

PLO are made within the 12 week

statutory guidance by 1 April 2018

Child Protection Staff

Caseloads 15.8 14 13-18 cases per FTE



capacity to meet demand

Care Planning &

Review

Looked After Children

Timeliness of reviews - %

of reviews completed on

time

84% 86%

90% of all reviews to be

completed on time: 90% of 1st

reviews within 20 days, 90% of

2nd reviews within three months

and 90% of subsequent reviews

completed every 6 months


23


SEEN, SAFE, HEARD

Measure Baseline

31/12/16

Actual

31/12/17 Target


Families

% of Looked After

Children with an up-to-

date Personal Education

Plan (PEP)

86% 90% 90% of Looked After Children

have an up-to-date PEP

As corporate parents we want every child to

feel safe and confident about their future,

and grow up with the same opportunities as

their peers.

We want our looked after children to be:

- Happy where they live

- Making progress

- Healthy and aware of their

choices

- Confident about becoming an

adult

- Safe and feel safe

% of Looked After

Children in care less than

one year, aged over 2

years of age, with a

Dental Check completed

NA 39%

90% of Looked After Children in

care less than one year have a

completed Dental Check

(provisional pending consultation

with the regional benchmarking

group)

% of Looked After

Children in care more

than one year, aged over

2 years of age, with a

Dental Check completed

in the last 12 months

NA 68%

90% of Looked After Children in

care more than one year have a

completed Dental Check in the

previous 12 months

% of Looked After

Children, Looked After for

1 year or more with a

Review Health

Assessment completed

within timescales

NA 71%

90% of Looked After Children

Review Health Assessments

completed within timescales

% of Looked After

Children with a completed NA 6%

90% of Looked After Children to

have a completed initial health

assessment within 28 days of


24


SEEN, SAFE, HEARD

Measure Baseline

31/12/16

Actual

31/12/17 Target


Families

initial health assessment

within 28 days

becoming looked after (pending

discussion with CCG and CQC)

% of Looked After

Children with a Pathway

Plan completed aged 16

years plus

NA 64% 95% of eligible Looked After

Children to have a completed

Pathway Plan.

Care Planning

& Review

% of Care Leavers with a

completed Pathway Plan 89% 99%

100% of care leavers have a

pathway plan by the time they are

eligible

As corporate parents we want every child

to feel safe and confident about their future,

and grow up with the same opportunities as

their peers.

We want our looked after children to be:

- Happy where they live

- Making progress

- Healthy and aware of their

choices

- Confident about becoming an

adult

- Safe and feel safe

% of Looked After

Children Placement

Short term Stability

9% 9%

Not more than 9% of Looked After

Children to have three or more

placements during in the

preceding 12 months.

% of Looked After

Children Placement

Long Term Stability

66% 68%

70% of Looked After Children

aged under 16 years who have

been in care for 2 ½ years or

more, have been in their current

placement for 2 years or more.

Looked After Children

Placement Distance

(% out of county and more

than 20 miles from home)

22% 25%

Not more than 20% of looked after

children should be placed more

than 20 miles outside of the local

authority boundary


25


SEEN, SAFE, HEARD

Measure Baseline

31/12/16

Actual

31/12/17 Target


Families

Looked After Children -

staff caseload 16 16 12-17 cases per FTE



capacity to meet demand

Early Help

No. of children referred to

Early Help via the MASH 957 13171

12,000 children referred to Early

Help per annum (1,000 p/month) By working with partners together we can

provide children with the right support at the

right time so problems don’t escalate.

No. of children receiving

an Early Help Assessment

69

(Jan 17) 1976

1,600 families receive an Early

Help assessment per annum (133

p/month)

CSE & Missing

Children

No. of children at risk from

Child Sexual Exploitation

(CSE)

128 135

For information - To understand

volumes and ensure we have the

capacity to meet needs

By talking to other professionals on a

regular basis we can keep a track of the

risks our most vulnerable children are

exposed to and take action with our

partners to keep them safe

No. of children starting a

missing episode within the

calendar month

101

(Nov 16)

166

(Nov 17)

For information - To understand

volumes and ensure we have the

capacity to meet needs

Children can go missing for all sorts of

reasons and it is important that when they

do we find them quickly and understand

why they went missing by talking to them

upon their return. This information can then

be shared as appropriate with partners and

used to understand risks to children.

% of children offered a

return home conversation

within the calendar month

85%

(Nov 16)

79%

(Nov 17)

100% of missing children are

offered a return home

conversation


26


SEEN, SAFE, HEARD

Measure Baseline

31/12/16

Actual

31/12/17 Target


Families

% of children accepting a

return home conversation

within the calendar month

80%

(Nov 16) 66%

75% of missing children offered a

return home conversation accept

Educational

Outcomes for

Vulnerable

Children

An additional key performance measure focused on the impact of joint Surrey partnership working on children’s education

will be included here following agreement with Primary, Secondary and Special School Phase Councils.

This measure is subject to final approval on 25 January 2018 and will be included in the updated Improvement Plan

published after that date.

Documents

Surrey Children's Improvement Plan€¦ · Surrey and Signs of Safety), and launched a single front door MASH (Multi Agency Safeguarding Hub). Most critically our social workers continue