Setting

Ms Romi Bowen Director of Children’s Services London Borough of Southwark Mabel Goldwin House 49 Grange Walk London SE1 3DY

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arrangements within Southwark children’s services

This letter summarises the findings of the recent unannounced inspection of contact, referral and assessment arrangements within local authority children’s services in Southwark Council which was conducted on 20 and 21 April 2010. The inspection was carried out under section 138 of the Education and Inspections Act 2006. It will contribute to the annual review of the performance of the authority’s children’s services, for which Ofsted will award a rating later in the year. I would like to thank all of the staff we met for their assistance in undertaking this inspection.

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arrangements within Southwark children’s services

The inspection sampled the quality and effectiveness of contact, referral and assessment arrangements and their impact on minimising any child abuse and neglect. Inspectors considered a range of evidence, including: electronic case records; supervision files and notes; observation of social workers and senior practitioners undertaking referral and assessment duties; and other information provided by staff and managers. Inspectors also spoke to a range of staff including managers, social workers, other practitioners and administrative staff.

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arrangements within Southwark children’s services

The inspection identified areas of strength and satisfactory practice, with some areas for development.

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arrangements within Southwark children’s services

From the evidence gathered, the following features of the service were identified:

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Strengths

ƒ Staff are well motivated and value the professional advice and support provided by managers, who are readily accessible for formal and informal consultation.

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Strengths

ƒ Equality and diversity issues are thoroughly addressed in casework assessment and planning. Freshford House Redcliffe Way Bristol BS1 6NL T 0300 1231231 enquiries@ofsted.gov.uk www.ofsted.gov.uk Direct T 0117 9456333 Direct F 0117 9456554 Safeguarding.lookedafterchildren@ofsted.gov.uk ƒ Senior managers have commissioned good audits of the service, which have been appropriately used to focus service development and to take action to address the development issues identified.

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Satisfactory practice

ƒ Clear procedures and practices are in place to ensure that statutory requirements to safeguard children and young people are met.

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Satisfactory practice

ƒ Systems for receiving referrals are effective. Administrative processes function well to support work within the teams.

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Satisfactory practice

ƒ Contacts and referrals, including child protection referrals, receive a prompt response and are subject to effective initial decision making.

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Satisfactory practice

ƒ All cases, including child protection referrals, held within referral and assessment services are allocated to and assessed by suitably qualified and experienced staff.

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Satisfactory practice

ƒ Children are routinely seen and interviewed where appropriate during assessments.

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Satisfactory practice

ƒ Communication and liaison with partner agencies are effective and contribute towards prompt referral and exchange of information.

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Satisfactory practice

ƒ Most assessments are of a satisfactory quality. Although some are good, others lack sufficiently clear analysis or succinct detail.

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Satisfactory practice

ƒ Managers at all levels routinely audit cases.

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Satisfactory practice

ƒ Links between the out of hours service and the contact and referral service work are effective. Appropriate information is shared promptly.

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Satisfactory practice

ƒ Recruitment and retention strategies are contributing to workforce stability and a reduction in high staff turnover within the service.

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Areas for development

ƒ Unsatisfactory casework practice and managerial oversight within one of the assessment teams have been identified by managers and remedial action taken. Although this action is beginning to show improvement in the quality of work and management oversight within the team, it has yet to become embedded.

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Areas for development

ƒ Managerial oversight and case planning, including the recording of management decisions on case files, are insufficiently robust or consistent. In some cases significant delay occurs in transferring the record of management casework decisions from handwritten notes to electronic case files. Managerial capacity has recently been increased. However, it is too early to assess its impact.

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Areas for development

ƒ Slow development and use of the common assessment framework have led to a lack of clarity among partner agencies about the thresholds to access the referral and assessment services.

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Areas for development

ƒ High numbers of inappropriate referrals are made by agencies to the referral and assessment services, which result in no further action. This has led to deterioration in the timeliness of initial assessments over the last year. Inconsistent application of thresholds by managers across the referral and assessment teams also has impact on the timeliness of assessments and on reducing unnecessary re-referrals.

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Areas for development

Any areas for development identified above will be specifically considered in any future inspection of services to safeguard children within your area.

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Her Majesty’s Inspector

Copy: Annie Shepperd, Chief Executive, London Borough of Southwark Chris Davies CBE, Independent Chair of the Southwark Safeguarding Children Board Cllr Lisa Rajan, Lead Member for Children’s Services, London Borough of Southwark Andrew Spencer, Department for Children, Schools and Families

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