Setting

Ms Sally Rees Executive Director of Children’s Services Staffordshire County Council Wedgewood Building Tipping Street Stafford ST16 2DH

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arrangements within Staffordshire 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 Staffordshire County Council which was conducted on 13 and 14 July 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 Staffordshire 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 Staffordshire children’s services

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

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arrangements within Staffordshire children’s services

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

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Strengths

ƒ Social workers have excellent access to training and staff development opportunities. ƒ The use of the common assessment framework is good in comparison with similar areas with significant numbers of children and families benefiting from well coordinated services. 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

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Satisfactory practice

ƒ Contact, referral and duty arrangements are effective. There is widespread awareness of safeguarding needs leading to appropriate contacts and referrals by all agencies.

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Satisfactory practice

ƒ The ‘First Response’ service, which deals with all incoming work, processes and transfers contacts and referrals promptly.

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Satisfactory practice

ƒ Team managers are making sound decisions in response to contacts and referrals and appropriately prioritising work in accordance with need and risk.

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Satisfactory practice

ƒ Work is appropriately allocated to social workers according to their skill and experience and managers provide effective oversight and direction.

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Satisfactory practice

ƒ Staff in contact, referral and assessment teams receive regular supervision and state they have good access to their managers for advice and guidance. Formal supervision is regular and recorded.

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Satisfactory practice

ƒ Initial and core assessments are generally timely and ensure that need and risk are suitably evaluated.

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Satisfactory practice

ƒ Child protection investigations, core group and strategy meetings are timely and lead to effective planning for the safeguarding of children and young people.

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Satisfactory practice

ƒ Emergency duty arrangements are well embedded and ensure that there is appropriate information sharing between the emergency duty service, ‘First Response’ and contact, referral and assessment teams.

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Satisfactory practice

ƒ Social worker visiting frequency is regular and children and young people are routinely seen alone as part of assessments and subsequent planning.

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Satisfactory practice

ƒ Joint work to facilitate early intervention and continuous family support is contributing to a comparatively low rate of re-referrals.

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Areas for development

ƒ Case records reflect that children and young people have been seen during assessments and visits and that account has been taken of ethnicity, culture, religion, disability and linguistic needs. However, records do not consistently show how this information is used in case planning or that user views have been fully considered.

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Areas for development

ƒ The electronic recording system, which is undergoing substantial development, is hindering the smooth operation of assessment and case planning. Staff and managers are exhibiting frustration with the system and have found it necessary to develop a variety of back-up systems to secure their work. Excessive time is being taken to operate this system which is detracting from face to face contact with children, young people and their families.

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Areas for development

ƒ Joint working at initial phases of assessments and case planning is extensive but the engagement of agencies, other than social care, is less consistent in longer-term planning arrangements.

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Areas for development

ƒ The breadth of work in safeguarding teams is extensive and sometimes leads to staff feeling under excessive pressure to meet deadlines for initial and core assessments as well as court proceedings.

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Areas for development

Any areas for development and priority action 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: Mr N Bell, Chief Executive, Staffordshire County Council Mr K Black, Chair of Staffordshire Safeguarding Children Board Mr I Parry, Lead Member for Children’s Services, Staffordshire County Council Andrew Spencer, Department for Education

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