Setting

Mr Nick Whitfield Director of Education and Children’s Services London Borough of Richmond upon Thames 1st Floor Regal House London Road Twickenham TW1 3QB

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Richmond upon Thames Children’s Services

This letter contains the findings of the recent unannounced inspection of contact, referral and assessment arrangements within local authority children’s services in the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames which was conducted on 25 and 26 November. The inspection was carried out under section 138 of the Education and Inspections Act 2006. It will contribute to Ofsted’s annual review of the performance of the authority’s children’s services.

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Richmond upon Thames Children’s Services

The inspection identified no areas for priority action but some areas for development, which are detailed below.

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Richmond upon Thames Children’s Services

The inspection sampled the quality and effectiveness of contact, referral and assessment arrangements and their impact on minimising the incidence of 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. I am grateful to you and your staff for your help and the time given during this inspection.

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Richmond upon Thames Children’s Services

From the evidence gathered, the inspection identified a number of areas where the contact, referral and assessment arrangements were delivered satisfactorily in accordance with national guidance, in particular:

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Richmond upon Thames Children’s Services

ƒ Arrangements for responding to contacts and referrals are effective and timely, with appropriate decision making by managers.

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Richmond upon Thames Children’s Services

ƒ Child protection cases are identified well and responded to appropriately and in a timely way. Freshford House Redcliffe Way Bristol BS1 6NL T 08456 40 40 40 enquiries@ofsted.gov.uk www.ofsted.gov.uk Direct T 0117 9456333 Direct F 0117 9456554 Safeguarding.lookedafterchildren@ofsted.gov.uk ƒ Children are seen alone and their views taken into account and appropriately recorded in assessments.

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Richmond upon Thames Children’s Services

ƒ Families are appropriately involved in assessment and care planning with consideration in most cases given to their ethnic, religious and cultural needs.

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Richmond upon Thames Children’s Services

ƒ Initial and core assessments are of mainly good quality and their timeliness is above the national average.

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Richmond upon Thames Children’s Services

ƒ Arrangements for the provision of the out of hours social work service are clear and well integrated.

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Richmond upon Thames Children’s Services

ƒ The Common Assessment Framework is being used effectively in work to improve outcomes for children in need, with appropriate targets for further development.

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Richmond upon Thames Children’s Services

From the evidence gathered, the following strengths and areas for development were also identified:

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Strengths

ƒ Social workers are well supported by their managers and effectively communicate, leading to good staff morale. Frequent and good quality supervision is provided to staff with effective managerial oversight of decisions on cases.

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Strengths

ƒ Effective partnership working across all agencies, including the police child abuse investigation team, results in timely and planned action to protect children and young people.

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Strengths

ƒ Arrangements for file audit and quality assurance are well established and used effectively to promote improvements in practice.

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Strengths

ƒ Management information is comprehensive and effectively used at all levels of the local authority, the Children’s Trust and Local Safeguarding Children Boards to monitor performance and drive forward service redesign and improvement.

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Strengths

ƒ Good training and development opportunities are actively promoted for social workers and are well regarded.

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Areas for development

ƒ Difficulties in recruiting permanent and suitably experienced front line managers and social workers result in additional work pressures and responsibilities for existing members of staff and a potential risk to the quality of the delivery of the service.

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Areas for development

ƒ Some social workers in the initial response team have caseloads which are significantly higher than the target set by the local authority, reducing their capacity to close cases in a timely way.

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Areas for development

Heather Brown Divisional Manager, Social Care Safeguarding

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Areas for development

Copy: Gillian Norton, Chief Executive, London Borough of Richmond upon Thames. Tony Eccleston, Independent Chair of Richmond upon Thames Safeguarding Children Board. Cllr Malcolm Eady, Lead Cabinet Member for Children’s Services and Education, London Borough of Richmond upon Thames. Andrew Spencer, Department for Children, Schools and Families.

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