Setting

Mr Steve Rutland Interim Strategic Director Children, Young people and Learning Directorate North Tyneside Council Quadrant The Silverlink North Cobalt Business Park NE27 OBY

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arrangements within North Tyneside Council 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 North Tyneside Council which was conducted on 15 and 16 September 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 North Tyneside Council 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 North Tyneside Council children’s services

The inspection identified areas of strength and areas of practice that met requirements, with some areas for development.

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arrangements within North Tyneside Council children’s services

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

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Strengths

ƒ Staff morale is high and there is good commitment and loyalty to the local community; the service is almost fully staffed and no use is made of agency staff.

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Strengths

ƒ The externally commissioned out-of-hours team provides a high quality service 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 with effective action to safeguard children, good quality recording and robust links to the daytime service. The ability of the team to undertake ‘safe and well’ visits to children on child protection plans and to support families with disabled children strengthens safeguarding arrangements.

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Strengths

ƒ Partnership working on domestic violence is well established with good sources of therapeutic and practical support for children and families from both statutory and voluntary services.

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Strengths

ƒ Good policies and procedures are available to assist staff and professionals from across the partnership to manage risk effectively; in particular, the Indicators of Need threshold agreement and the North Tyneside Framework for Assessment and Referrals are helping to embed thresholds and support the consistency of response to assessed need across agencies.

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following areas

ƒ Overall the First Call team respond promptly and effectively to contacts and referrals from families and other agencies.

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following areas

ƒ All cases are allocated to suitably qualified and experienced social workers and there is no unallocated work.

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following areas

ƒ Where children are assessed as being at risk of harm, including disabled children, appropriate and prompt action is taken to safeguard them.

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following areas

ƒ Children are routinely seen during assessments and their views and those of their families are taken into account when making decisions and planning services to support them.

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following areas

ƒ Most initial assessments are satisfactory with some of a good standard and include a clear analysis of the information gathered to inform decision-making.

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following areas

ƒ In all cases seen, core assessments and Section 47 enquiries include risk assessment, protective factors and good quality analysis which support effective service planning.

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following areas

ƒ Effective arrangements are in place between the First Call team and the Area teams to encourage and enable families to access children in need support.

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following areas

ƒ Consideration of equality and diversity is well evidenced in case recordings and lessons from a serious case review are also helping to shape further development in this area.

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following areas

ƒ Record-keeping is generally up-to-date and of a satisfactory quality.

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following areas

ƒ Social workers receive good support, management oversight and supervision from easily accessible managers who are available to provide advice and guidance to staff to make appropriate decisions, particularly in complex cases. There is a good range and take-up of training opportunities, in particular those provided by the Local Safeguarding Children’s Board (LSCB), helping social workers to develop their professional knowledge and expertise.

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following areas

ƒ A range of performance management activity, including case file audits, is undertaken by managers at all levels on a regular basis. Appropriate action is taken to address any shortfalls in practice. Staff seen by inspectors state they find the file audit activity helps their professional development.

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following areas

ƒ Manageable workloads in the First Call and Safeguarding teams enable staff to deliver an effective service.

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following areas

ƒ Newly qualified social workers receive appropriate induction, have protected caseloads and are provided with intensive support and supervision to facilitate their professional development.

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following areas

ƒ A pro-active approach is taken to seek the views of parents and professionals about their experience of the service which leads to improvements in practice and service delivery.

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following areas

ƒ Nearly all performance indicators are in line or better than statistical neighbours.

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following areas

ƒ Good quality partnership working reinforces safeguarding arrangements well.

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following areas

ƒ Senior managers and partner agencies have a strong focus on and commitment to improving services and there is considerable evidence of monitoring, action planning and reviewing which have resulted in progress.

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following areas

ƒ The LSCB receives and acts effectively on regular management information provided by the First Call team and the Safeguarding team, which supports improvements well.

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Areas for development

ƒ In a small number of cases seen by inspectors, families contacted the First Call service or were referred by agencies several times before action was taken to assess and provide the necessary support for them.

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Areas for development

ƒ The use of both paper and electronic case files in the First Call team is very time-consuming and therefore reduces the time available to work with families.

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Areas for development

ƒ Although regular supervision takes place, and social workers feel appropriately supported, the supervision records seen by inspectors are inconsistent, and do not always reflect the challenges to practice. 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: John Marsden, Chief Executive, North Tyneside Council Barbara Williams, Chair of Safeguarding Children Board, North Tyneside Council David Lilly, Lead Member for Children’s Services, North Tyneside Council Andrew Spencer, Department for Education

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