Children’s Social Care Improvement Plan on track in face of Covid challenges

Democracy and Local Affairs, Health and Social Care

Buckinghamshire Council’s Children’s Social Care improvement plan continues to move forward, in spite of added challenges caused by the Covid-19 pandemic.

The Council’s Cabinet heard yesterday (Tuesday 9th) an update on the improvement plan as part of regular monitoring to ensure performance continues to drive forward. The update detailed additional measures brought in by the service to cope with increased demands on the service coupled with a rise in the complexity of cases.

Buckinghamshire Council’s Children’s Social Care service has been praised by Ofsted during regular monitoring visits since the last full inspection of the service, with Ofsted noting the Council’s steadfast support of children’s services in its most recent visit. Ofsted noted that service leaders have maintained a firm focus on doing the best for children and families and importantly have also focussed relentlessly on the well-being of the workforce.

This is reflected in the improvement plan update which finds that in spite of significant pressures and high case-loads, progress remains on track, staff morale remains positive and the staff feel supported.

Of note, the update to Cabinet outlined:

  • data analysis that shows how cases have escalated in ‘seriousness’ in recent months, but that the Council is coping with the increased complexity and is continuing to support these most vulnerable children to achieve positive outcomes
  • that there’s been a significant rise in the number of child protection plans during 2021, but that the Council is coping with the increased demand
  • that positive strides are being made to recruit more social workers, including permanent recruitment of overseas staff and daily phone calls to social work agencies, perseverance which is resulting in more new starters joining the service

Anita Cranmer is Buckinghamshire Council’s Cabinet Member for Children’s Services. She said:

“It’s absolutely vital to us that we carefully monitor the progress of our improvement plan throughout, and I pay a huge tribute to all of our children’s social care staff who are continuing to work exceptionally hard through really tough circumstances. The challenges we face are not unique to Buckinghamshire and as ever, our focus remains firmly on the children of Buckinghamshire that we support. I’m proud that this update shows how we are continuing to drive forward service improvements to help keep them safe.

Our priority continues to be close performance monitoring to ensure this carries on being the case, alongside recruiting more staff to ease the pressure on the current workforce, alongside ensuring these staff all continue to feel supported. We have taken a creative and very proactive approach to staff recruitment and I praise the service managers for their perseverance in helping to attract new children’s social workers to Buckinghamshire Council.”