Memorandum submitted by the London Borough
of Hackney
1. SUMMARY
The London Borough of Hackney has made good
and steady progress not only in improving the lives of looked
after children, but successfully intervening to work with families
so that fewer children need to be taken into care. To improve
the prospects for these children further and even faster, we have
recently introduced a radically different model for the delivery
of children's social services. This memorandum describes firstly
the initiatives we have led to ensure that we listen to children,
and secondly the process of changing the way we provide social
work services to this group. We believe both of these initiatives
are helping us in our aim to put the child at the heart of all
that we do.
2. INTRODUCTION
2.1 Hackney is one of the most deprived
and diverse boroughs in the country with higher than average numbers
of children growing up in poverty. Entitlement to free school
meals, often used as a proxy indicator for child poverty, shows
that Hackney has the fifth highest percentage of primary pupils
eligible for free school meals in London and the third highest
of secondary school pupils: 41% of primary school pupils and 38%
of secondary school pupils in Hackney's maintained schools are
eligible.
2.2 Our strategy to keep children and young
people safe is to build capacity within families and communities
to care for children and young people safely, by providing practical
support and using evidence based, systemic interventions to facilitate
positive change in parental and child behaviour. This strategy
has been highly successful in reducing the numbers of looked after
children, and the numbers of new entrants to the care system.
Numbers of looked after children per 10,000 children have continued
to fall and is significantly below statistical neighbours. In
2005-06, there were 89.5 LAC per 10,000 children, falling to 84.4
in 2006-07 and falling again significantly to 73.7 in 2007-08.
Our statistical neighbours had an average of 93.9 LAC per 10,000
children in 2006-07. The volume of new entrants to care in 2007-08
is very low.
2.3 Improving services, increasing opportunities
for all, and raising the life chances of the most disadvantaged
have been top priorities for Hackney's executive Mayor, Jules
Pipe CBE, since he was first elected in 2002. In particular, the
Mayor is determined that all Hackney's children and young people,
irrespective of their background, get the care and support they
need not only to get the same life chances as others, but to have
a safe and enjoyable childhood. When considering ways of meeting
these objectives for the most vulnerable of our children and young
people, especially for those in care, it became apparent that
fundamental changes to the way we delivered children's social
services were needed.
3. LISTENING
TO WHAT
LOOKED AFTER
CHILDREN SAY
3.1 In listening to what children in care
wanted, we were clear that we needed to ensure that our staff
have the skills and capacity to hear and respond to the voice
of the child. It was evident that in anything to do with children
and young people, it is the quality of their interactions with
the people with whom they come into contact that has the greatest
effect on their future view of the world. That means that the
workforce, in its broadest sense and including carers, needs to
feel confident, empowered and able to see the child at the centre
of the tasks that they undertake.
3.2 We believe that families remain the
main structural unit in our present state of social development.
While children's safety and welfare remains our top priority,
we wanted to support families to keep them intact wherever possible.
We also wanted to create some kind of continuity for the child;
so many looked after children say that they cannot get hold of
their social workers—they are off sick, on leave or unavailable.
Our model, where units of workers are built around the child,
means that everyone in that team not only knows the details of
the child's case but is trained, supported and mandated to act
on their behalf. This is not just about the team working around
the child, but about the child themselves. The child, the family
and the professional system will have a story (often each have
a different story) and a systemic approach to our intervention
allows us to see the story from each part of the system and the
child his or herself.
3.3 For looked after children, this means
there is also extensive opportunity for therapeutic work as well
as early identification of mental health issues so they can be
addressed at a more specialist level through our Child and Adolescent
Mental Health Services (CAMHS) partners. Clinicians also work
alongside foster carers to enable them to learn new behavioural
management strategies. This is all complemented by our PCT based
Looked After Children (LAC) Health Team. Our Fostering Service
recently received a 4 `outstanding' grade for our health work
with looked after children.
3.4 Over recent years we have led four key
initiatives to find out what Hackney LAC think about the services
they receive:
3.4.1 The Blueprint Project
As part of a national project led by VOICE,
a voluntary organisation who focus on advocacy and looked after
children, we worked with a group of young people who highlighted
the main issues for them. A video was produced and we established
a way of working alongside looked after children to examine how
we worked.
3.4.2 Innovations project
This was a similar project on a grander scale.
A group of young people in care worked for a year with Youth Skills
Network, a local voluntary organisation, and produced a high quality
DVD which was launched last year. The group met with the Corporate
Parenting Panel to outline their concerns about aspects of their
care, and the DVD is being used as a training tool with large
numbers of staff.
3.4.3 Annual Questionnaire Consultation
The Council has run a survey for looked after
children for a number of years. In 2007, 56 responses were received—a
response rate of 19% of all looked after children over the age
of eight. The key findings included some very positive feedback:
— 93% felt well supported and safely
looked after;
— 80% feel able to talk to their social
worker and tell them how they feel;
— 75% know they have a Personal Education
Plan and 65% a Care Plan;
— 81% say they have access to a computer;
— 76% have someone who helps them with
their homework; and
— 83% report having regular check-ups
at the doctors and the same percentage at the dentists.
The survey also highlighted areas where looked
after children wanted things to be changed, and we have responded
positively in implementing these changes.
36% said they do not see their social worker
enough—The Reclaiming Social Work model that we have introduced
has been designed to ensure that social workers can focus on time
spent with children and families. We will monitor closely how
looked after children feel about how regularly they see a member
of the social work unit.
28% felt that being looked after has made it
difficult to do some of the activities that they would like to
do and 40% would like to do other activities—Ensuring that
looked after children and young people have access to excellent
youth and leisure facilities is a key priority for our Corporate
Parenting Strategy. We have negotiated free access for all looked
after children to Hackney's leisure facilities.
3.4.4 Regular Members Surgeries
We have established monthly Members' surgeries,
themed according to the Every Child Matters outcomes, which have
successfully engaged young people in the Council's care with elected
Members and professionals working in Children and Young People's
Services and partner agencies. For example, the December 2007
surgery was an open forum structured around the `staying safe'
outcome, which was attended by the Youth Offending Team (who talked
about gang culture), a domestic violence specialist, a behavioural
consultant (who talked about bullying), Sub 19 (Hackney's young
people's substance misuse service), the Police, and the head teacher
of Hackney's virtual school for looked after children. 10-15 young
people attended, some with a carer and some with their social
worker. They gained access to and advice from these various services,
and reported that they had enjoyed the event.
3.5 The educational attainment of looked
after children has been a key priority in Hackney for a number
of years and continues to be so. The Council's Learning and Skills
Scrutiny Commission undertook a review in 2005, and found that
although outcomes were improving for looked after children, the
gap between their attainment and that of their peers was not acceptable.
3.6 Members continue to have a very clear
role in providing leadership, challenge and scrutiny to the educational
attainment of looked after children. A Corporate Parenting Board
has been established, chaired by the Lead Member for Children
and Young People's Services, and reporting to the multi-agency
Change for Children Board.
3.7 In the last 12 months we have adopted
the virtual school model and have a dedicated Head Teacher in
post. The Head Teacher reports to the Corporate Parenting Board
on progress and areas for focus. This has really enhanced our
ability to manage educational based casework activity particularly
where children are based out of borough. For example, almost all
children starting secondary school in September 2008 have now
secured places in schools with either "good" or above
Ofsted grades. The head teachers of the virtual school have authority
and can navigate the system with good results. In 2006, 22.7%
of our care leavers had five or more GCSE passes at grades A to
C, a massive increase from 5.6% the previous year, and comparing
very well with our statistical neighbours, who averaged 8.8%.
The Fostering Service's contribution to children and young people
enjoying and achieving was rated as good by Ofsted in March 2008.
3.8 Whilst there is still a long way to
go in terms of promoting greater equality of outcomes between
looked after children and their peers, this represents a significant
improvement and suggests that our strategy is successful.
4. BACKGROUND—WHY
CHANGE THE
MODEL OF
SOCIAL WORK
DELIVERY?
4.1 In recent years there has been significant
progress and a substantial improvement in meeting and exceeding
performance targets for Children's Social Care in Hackney. Despite
these improvements, there was a belief at senior management level,
that to some extent, social work had lost its way, lacked confidence,
expertise, gravitas and is over-bureaucratised. This view of social
work is not exclusive to Hackney; the need for change has been
recognised nationally not only in the implementation of the Children
Act 2004, but specifically in relation to social work roles and
tasks.
4.2 In order to realise the vision for children's
social work, Children's Social Care in Hackney has undergone a
wholesale restructure which is now in its final stages. We have
had enormous success in retaining a large number of our current
staff group and in recruiting new people. We believe we now have
the workforce we require to deliver social work of the highest
calibre.
4.3 Reclaiming Social Work is about providing
high quality services to children and their families. We recognise
that the job of a social worker is a challenging one requiring
a range of complex skills and a sound knowledge base from which
to practice. This includes the skills and knowledge to successfully
carry out effective assessments, implement evidence based intervention
methodologies with families, understand both the physical and
emotional development of children and young people, the ability
to make positive relationships with families and other professionals,
strong report writing skills and good communication skills. Practitioners
also need to be confident, articulate, and professional and have
stamina and determination. In short to provide an effective social
work service is a difficult job. We have set high expectations
to provide good social work practice and also expect staff to
perform at a consistently high standard in their work with all
children, and to improve their response to looked after children.
4.4 The change programme overall, however,
is at its very initial stages. This is a long term strategy of
3 to five years. We have set out to change a culture of practice
and management which has built up over many years in the profession,
nationally and locally here in Hackney.
5. RECLAIMING
SOCIAL WORK—THE
NEW MODEL
FOR SERVICE
DELIVERY
5.1 In summary, the model will restructure
the front line social work service into units, with Consultant
Social Workers (CSW) leading each social work unit. There will
be 48 social work units across the Children's Social Care division,
providing services to all groups of children including those at
risk of harm and children who are looked after by the local authority.
Each unit comprises:
— 1 x Consultant Social Worker—a
practising social worker with management responsibilities, paid
at Team Manager level;
— 1 x Children's Practitioner—a
non social work qualified practitioner;
— 0.5 Family Therapist or Clinical
Practitioner; and
— 1 x Unit Co-ordinator—with
responsibility for co-ordinating diaries, arranging meetings and
generally ensuring the unit runs efficiently.
5.2 The whole unit works with the child
and family, and the traditional model of case allocation is not
followed. The CSW has ultimate case accountability and formally
the cases are allocated to them, but each member of the unit undertakes
tasks in relation to the social work intervention. The CSW leads
a weekly case discussion meeting where each case is reviewed and
plans made for the following week. This meeting is a crucial element
in ensuring the effective functioning of the unit and maintaining
accountability for the work. For looked after children this is
reducing the possibility of drift—unit members will be reviewing
the plans for these children on a weekly basis.
5.3 A programme addressing professional
development and culture change is running alongside the changes
in structure to ensure that staff acquire the competencies required
to manage the service. All social work units attend a 5-day induction
course before starting to operate, with a further five follow
up days during their first 12 months.
Two key elements of the new model are:
— professional autonomy—decision
making at CSW level; and
— purposeful intervention using methodologies
which have a proven evidence base—specifically systemic
family therapy and social learning theory.
6. WHAT WILL
THE CHANGES
ACHIEVE?
6.1 The objectives of the new model of service
delivery are to:
— provide a systemic model of intervention
with families, which is balanced with risk management of cases;
— develop the clinical and therapeutic
services on offer to families;
— provide a framework for professional
development of social workers and managers, with a structured
career path leading to qualification for unqualified children's
practitioners;
— devolve authority to ensure timely
response and efficient service delivery on the front line;
— ensure a balance between assessment
and provision of services by increasing the amount of time spent
on direct intervention;
— expand targeted family support services
in order to shift the emphasis in favour of early intervention
for families;
— continue to reduce the numbers of
children coming into care by enabling them to remain safely with
their families; and
— ensure that the children's social
care workforce is competent, confident, fit for purpose and in
a strong position to respond to the demands of the Children's
Trust developments.
7. IMPLEMENTATION
AND EARLY
FINDINGS
7.1 Implementation began in January 2008
and there are currently 15 social work units up and running in
the following areas: Children in Need, Looked After Children,
Rapid Response, Adoption, Homerton Hospital service. There is
a plan for gradual implementation during 2008 and into 2009, with
groups of social work units being implemented as new staff are
appointed.
7.2 The Consultant Social Worker post is
crucial to success and there is a rigorous selection process to
ensure that staff of a high calibre are appointed. We anticipate
that all 48 posts will be filled with permanent employees by March
2009.
7.3 The first group of units have now been
operating for three months. Early findings indicate that there
have been significant changes in the way the services have been
received, by families and viewed by other agencies. The early
findings are outlined in the following paragraphs.
7.4 Consultant Social Workers report that
because there is a more intensive intervention, they are seeing
change happen in families at a faster rate. There is less likelihood
of drift.
7.5 The Unit Co-ordinator is described as
invaluable and other members of the social work unit are able
to spend more time working with families and less time on administrative
functions. For looked after children this translates to more time
spent with children, and less time in the office.
7.6 Children and families have quickly understood
the concept of the social work unit and when making contact will
ask to speak to other members of the unit if the person they have
telephoned is unavailable. Other professionals in the Homerton
Hospital service have reported an improved response from the social
work service.
7.7 Members of the unit report that they
are able to use the clinicians within their units to see families
through a "clinical lens". Unit members are still learning
how to mix the disciplines and work together effectively, but
the initial feedback is positive. For children waiting to be adopted,
this means they can access therapeutic help at an early stage
and do not have to wait until they are in a settled placement.
7.8 The units are developing a culture of
shared ownership and positive working relationships. The Consultant
Social Workers report that the units deal very effectively with
emergencies, with all members working together to assist families
in crisis.
8. EVALUATION
8.1 An independent evaluation has been commissioned
and will be undertaken by Eileen Munro, Professor of Social Work
at the London School of Economics working with Human Reliability,
a consultancy firm specialising in impact evaluation.
8.2 The evaluation will consider how the
model is working across Children's Social Care and will look at
whether practice is improving and the impact on children and families.
The evaluation will give particular consideration to outcomes
for looked after children. A range of measures and processes will
be used to establish success in these areas. The evaluation will
be carried out over a two year period with published reports produced
on an annual basis.
May 2008
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