Item 19 - Chief Social Work Officer Annual Report
North Lanarkshire Council · 22 March 2023
Back to Health and Social Care Integration Joint Board — 22 March 2023 and its agenda
Text extracted from the council's PDF. Layout and reading order may differ from the original.
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1 REPORT Item No: 19 SUBJECT: Annual Report of the Chief Social Work Officer 2021/22 TO: Integrated Joint Board Lead Officer for Report: Alison Gordon Chief Social Work Officer (Education, Families, Justice and Integrated Practice) Author(s) of Report Alison Gordon Chief Social Work Officer (Education, Families, Justice and Integrated Practice) DATE: 22nd March 2023 1. PURPOSE OF REPORT This paper is coming to the IJB for: For approval For endorsement To note 2. ROUTE TO THE BOARD This paper has been: Prepared Reviewed Endorsed In line with guidance this report is approved through the Council and this approval is exercised both through the Adult Care and Social Work Committee and the Education, Children and Families Committee. The Adult Care and Social Work Committee approved the report on 21st February 2023 and the Education, Children and Families Committee will consider the report on 28th February 2023.
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2 3. RECOMMENDATIONS 4. VARIATIONS TO DIRECTIONS? 5. BACKGROUND/SUMMARY OF KEY ISSUES 5.1 Background 5.1.1 The Chief Social Work Officer (CSWO) of each local authority is required to provide an annual report and a standard template for this purpose is issued by the office of the Chief Social Work Advisor to the Scottish Government. The North Lanarkshire CSWO Report 2021/22, which is attached as an appendix to this report, provides information on the delivery of statutory functions, performance and improvement activity across the range of social work services over the last year. In addition, information is provided on the wider governance and planning of social work provision in North Lanarkshire, including its key role in local partnerships, and on both the national and local challenges impacting on the delivery of social work services These challenges include rising demand and complexity of need, reflecting and overlaid by the lasting impact on our communities of the Covid 19 pandemic and the subsequent cost of living crisis The report also reflects social work’s contribution to the Programme of Work underpinning the Plan for North Lanarkshire and Delivering for Communities. 5.1.2 The requirement that each local authority appoint a professionally qualified Chief Social Work Officer is contained in Section 45 of the Local government (Scotland) Act 1994. Statutory Guidance on the role of the Chief Social Work Officer was updated in 2016, in particular to reflect the impact of Health and Social Care integration, extending the responsibilities of the role to provide advice to the Integration Joint Board (IJB). In addition to providing advice both to the Local Authority and IJB in relation to the discharge of statutory social work functions the role continues to carry key responsibilities for professional leadership, values, and standards both for directly provided and commissioned services. 5.1.3 Within North Lanarkshire social work services are now delivered and governed through both the Health and Social Care Partnership (Adult Social Work Services) and the Education and Families Services (Children, Families and Justice Social Work) with the Chief Social Work Officer’s responsibilities for practice and staff governance covering social work functions across both areas. The Chief Social Work Officer role in North Lanarkshire sits within the Education and Families Service with the operational head of Children, Families and It is recommended that the Integrated Joint Board: (1) Endorse this report (2) Note the approval route through Council committees. Yes No N/A
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3 Justice Social Work. However, whilst the CSWO role requires to be undertaken by one designated individual, delegation of responsibilities is permitted where required by the scale of business. In North Lanarkshire this means that the Chief Officer Adult Social Work Services, routinely exercises delegated responsibilities for decision-making and professional standards within adult services as well as providing support and cover with respect to the wider functions of the CSWO role. 5.1.4 As noted above the Annual Chief Social Work Report is intended to provide a key overview of social work service delivery and uses a core template provided by the Scottish Government. The Office of the Chief Social Work Advisor (OCSWA) also produces a national report each year which draws on key themes and messages from CSWO reports across Scotland. 5.2 Report 5.2.1 The report provides an update on the governance and partnership arrangements which provide a framework for the delivery of social work services in North Lanarkshire. There have been limited changes to these within 2021/22 although the incorporation of additional services within Education and Families and within the remit of the Chief Social Work Officer has further strengthened opportunities for joint-working and supported the integration of service delivery and support to individuals and families in key areas such as tackling poverty, employability, and community connection. Similarly social work services remain fully engaged with the continued embedding of the communities structures associated with Delivering for Communities including the delivery of local outcome and improvement plans (LOIPs) through the Community Boards. Continued coherence of planning and delivery across all areas of social work is supported both by the core council operating model and specific cross-cutting arrangements within social work such as the social work leadership and workforce meetings. This close alignment has been particularly important to ensuring a responsive and effective approach to some of the challenges experienced during this period where both the direct the impacts of the pandemic and the related changes in the needs of our communities have required adjustments in service delivery and flexibility in deployment of resources. 5.2.2 A key strength with respect to social work service delivery in North Lanarkshire remains a strong balance of care which has been sustained despite the challenges in service delivery during the pandemic and recovery period. We continue to benchmark well nationally with respect to the proportion of adults and children, including those with complex needs, who continue to receive support, including intensive support, within their own homes and communities. Work across all social work care groups also continues to deliver improvement with respect to effective early support, for example, through the testing of the three conversation model in adult services, enhancements in family support and family group decision making for children and families and a continuing focus on diversion in both adult and youth justice,
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4 5.2.3 Performance in some areas of the service has however been impacted by the significant demand and workforce pressures outlined within the report and this has at times impacted on responsiveness and our ability to consistently deliver the level of high-quality individualised support which is our aim for all those whom we support. This has meant, for example, some people assessed as having less immediate or critical needs having to wait longer for some aspects of service. Pressures have been particularly acute with respect to the delivery of home support services but are a feature across many areas of the service. In response, and as reflected more fully within the report, a range of actions are ongoing to redesign and enhance services, maximise the benefits of integrated working and to support the recruitment and retention of staff, 5.2.4 Looking forward the report reflects on the opportunities for improvement in outcomes for people arising both from national policy commitments such as the Promise and the facilitative local context but also notes the risks to delivery of both improvement and key functions arising from key demand, financial and workforce pressures including the level of change capacity required. This is particularly relevant to the uncertainties introduced with respect to proposals for root and branch structural reform through the implementation of a National Care Service (NCS). The recently agreed establishment of a Member Officer Group within the Council will support focus on this issue whilst other issues highlighted within this report will also continue to be reflected through established reporting structures in the year ahead. 6. CONCLUSIONS As set out above this report is presented to the Integrated Joint Board in order to provide an overview of social work activity and performance for the period 2021/22 in addition to providing context relevant to service delivery with respect to governance, resources, workforce, challenges and opportunities. A number of areas covered within the report will already have been the subject of more detailed reporting to the Board over this period however this overview is intended to facilitate the Board’s oversight, scrutiny and future planning with respect to social work services. 7. IMPLICATIONS As above – no direct implications, 7.1 NATIONAL OUTCOMES The service delivery and improvement activity reflected in the report supports a range of national outcomes. 7.2 ASSOCIATED MEASURE(S) As reflected within the report and in more detailed reporting to the Board.
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5 7.3 FINANCIAL This paper has been reviewed by Finance: Yes No N/A Financial information within the report has been drawn from and verified by Adult Social Work and Education and Families finance teams 7.4 RISK ASSESSMENT/RISK MANAGEMENT None specific to the report – risk context and management measures are referenced within the body of the report 7.5 PEOPLE None specific to report. 7.6 INEQUALITIES & FAIRER SCOTLAND DUTY EQIA Completed & Fairer Scotland Impact Assessment Form Completed: Yes No N/A 8. BACKGROUND PAPERS None 9. APPENDICES Appendix 1 - Annual Report of the Chief Social Work Officer 2021/22 CHIEF ACCOUNTABLE OFFICER (or Depute) Members seeking further information about any aspect of this report, please contact the following; Alison Gordon, Chief Social Work Officer (Education, Families, Justice and Integrated Practice)
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6 ANNUAL REPORT BY CHIEF SOCIAL WORK OFFICER: NORTH LANARKSHIRE 2021/22 The Chief Social Work Officer Function The requirement that each local authority appoint a professionally qualified Chief Social Work Officer (CSWO) is contained in Section 46 of the Local Government (Scotland) Act 1994. The CSWO provides professional governance, leadership, and accountability in respect of the delivery of social work and social care services, including commissioned Services. A key aspect of the role is to provide the local authority Chief Executive, Elected Members and the Integrated Joint Board with advice on social work service delivery and on cross-cutting issues and in parallel to promote understanding of the complexities involved in delivering the linked statutory responsibilities which require consideration of need and the management of risk and liberties. The then Scottish Office explicitly recognised that the need for the CSWO role was driven by “the particular responsibilities which fall on social services in that they affect personal lives, individual rights and liberties to an extent that other local authority services do not.” (Circular: SWSG2/1995 May 1995). The CSWO also has a direct remit for decisions on a number of statutory matters including in relation to secure accommodation, adoption and welfare guardianship as illustrated below. An additional aspect of the CSWO role is to inform the delivery of wider services which support or impact on social welfare. This is of particular importance in the current period of post-pandemic recovery and the cost of living crisis, both of which have impacted disproportionately on those within our communities who already face a range of adversities. In North Lanarkshire the CSWO role is held by Head of Children, Families and Justice Services closely supported by the Head of Adult Social Work Services who holds delegated responsibilities with respect to adult social work and social care, deputises in other areas as required and works alongside the CSWO in relation to the other functions of the role.
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7 Annual Report The CSWO is required to provide an annual report in accordance with Scottish Government guidance. The format of this report was abridged during the pandemic to reflect a smaller number of priority areas and in the light of associated demands and this approach has been maintained for this reporting period. This report therefore seeks to provide an overview of social work service delivery in North Lanarkshire for the period April 2021 to March 2022 and addresses the following areas: Governance and accountability arrangements, including partnership working Service Quality and Performance, including key service developments Resources Workforce Future Priorities The continuing impact of the Covid 19 Pandemic and emerging Cost of Living Crisis have clearly been significant to the landscape of social work service delivery over this period and this is reflected across the report. In this context and that of significant demand and staffing pressures, staff across the service have showed remarkable resilience and a continued commitment to achieving the best possible outcomes to those we support. In presenting this report I would like to thank and pay tribute to all staff involved in the delivery of social work services in North Lanarkshire for their vital work over the past year and the persistence and flexibility shown in the face of a particularly challenging environment. I would also like to thank all internal and external partners, carers, families and communities who have supported us in our work. Alison Gordon Chief Social Work Officer
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8 1. GOVERANCE AND ACCOUNTABILTY ARRANGEMETS Social Work Services in North Lanarkshire continue to play a critical role in supporting and safeguarding our communities. Adult Social Work and Social Care Services are delivered though North Lanarkshire’s Health and Social Care Partnership (HSCNL) whilst Children, Family and Justice Services are delivered through the Council’s Education and Families Service, both arrangements support integration in service delivery with other key services. A range of mechanisms, as reflected below, also ensures strong alignment is maintained across social work in planning, delivery and professional support arrangements. The Social Work Service in North Lanarkshire directly employs around 2,800 staff and in collaboration with commissioned services and partners are involved in providing support to approximately 30, 000 individuals and families at any one time in addition to contributing to wider partnership and community activity. Following previous structural changes, 2021-22 has been a year of relative stability with respect to governance arrangements for social work therefore the core arrangements described below will largely be familiar from previous CSWO reports. I have however highlighted both changes made corporately to continue to strengthen capacity to deliver the wider Plan for North Lanarkshire as to well as to oversight arrangements as services begin to move beyond initial emergency and resilience arrangements put in place during the early period of the pandemic and referenced in my previous report. Moving forward it is clear that proposals for a National Care Service as reflected in the consultation in autumn 2021 and the Bill published in June 2022 are likely to involve radical change in the future governance of social work services. During 2021-22 the Council and HSCP responded to the NCS consultation whilst retaining a focus on continuous improvement within current arrangements, a balance which will is likely to continue to be necessary over the next period. Partnership working at local level remains fundamental to social work and a key aspect of the role of the CSWO involves developing and sustaining effective partnership working and relationships across a range of organisations and structures. In addition to the specific responsibilities of the CSWO to the Council and HSCNL the CSWO holds a key leadership role within a number of local partnerships as well as contributing to the wider national social work community
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9 1.1 North Lanarkshire Council and North Lanarkshire Partnership The Plan for North Lanarkshire continues to set the direction for the council and partners. Its purpose is to communicate the shared priorities and provide a focus for activities and resources around place making with a long-term vision where North Lanarkshire is the place to Live, Learn, Work, Invest, and Visit and of inclusive growth and prosperity. It's a Plan with a shared ambition that aims to ensure the benefits that this brings reach all our communities, and that there is a much fairer distribution of wealth. https://www.northlanarkshire.gov.uk/index.aspx?articleid=1240 It is centred on: improving economic opportunities and outcomes supporting all children and young people to realise their full potential improving the health and wellbeing of communities enhancing participation, capacity and empowerment across our communities and improving North Lanarkshire’s resource base The Plan is supported by 25 high level ambition statements and in turn by a Programme of Work: https://mars.northlanarkshire.gov.uk/egenda/images/att90076.pdf att95824.pdf (northlanarkshire.gov.uk) The CSWO, Head of Adult Social Work and Head of Planning, Performance and Quality Assurance have lead responsibility for key areas of this programme but also a role in ensuring connections are made across the wider range of corporate programmes of work, which impact on areas which are important to those who use social work services, for example, employability services. Phased changes in the council’s management structure have been implemented to support the delivery of the Plan and from spring 2022, the CSWO/Head of Children, Family and Justice Services has also had operational responsibility for Tackling Poverty and for Community Learning and Development and Resettlement functions, creating further opportunity for integrated working in areas which have close links with social work. The Programme of Work is shaped and overseen by the Corporate Management Team and through the council committee structure with the Adult Health and Social Care Committee and Education and Families Committee having oversight of the delivery of social work. The overarching framework for partnership working in North Lanarkshire continues to be provided by North Lanarkshire Partnership (NLP) which brings together the major public sector agencies in the area along with Voluntary Action North Lanarkshire (VANL) the third sector interface in the area. The priorities for delivery across the partnership are now included in The Plan for North Lanarkshire.
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10 The Children’s Services Partnership (CSP) continues to provide multi-agency governance and strategic planning and direction for children’s services in North Lanarkshire. Children’s Service Partnership Board membership includes Elected Members and HSCP/NHS Board representation to enhance the coherence of children’s services planning across key governance structures. There is also direct representation of young people on the Board though the Youth Council, Promise Development Team and Champion’s Board links. Our most recent Children’s Services Plan https://www.northlanarkshire.gov.uk/sites/default/files/2021- 08/North%20Lanarkshire%20Childrens%20Services%20Plan%202021-2023.pdf was published in spring 2021 and is framed around the foundations of the Promise and UNCRC. Young people themselves were integral to the development of the plan with the Promise Development team leading on the development of the vision and the Youth Council undertaking a survey focussing on awareness of rights and leading on identification of actions within the plan to promote and embed these rights. The task groups supporting the delivery of the plan have been reconfigured in line with the updated priorities with new groups focusing on Voice and Family Support, the Corporate Parenting Task Group evolving into the Promise Partnership Care and a refreshed Mental, Health, Wellbeing and Resilience Task Group co-ordinating work including the establishment of new supports as part of the Community Mental Health and Wellbeing Framework. Social Work places a key role in each of these strands with Senior Social Work Managers co-chairing 3 of the 4 task groups and the Partnership’s Continuous Improvement Group. The CSWO is lead officer for the CSP and chairs the Improving Children’s Services Group which has oversight of the work of task groups together with the ‘Scaffolding’ and ‘People’ elements of the Children’s Services Plan. The North Lanarkshire Community Justice Partnership (NLCJP) currently also chaired by the CSWO has responsibility for the oversight of Community Justice in North Lanarkshire. The partnership has benefited from the strong participation of partners and published the North Lanarkshire Community Justice Outcome and Improvement Plan (NLCJOIP) in March 2017. https://www.northlanarkshire.gov.uk/CHttpHandler.ashx?id=20573&p=0. Due firstly to the pandemic and subsequently to ongoing work at national level on a new Community Justice Strategy and revised Outcome Performance and Improvement Framework, this plan initially published as a three-year plan, has since been extended and supplemented by annual action plans to March 2023. Interim planning has been informed by an ongoing process of Strategic Needs and Strengths Assessment. The Community Justice Annual Report 2021/22 NLCJP 2021-22 Annual Report_0.pdf (northlanarkshire.gov.uk) provides an overview of key activity during this period.
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11 During 2020/21 arrangements for the North Lanarkshire Partnership’s Strategic Leadership Board (NLSLB) were revised and new arrangements were agreed for the Community Justice Partnership and Children’s Services Partnership Board to present on an annual basis to enhance visibility and oversight. This has now been implemented leading also to a wider partnership focus on The Promise and commitment to further work to ‘Build a Promise Community’. A similar arrangement is now in place to present the CSWO Annual Report to the NLSLB, with the intention of supporting increased visibility and ownership across the partnership of public protection work (whose multi -agency governance is through the Chief Officer Public Protection Group) as well as the wider work of social work and social care. A key development in North Lanarkshire over the past two years has been the establishment and embedding of nine Community Boards to support community leadership, involvement and capacity building with each area focussing activity through a local outcome and improvement plan (LOIP). Social work services play a part in these supporting local partnership structures with the CSWO undertaking the role of Community Co-ordinator for one of the local boards and the Head of Adult Social Work and Head of Planning Performance and Quality Assurance providing a link to the Health and Social Care Partnership and its strategic commissioning activity across all Community Boards. Senior Social Work Managers also participate in area-based teams and the sub-groups which support the delivery of the LOIPs. 1.2 Health and Social Care North Lanarkshire The Integrated Joint Board and its Performance, Audit and Finance Sub Committee provide the overarching governance structure for the partnership. Both the Head of Children Families and Justice Social Work Services/CSWO and the Head of Adult Services provide professional social work advice to the Board. The Mental Health, Learning Disability and Addictions Partnership Board (chaired by the Head of Adult Social Work Services) and the Frailty and Long Term Conditions Partnership Board (chaired by the Head of Health) have the role of informing and implementing strategic direction on behalf of HSCNL across their respective areas and maximising the opportunities provided by the integration of Health & Social Care to promote best practice and guide the access for individuals to the right support. The Partnership Boards have been in place for a number of years and are currently under review as part of the refresh of the Integration Joint Board’s new Strategic Commissioning Plan 2023-26. The current Strategic Commissioning Plan for the HSCP was published in March 2020 following an extensive engagement process with a wide range of service users, carers and staff the covers the period to 2023: https://www.hscnorthlan.scot/wp- content/uploads/2020/07/Strategic-Comm-Plan-20-23-FINAL.pdf
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12 The Plan identifies three key priorities: 1. People should be in control of the care they receive, and it should meet their needs 2. People are supported to maintain their independence and manage their care needs 3. People are supported and helped to avoid preventable conditions These are also supported by a set of Ambition Statements which guides the work of the partnership going forward: Do the right thing first time Provide a range of community support services to live well in connected communities Focus on what matters to people (outcomes) Be at the forefront of technical and sustainable solutions Promote prevention and early intervention Ensure North Lanarkshire is the best place to work, volunteer and care. The plan is supported by a programme of work which interfaces with the wider Plan for North Lanarkshire and the wider council programme of work Strategic-Comm-Plan-20-23-FINAL.pdf (hscnorthlan.scot) North Lanarkshire Alcohol and Drug Partnership is hosted within HSCNL and has been considerably strengthened over the last two years, co-developing its 2021-2024 strategy around the themes of rights/respect/recovery through engagement with a broad range of stakeholders : https://mars.northlanarkshire.gov.uk/egenda/images/att99221.pdf Five ADP sub-groups have been established to develop actions covering: Prevention, Early Intervention and Education; Treatment Care and Recovery; Whole Family Approach; Public Health Approach in Justice and Reducing Alcohol Harms. In line with the cross-cutting elements within these key areas the interface between the ADP, CSP and CJP has also been strengthened and whilst the lead senior officer for the ADP is the Head of Planning, Performance and Quality Assurance both the CSWO and Head of Adult Social Work Services have a role in the wider ADP structure. 1.3 Support, care, practice and staff governance arrangements The Health and Social Care Partnership’s Support Care and Clinical Governance Committee (SCCGC) continues to meet on a quarterly basis and is chaired on a rotational basis by the CSWO, Medical Director, AHP Director and Nursing Director. The terms of reference for the SCCGC were updated in 2021 to reflect the organisational changes within the partnership and Adult Social Work Services now report via two sector focussed groups. In view of the need to maintain coherence in practice and staff governance across social work functions and care groups the local framework for professional social is supported both by Social Work Leadership meetings, whose frequency was increased to six-weekly in 2022, and by quarterly Social Work Workforce meetings. A brief fortnightly ‘Social Work
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13 Solutions’ meeting also provides a forum for social work Heads of Service, Senior Managers and Business Partners to address cross-cutting business issues. As reported in my previous report, a cross care group working group was established in 2021 involving senior and frontline managers, frontline staff and union representatives to address the challenges presented by new ways of working and organisational changes, initiated or escalated during the pandemic, and in particular the impact of more disparate and remote working on social work practice and on practitioner support needs. This group focussed on how to maintain and enhance the delivery of high-quality services and support staff wellbeing within the context of pandemic and in planning for recovery. Notably it took a trauma informed approach focussing on areas of safety, trust, choice, collaboration and empowerment considered what was working well organisationally and in practice and areas for development. An initial action plan to address identified issues was developed in conjunction with the social work leadership team and whilst the group has met less regularly over recent months its work has informed priorities within wider strategic workforce plans and has fed into planning for the new hubs and the linked operating model within North Lanarkshire. A range of other processes are in place to support assurance around practice and service delivery in social work services. The Quality Assurance and Commissioning Team, hosted in Adult Social Work Services, operates across social work and over 2021/22 its capacity has been strengthened, particularly, to support the CSWO and service responsibilities for the monitoring of the delivery of commissioned services. The team which reports to the Head of Planning ,Performance and Quality Assurance also lead on a range of other functions critical to the duties of the Chief Social Work Officer including with respect to regulatory activity, complaints management and overview, risk management and procurement and provider sustainability as reflected in their annual report for 2021/22: https://mars.northlanarkshire.gov.uk/egenda/images/att99223.pdf Additional arrangements for multi-professional oversight of Care Homes and Care at Home established during the pandemic have also been maintained although the frequency of meetings has been reduced as the year has progressed and pandemic pressures have reduced. In addition, a Home Care Board continues to oversee the wider redesign of the service. In addition to the role of the Quality Assurance Team all Senior Managers within social work undertake regular performance reviews with their teams and support additional audit, development and review activity to support practice standards, agreeing priorities with the CSWO and Head of Adult Social Work Services. With respect to staff governance the CSWO and Head of Adult Social Work also maintain an overview of referrals to, and investigations by, Scottish Social Services Council supported by HR Business Partners. With respect to less formal engagement with staff, whilst there has been a return to more site-based working, and alongside this more direct team interactions over the course of the year, Senior Social Work Leaders have been conscious that their visibility as leaders and the
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14 opportunity for less formal but direct face-to-face dialogue with staff has been impacted by pandemic. This has begun to be addressed through visits by the CSWO and other key managers to teams planned over the summer of 2022 and this will remain a priority going forward. 1.4 Public Protection Leadership in the field of Public Protection remains a key responsibility of the CSWO and the Head of Adult Social Work Services who collectively provide support to the Chief Executive of the Council in his role as chair of the Chief Officers’ Public Protection Group (COPPG) to which the MAPPA Strategic Oversight Group (MAPPA SOG), Violence Against Women Strategic Group (VAWSG), Adult Protection Committee (APC) and Child Protection Committee (CPC) report on a quarterly basis. The CSWO chairs the Lead Officers Public Protection Group and is currently vice chair of the CPC and chair of the Violence Against Women Strategic Group whilst the Head of Adult Social Work Services is a key member of the Adult Protection Committee. The MAPPA Strategic Oversight Group operates on a pan Lanarkshire basis with the chair rotating between the Police Scotland Public Protection Superintendent and the CSWOs of North and South Lanarkshire. The prioritisation of public protection remained a key focus both nationally and locally during the pandemic period and recovery period and over the past two years both public awareness raising, and monitoring have given close attention to areas in which the pandemic may have increased vulnerabilities or impeded access to support. Whilst ongoing self-evaluation activity has continued, the pandemic resulted in the temporary suspension of external inspection programmes relating to Adult Protection, Children’s and Justice Services however these were again stood up during 2021/22. Although no external inspection of public protection functions took place during this period notification of a Joint Inspection of Adult Support and Protection has since been announced with related activity scheduled for summer/autumn 2022. By its nature Public Protection is an area of high residual risk and this is reflected on the local authority risk register. It was therefore, as previously reported, included in the Council’s internal audit programme for 2020/21 with a focus on quality assurance mechanisms. The audit report to Audit and Scrutiny Panel in September 2021 concluded that assurance arrangements were generally satisfactory offering ‘reasonable assurance’ to the council and noted the prioritisation of public protection during the pandemic period. Recommendations were made in three areas and included progression of further planned self-evaluation of the Chief Officers Group and the strengthening of multi-agency action plans including through use of SMARTer measures. Action in these areas has been progressed along with a small number of additional actions identified as a result of the subsequent self-evaluation undertaken by the COPPG. In addition, it is proposed to amend the terms of reference for Chief Officers Group to incorporate reporting and oversight responsibilities relating to Drug Deaths and Suicide and associated preventative activity reflecting both the broader focus of public protection taken during the pandemic period and
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15 the additional ask of Chief Officer Groups linked to new national action plans for these areas. The COPPG regularly considers the resourcing of multi-agency public protection activity and following recommendations from the Lead Officers Group agreed in early 2022 also to enhance capacity, for a 12-month period in the first instance, to support the enhancement of MARAC arrangements locally as well as to create additional training and development capacity to support the implementation of new national guidance in child and adult protection. 1.5 Engagement with the people who use support services and the Community and Voluntary Sector Ultimate accountability for social work services is to those who use them, their families and the communities of North Lanarkshire and Social Work Services and the CSWO play a key role in ensuring that the voices of people who use and have experience of social work services are heard, not only in individual planning, but that they inform the design and delivery of the service. This approach is in line with the overall vision for the Council expressed in Delivering for Communities and the importance placed on the role of Community Boards as outlined in section 1.1 above. HSCNL also operates within the framework of its Engagement and Participation Strategy 2021-2024 which is designed to ensure the right systems and supports are in place to enable effective engagement with stakeholders: https://mars.northlanarkshire.gov.uk/egenda/images/att95292.pdf The strategy builds on the strong foundations established to facilitate the involvement and engagement of people who use services, carers, the community and voluntary sector, and the independent sector and its operationalisation is supported by a Stakeholder Engagement and Participation Strategy, Framework and Working Group Care Opinion also continues to be promoted with increased use of the platform to add to the learning possible through complaints analysis. Care Opinion is an independent web- based service where people can share their experience of services which has widened its focus from health to health and social care. Partnership for Change, our local umbrella forum for service user and carer involvement has supported this roll out and monitors and presents on postings to relevant forums to illustrate issues of concern as well as positive stories. Within Children’s Social Work we have continued to develop the use the Mind of My Own App (MOMO) which helps young people communicate their views for meetings, raise concerns or share good news in way that suits them. With Children’s Services partners and colleagues from the Council’s corporate communication team, the service has also supported the innovative Make It Right project, a campaign co-designed with young people and launched in January 2022 to raise awareness of children’s rights and a key stepping- stone to embed these in practice in North Lanarkshire. With respect to Children’s Services
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16 the Partnership Agreement between the CSP and Young People was established in 2018: https://www.northlanarkshire.gov.uk/CHttpHandler.ashx?id=21857&p=0 and continues to form the basis for engagement with young people who are now represented directly on the Board but with partners also making a parallel commitment through a range of other links with the Youth Council and to the Champion’s Board which has over this period been successful in significantly extending engagement and participation with younger children experiencing care. The Promise Development Team, which has at its heart Development Workers and Assistant Support Workers with lived experience of care, was established in early 2021 and has also been key to ensuring children, families and carers are central to service planning and development both within social work and within wider services. While awareness raising remains part of their remit equally important has been their role in promoting the wider engagement of children and families and direct contribution to practice and system change. Building on this model and previous engagement with those with lived experience, Justice Social Work Services have now also progressed the recruitment of two workers with lived experience to support service development and provide peer support. Engagement with carers in North Lanarkshire remains equally critical to service delivery and development and is undertaken through the framework of the Carers Strategy 2019-24 http://www.carerstogether.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/NL-Carers-Strategy.pdf which was developed in partnership with carers with a vision ‘to ensure, in partnership, that North Lanarkshire adult carers and young carers are supported, represented and enabled to build resilience, carry out their caring role and to live healthy independent and fulfilled lives’. North Lanarkshire Carers Together continues to provide an information and advice service but also a network for carers to represent individual and collective issues and to contribute to policy development, service provision and evaluation both locally and nationally, a role which has been particularly valuable and important in ensuring carers voices are heard and challenges understood during the pandemic period. Voluntary Action North Lanarkshire (VANL) continues to provide the key local interface with the community and voluntary sector in North Lanarkshire and participates as equal partners in the partnership structures described above and in a wide range of linked improvement activity. This has included membership of the Children’s Services Partnership Board and the ongoing involvement and facilitation of endorsed third sector networks linked to the Community Justice Partnership. Within Health and Social Care, VANL have also continued to play a central role in developing voluntary and community sector involvement through community capacity and carers support work as reflected within the Community Solutions Strategy and delivery programme, Softening the Lines 2018-23: http://www.voluntaryactionnorthlanarkshire.org/sites/default/files/cs_strategy_2018- 23_softening_the_lines-converted.pdf
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17 Using 9 thematic leads to guide best practice and 6 locality host organisations to ensure a truly community led approach a devolved budget of over 1m is directly invested in organisations and community groups. A supporting commissioning plan and the programme approach have ensured a focus on key outcomes with the budget also supporting the leverage of additional funding and in-kind contributions. The overarching aims of the programme are to prevent isolation and loneliness and to address inequalities using innovative approaches to support people to be more active and to reconnect to their communities. The use of the Community Solutions model has also provided a vehicle within Children’s Services to test out new models of support to address distress and promote positive mental health with a significant portion of new Scottish Government funding targeted at early intervention and community support through the Children and Young People’s Mental Health and Wellbeing Framework allocated to organisations through VANL to develop new supports in partnership with school clusters, children, young people and their families. Of key importance in social work across all care groups however remains the principle that engagement, inclusion and empowerment are not seen as episodic events but also embedded in day-to-day practice with a focus on good conversations and strength-based approaches. 2. SERVICE DEVELOPMENT, QUALITY AND PERFORMANCE 2.1 Support to Unpaid Carers As referenced in my previous report the ongoing impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on unpaid carers have been significant. Many carers had to provide more care than usual during the pandemic, and this has continued for some people with staffing and demand pressures across the social care, social work and health sectors, both locally and nationally, further exacerbating the issues faced by unpaid carers. This has resulted in a detrimental impact on overall well-being of many carers in terms of stress and anxiety levels and the need to continue providing care for longer. Despite this, unpaid carers continue to provide support for those who otherwise may require support from social work and health services and are the main source of support for many people. In order to support an increase understanding of carer experience both nationally and locally including where we are making a positive difference, North Lanarkshire noted an interest in participation as a site for more in-depth activity linked to the the Care Inspectorate’s national ‘Inquiry into carer’s experiences of social work and social care service delivery’, with subsequent confirmation that linked survey and focus group activity would take place over the period March to June 2022. In the interim priority has continued to be given to how support to carers can be enhanced: A range of supports and services are commissioned to provide Carer support, inclusive of the following key strands:
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18 Lanarkshire Carers – Direct Support for Adult Carers Action for Children Young Carers Service – Young Carers Support Services North Lanarkshire Carers Together (NLCT) – Campaigning, information and representation services VANL – Community Solutions Programme There are also a range of funded organisations who play a part in supporting unpaid carers, including the Disability Forum and other condition specific and\or age-related support organisations. We work in partnership with both commissioned services and funded organisations, all of whom offer a range of supports to Adult Carers and Young Carers. Overall, approximately 11,000 carers are known to the carer support organisations in North Lanarkshire and are in receipt of some form of support. During 2021/22 1040 Adult Carer Support Plans have been progressed by Lanarkshire Carers where assessed need was deemed to be low or moderate. In situations where carer need has been identified as being significant or critical and unable to be met through the range of carer support options described above and below, approximately 50 individual Carer budgets have been agreed. In many instances individual budgets to supported people are also scoped to reflect individual carer circumstances, such as complex care related needs, caring responsibility for more than one person, or the carer’s own health related needs. In addition, over 1,000 carers benefited from small grants distributed through Lanarkshire Carers. Young Carers have been supported through Young Carer Statements, a wide range of carer support and activity groups, training opportunities, resilience aid and support, respite breaks, creative short breaks, carer awareness training and legal advice. A pan Lanarkshire Steering Group focussing on the needs of Young Adult Carers was also established last year. A key ambition is to ensure the needs of carers are integral to wider service planning, an example being that following the success of a Community Link Worker initiative which focussed on support, advice, guidance, and signposting to families whose child may have a neuro-developmental condition, there are plans to extend this in 2022/23. This has been funded through Community Mental Health and Wellbeing Framework budget for children and young people and is now hosted through North Lanarkshire Carers Together and in line with our wider approach focusses on early, whole family support and community connections. There is a well-established short break service, operated by Lanarkshire Carers and this continues to play an important role in supporting unpaid carers in enjoying a break from their caring role. Feedback from carers however has also pointed to the need for more regular, flexible ‘time out’ accessible within their local community. This has informed a range of new initiatives including a ‘Carer Breather’ programme, facilitated through NLCT and delivered by a range of local organisations and the piloting of a ‘Sitter Service’. These initiatives offer unpaid carers regular and flexible breaks from caring. Positive feedback from
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19 unpaid carers regarding this approach will result in an expanded programme in the coming year. Work is also ongoing to meet the requirements of the Carers Act to ensure that unpaid carers are as involved as they want to be in hospital discharge arrangements. This includes involvement in decision making, as well as support at the point of discharge and beyond. Whilst this approach has been welcomed, we are aware through feedback from Carer Support Organisations, Advocacy, and individual carers that further work is required in this area, to ensure that no involved unpaid carers are missed from discharge planning as a result of pressures to work at pace in this area. We remain aware also of the diversity and fluidity of the carer population and that despite our efforts some carers remain less visible to services and supports. We continue to innovate and use a range of methods to ensure information and support is accessible, from the more traditional information packs to the launch of a new podcast for carers and support for digital inclusion. 2.2 Justice Social Work Services During this period criminal justice service activity has continued to be delivered as per our legislative responsibilities, and during periods of restrictions related to the Covid-19 pandemic in accordance with emergency legislation, health and safety, and social distancing measures. In common with all social work disciplines the most significant challenge for Justice Social Work Services throughout the reporting period was the impact of the restrictions and the challenges associated with fulfilling statutory obligations, managing risk, and supporting our most vulnerable service users and their families including those with unstable or chaotic lifestyles. To assist with this a Red/Amber/Green (RAG) risk management system was implemented to ensure that those most in need or at the highest risk were prioritised, and appropriately supported. This was reviewed on a weekly basis by both front line and senior managers ensuring that throughcare licences, drug testing and treatment orders and community payback orders were managed and supervised through a combination of regular home visits and contact via virtual platforms and telephone calls. Community Payback Orders (CPOs) Covid-19 pandemic restrictions necessitated the closure of unpaid work across North Lanarkshire for two periods during 2020/21 and 2021/22. As these restrictions began to ease recovery planning was crucial to support the transition from a partial, to a fully operational service and in the initial stages of recovery service users were able to attend unpaid work in a limited way and in fewer numbers. Part of the approach to recovery has continued to involve increasing the opportunities for unpaid work to be undertaken at home supported by the completion of appropriate risk and health and safety assessments. This approach has permitted some orders to be completed without the need to submit requests for extensions to an already burdened Court Service.
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20 The continuation of this hybrid working model, alongside traditional unpaid work, together with successful partnerships with the third sector has supported the delivery of 53,464 unpaid work hours during 2021/22. This figure is close to twice the 27,600 hours completed in 2020/21 but still substantially less than 85,116 hours delivered pre-pandemic in 2018/19. The number of outstanding unpaid work hours, an area of national concern, has also fluctuated, dropping initially from circa 54k in February 2021 to circa 34k in April 2021 due to one-off commutation of some hours on some CPOs facilitated through emergency legislation and new approaches in service delivery but standing at circa 47k as of May 2022 with the impact of an escalation in orders made as court activity increased counter- balancing innovations in practice to enhance capacity. In recognition of the longer- term impacts of the pandemic on the whole justice system, temporary funding was provided to justice social work by Scottish Government to enhance capacity for both core and commissioned services in 2021/22. This will be continued in 2022/23 although the temporary year on year nature of the funding has created a number of challenges in service planning and recruitment. A fuller report on the delivery of Community Payback Orders over this period is available: att99332.pdf (northlanarkshire.gov.uk) The following examples however illustrate the range of unpaid work opportunities that were made available across North Lanarkshire during this reporting period: Over 203 bicycles were distributed to North Lanarkshire residents though the Restorative Justice bike workshop at no cost. A by-product of this was the assistance and support it gave to individuals in terms of the potential to maximise their health and wellbeing. In addition, the service has given help to local communities by offering bike maintenance and repairs. This project has particularly assisted those children, young people, and families who are unable to afford the cost of bikes or their repair. Bikes have also been given to victims of bike theft. The Wood Workshop has enabled the creation of useful items for various community groups, such as outdoor classrooms and activity equipment for schools, and planters for sheltered housing complexes. The Laundry workshop has helped to ensure that donated clothing such as school uniforms could be repaired, cleaned and ironed prior to distribution to families and individuals in need. Within our craft activity groups items were made and donated to local organisations or sold at fayres with the money raised being donated to local charities. Squad placements assisted with the completion of projects in local communities such as landscaping. Several private placements were maintained in various settings including local churches, allotments, sheltered housing complexes and charity shops As previously noted, unpaid work home working for appropriate service users was employed throughout the pandemic. These arrangements benefitted community partners including the Police Scotland Dog Unit, SSPCA, NHS, Wildlife Trust, Housing
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21 and Leisure and Recreation colleagues, and the wider community. This resulted in 5,650 hours of home working being completed during this reporting period. Whilst group work to support the ‘other activity’ element of orders was restricted over this period, the additional funding provided by the Scottish Government for recovery purposes permitted the continuation of the delivery of ‘other activity’ from third sector providers through both digital platforms and more limited face-to-face delivery: 1. The Wise Group delivered a group-based programme designed to provide information and awareness on topics such as managing mental health, dealing with negative thoughts and emotions, dietary and physical health benefits, financial inclusion and budgeting, building positive networks, dealing with conflict, support with employment and training possibilities, and alcohol and drug education. 2. Love Learning worked with service users on an individual basis to address literacy, and social isolation difficulties. 3. Street Cones designed a group work activity to support individuals through the maximisation of their skills and potential by involvement in the creative arts. Participants wrote a script which they subsequently performed. The quality of North Lanarkshire Council’s Community Payback Order delivery is continually assessed, and the perspective of service users and community projects supported is regularly sought as reflected in our annual CPO report (link above) Diversion from Prosecution In line with the Vision for Justice in Scotland the service continues to prioritise the promotion of Diversion from Prosecution. To ensure consistency of practice in this area multi agency briefing events have continued to take place with relevant social work staff, police colleagues and the voluntary sector. Diversion from Prosecution referrals in North Lanarkshire continue to be above the Scottish Average, and the numbers have been consistently high throughout the pandemic. Diversion 2021/22 Male Female Total Number of Referrals 255 98 353 Number of Assessments Undertaken 240 93 333 Number of Cases Commenced 134 61 195 Number of Individuals for whom cases commenced 123 61 184 Number of cases successfully completed 117 57 174 Offence focused interventions People subject to supervision by justice social work are supported to recognise and address wide ranging and often complex personal and family issues as well as undertaking offence
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22 related work. Developing a strong professional relationship is a key element of the supervision experience and is fundamental to effective engagement and positive outcomes. Staff utilise Risk Management Authority approved risk assessment tools to assess risk and need and to implement appropriate responses to addressing criminogenic needs. The Justice Outcome Star has been developed over several years to support more meaningful engagement and to contribute to the measurement of both individual outcomes and the impact of interventions at service level within Justice Social Work Services. The aggregated information from this tool is used both to support Strategic Needs Assessment and service planning. Offence focused Interventions take place both on a one-to-one basis and within groupwork settings, although due to pandemic restrictions, the capacity to safely deliver groupwork was severely compromised over this period placing more reliance on 1-1 delivery. The approach is based on “Good Lives” principles and includes general offence focussed work, for example, managing strong feelings, handling conflict, dealing with relationships, anger awareness, managing impulsive behaviour, goal setting and planning. More intensive and targeted interventions encompass MFMC (Moving Forward Making Changes) and our UP2U domestic abuse programme. More detail on these programmes is provided below. UP2U Domestic Abuse Groupwork Programme UP2U ‘Creating Healthy Relationships’ is now fully operational across the Justice service and can be accessed by individuals who are subject to statutory supervision because of their involvement in domestic abuse offences. The programme is delivered by justice social workers in a case management setting on a 1:1 or a 2:1 basis. The service also has a centralised UP2U team to support locality teams with the delivery of the programme to high-risk individuals who are screened using our new UP2U screening panel process. The programme can also be delivered in a group work setting, however, capacity for this has been limited over the pandemic period. Justice Services also utilised a proportion of covid recovery monies during the reporting period to purchase a training programme for 56 staff across children and families. This allowed for the implementation of the ‘UP2U Family Practice’ intervention for non-court mandated individuals. This version of UP2U is designed specifically for child and family practice scenarios where unhealthy domestic abuse relationship behaviours exist. This approach provides a vehicle to respond to the need for domestic abuse behavioural change work across both children, families, and justice services. Moving Forward Making Changes As part of revised and newly implemented Criminal Justice Social Work structure a dedicated Moving Forward Making Changes (MFMC) Team was established in August 2021. Following the easing of Covid-19 health and safety restrictions a steady resumption of face- to-face MFMC programme delivery during the period 01.04.21 to 31.03.22 has been possible. Other Justice Services:
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23 The Women’s Community Justice Service has continued to work holistically to address the specific needs and issues of women within the justice system over this period enhancing the provision of practical support where required including the use of technology to facilitate participation. Justice Throughcare provision has also remained a priority to ensure those leaving custody receive appropriate levels of support to address their risk and facilitate their reintegration from prison to the community. The linked Community Bridges Project was maintained throughout the pandemic period and continued to support people who have difficulties with substance use and who are being released following a short-term prison sentence. The Drug Treatment and Testing Order team maintained its focus on intensive support services to 35 individuals in total during the reporting period. The specific challenge in this area of work was associated with the withdrawal of drug testing provision during the period of Covid restrictions, and its limited reintroduction thereafter. It is anticipated that this service will be fully restored during the coming year. Finally, the Prison Social Work Team based at HMP Shotts has maintained site-based provision, continuing to work closely with SPS colleagues to assess and support prisoners and their families. In addition to statutory work the team delivered child protection awareness sessions to SPS staff resulting in an increase in child welfare referrals. Tackling Poverty and Exclusion In addition to a focus on the above work the team have continued to integrate actions to address poverty and exclusion within day-to-day practice recognising the corrosive impact of both on both those involved with the service and our communities. This has included: Income maximisation, generating £58k in monies for over one hundred adults and families Working with the Connecting Scotland Scheme to address digital exclusion and secure devices/solutions for a number of service users Prioritising recovery of access to the Keep Well nursing service to support address the health inequalities and poor mental and physical health often experienced by justice service users, and with respect to community support: Staff and service users supported foodbanks in Coatbridge and Airdrie by collecting food and distributing food parcels 2 to 3 times per week. 491 gifts for younger children and 343 gifts for older children were given out over the festive season. Christmas and New Year meals were also provided for vulnerable adults and families by local restaurants, and Restorative Justice staff distributed these. Working in partnership with local charities the service has laundered donated school uniforms and assisted in their distribution to the families that required them. 2.3 Children and Families Social Work Services Keeping The Promise
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24 Following publication of The Promise by the Independent Care Review in February 2020, cross-party commitment to support delivery was made by North Lanarkshire Council in August 2020, thereafter with the intent of working across council services and with the Scottish Government, partners and care providers to deliver the necessary changes. Children and Families Social Work has a key leadership role in this and is uniquely placed to drive and connect the key strands of work required to support the ambitions of the Promise and the required transformation of systems, outcomes and experience for children and families. This is due to the key statutory role social work plays in supporting children and young people and their families both for ‘children in need’ and those experiencing or who have experienced care and the underpinning values of inclusion and empowerment alongside a culture of partnership working. Social work therefore has a key role to play in transforming both family support and care. Following a reduction in demand in 2019/20, primarily in the initial stages of the pandemic referrals to children and families social work services have grown over the past two years and in 2021/22 were 15% higher than in 2018/19. This appears to reflect increased need for support from children and families within our community. Although further work is needed to fully understand the picture which sits behind this, the change is perhaps unsurprising given the evidence that the pandemic impacted disproportionately on those who already faced the greatest adversities, including on children’s early development and wider wellbeing, and that families are now also adversely affected by the emerging cost of living crisis. Year Number of Referrals 2021/22 10858 2020/21 10253 2019/20 9077 2018/19 9519 2017/18 9654 Balance of Care Placement Type 31 March 2019 31 March 2020 31 March 2021 31 March 2022 Foster care (NLC) 119 100 112 94 Foster care (Independent) 47 67 61 53 Home Supervision 294 298 227 188 Formal Kinship Care 296 355 321 307 Informal Kinship Care 150 153 170 183 Residential (NLC) 27 28 27 33 Residential (Independent) 12 13 11 11 Secure* 4 0 2 1 Continuing Care 39 45 53 73 Overall, the above table shows that the number of children and young people experiencing formal care has fallen over the past year. A focus on family support, strengths-based
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25 practice and integrated working has enabled North Lanarkshire to continue to achieve fewer children looked after per head of population than the national average. We also used residential care proportionality less than the national average. Despite this, there was an increase in young people in our children’s houses for three main reasons: our commitment to providing support to unaccompanied children seeking asylum in a nurturing and safe environment, our openness to taking older young people back into care when they need and ask for it and the growth in continuing care. Following a drop of a third in numbers of children and young people supported in external residential placements over 2018-21 the number has plateauedespite a longer-term commitment to providing support Close to Home. This is due to a number of factors relating both to demand, complexity of need and the long-term nature and supporting relationships associated with some of these placements. Nonetheless it remains a key priority of the education and families service to ensure increased capacity to support young people with complex needs within the North Lanarkshire community. This also drives efforts to recruit more ‘in-house’ foster carers. While there were slightly fewer in children in foster care, our focus on supporting and encouraging young people remain with their carers for as long as they need meant a continued and sustained increase in the use of continuing care with the effect that some of our foster and kinship carers are now ‘continuing carers’. The COVID-19 pandemic coincided with a significant decrease in the number of children looked after at home and this trend has continued. The reasons for this continue to be monitored as it is not yet clear if this is the result of preventative support and early help or a continued disruption to processes following the pandemic. Involving Young People A key development led by Today Not Tomorrow (part of our Champions Board Structure) has been the production of an online resource to support managers and practitioners on how to improve record keeping with a focus on the impact of language. Awareness raising sessions by the Promise Development Workers took place with some managers and practitioners, with further role out planned. Several young people were also involved in scoping and framing the key qualities required of mental health support for Care Experienced Young People, work they had the opportunity to showcase at a national event, Tending the Light, which formed part of the festival of care in February 2022. This work led on to young people codesigning and taking part in the council procurement process for a new bespoke service. A helpful by-product of this, is our corporate commissioning and corporate staff asking for specific training on The Promise so they can support meet the ambitions of the council and our children and young people. Our Promise Development Workers were also involved shaping the development of our services in response to young people in conflict with the law and contextual safeguarding. A Good Childhood Achieving a loving and caring home: Children and young people experiencing care
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26 The positive role children’s houses play in providing care and love to children and young people continued to develop over the year as the culture changes associated with keeping The Promise became more established. In particular, the service facilitated 3 young people returning to the houses as younger adults, because of trauma and crisis in their lives, in line with the aspirations of young people’s right to ‘return to care’ if necessary. The Promise Plan 21-24 sets out clear expectations in reducing the use the use of the restraint and our children’s houses were and the serviced participated in a pilot project funded via the Promise Partnership Fund, on partnership with Aberlour and Kibble, to help us achieve this ambition. A core group of 8 staff were identified to take the work forward and the first step in the project plan is to remove the use of the Prone hold by the 31st of January 2023. A significant development over the year has been the introduction of the National Transfer Scheme requiring all local authorities to accept transfers of children into their care, providing crucial placements to unaccompanied asylum-seeking children. To this end our children’s houses played a critical role in providing care to 14 unaccompanied children to ensure that their individual support needs were more fully assessed, and they received wrap around support whilst they settled in Scotland, starting their recovery from trauma. Another 4 young people went straight into supported care placements with 3 progressing from children’s houses to supported care placements. While this has placed increased demand on our children’s houses and supported care, the service has taken the view that this has been a child centred approach to supporting children who have come to the UK unaccompanied. We also appointed a social worker to specialise in working with and supporting this group of young people. Achieving a loving and caring home: Support to family-based carers The Children’s Carers’ Service provides support to kinship carers, supported carers of young adults, as well as to adopters and foster carers to achieve permanent loving homes for children and young people into adulthood. Over the course of the year the team received 120 initial enquiries about fostering or adopting and of these, 63 progressed to initial interview. 21 enquirers progressed to preparatory groups and of these 14 went on to submit an application to foster or adopt. This represents a 38% decrease on previous years, reflecting national trends. To meet this challenge the team established a new and creative recruitment strategy. This has a particular focus on new and changing needs, including the council’s commitment to find homes for unaccompanied asylum-seeking young people, and young people with complex needs to allow them to remain in North Lanarkshire. The team also worked with North Lanarkshire’s resettlement team to undertake initial assessments and support for Ukrainian host families. The engagement and participation of care experienced young people continued to be highly valued in the delivery of the service and young people supported and actively contributed to the recruitment and preparation groups for prospective adopters and foster carers. Brothers and Sisters
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27 Development in this area is not without challenge and over the year 65% of children in care were separated from at least one brother and sister. In response to this analysis, the team developed a new strategy, co-led by the Promise Development workers and involving carers, to support brothers and sisters stay together when they need to be cared for away from home. This comprised specific support to carers as well as a focus on recruiting carers with the capacity to look after brothers and sisters together. In addition, a revised framework for assessing family time was implemented, with the voice of children and parents central to more creative approaches to family time, while keeping children safe. Adoption This service provided a range of support and advice to 60 adoptive families. This comprised individually tailored post adoption support as well as support groups and training specific to adoption. The team experienced an increase in demand for post adoption support services, leading to a planned review of the whole service that has now commenced to ensure it meets all needs and offers timely support to avoid families reaching crises, providing the scaffolding required as outlined in the key messages of The Promise. This review will include consideration of an apparent increase in the small but significant number of adopted teenagers required to move to alternative arrangements over the past year, often residential care. As part of the team’s commitment to learning and development, the service participated in national research including researching the impact of Dyadic Developmental Psychotherapy (therapeutic support to adoptive and permanent fostering families) led by Oxford and Glasgow Universities. Permanence Planning The service continued to play an active role in leading developments in permanence planning for children to avoid drift in care planning. A number of new initiatives were started or refreshed including: Senior practitioners within the Children’s Carers team supporting locality social workers to increase capacity and progress permanence planning. New Permanence Planning Training was developed and launched to reflect new legislation and research and as part of North Lanarkshire’s commitment to relational practice in line with The Promise. Kinship Team In response to growing need, the kinship care team continued to expand to comprise 1 senior social worker, 3 social workers, 1 support worker and 1 support work assistant. The team had a busy and successful year with 106 new kinship carers approved, and ongoing dedicated emotional and practical support provided to 170 kinship carers. In addition, the team co-facilitated 7 kinship carer groups across North Lanarkshire in partnership with Nurture Scotland and CLD.
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28 Whole Family Support Family Group Decision Making & Lifelong Links Family Group Decision Making (FGDM) is a strength-based way of working which takes a structured approach to involving wider family and support network in decision making and planning for children and families. It is rights-based and aligned with the principles of UNCRC. Research in Scotland has found very good outcomes associated with this approach in reducing the risk of accommodation (Mitchell et al, 2018). As such FGDM is a key component of North Lanarkshire’s commitment to keep The Promise by supporting and nurturing relationships within families and preventing the accommodation of children wherever possible. Over the year April 2021 to end of March 2022, the FGDM service made considerable progress in successfully supporting children remain within, or return to, their families. Over period the service had two full time FGDM Co-ordinators. Family meetings achieved the following outcomes: Based on referral dates for the year April 2021 to March 2022, 23 meeting were held and family plans were made for 32 young people, involving their family networks of support. All 32 young people were supported to reduce the risk of them being accommodated, part of a rehabilitation plan, support new babies stay at home with their family or to support kinship placements. 12 children referred as at risk of coming into residential or foster care, 11 have successfully remained living with parents or family members. One child was supported with family and friends but unfortunately this wasn’t sustainable and is now supported in a children’s house with family support. 6 babies whose names were placed on the Child Protection Register pre-birth as at potential risk of significant harm, 5 have been supported to remain safely in the care of their parents post birth and one in a kinship placement. Family meetings avoided significant placement costs to the service but most importantly family meetings have enabled children to benefit from loving and safe relationships within their families. In January 2022, the service was successful in securing funds for two additional coordinators from the Promise Partnership fund to implement and approach to family group decision making called ‘Lifelong Links’. Lifelong Links seeks to create life-long social networks for children and young people in care and aftercare, providing them with practical and emotional support. Lifelong Links uses tools and techniques to identify family members and other adults, such as former foster carers or teachers, who care about the child or young person. These individuals can then be brought together in a lifelong links meeting to develop a life-long support plan for the young person. This outcomes of this will be presented in next year’s report. Intensive Services
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29 Intensive family support that is available to families when they need it, including out of hours and at weekends, is provided by our intensive service. The primary objective of the service is to ensure that children and young people are able to remain in or move to family where they feel they belong and are safe. During this year work in the team was concluded with 202 children and young people, of which this objective was achieved for 153 children and partially for 20 children and young people. There were 18 children and young people where this outcome was not a focus of intervention and 11 children and young people where this outcome was not achieved. To promote the involvement of the children, young people and their families in the development of the service, some young people coproduced a set of service standards with staff so that families are clear what can expect and have a right to from the service. With the easing of COVID restrictions, intensive services also stood back up group work and other activities to promote the wellbeing and resilience of children and young people. For example, through the provision of intensive support some young people achieved their Duke of Edinburgh Bronze Award and are now able to progress their DofE awards through North Lanarkshire’s universal offer. Some young people were involved in singing coaching and playing instruments and others produced their own DJ set whilst learning the skills to use the associated technology. The service also delivered parenting support delivered on a 1-1 and groupwork basis and learn to cook family participation sessions. During school holiday periods the team has assisted families with access to activities in the local community and further afield to ensure positive experiences for children and young people. This included a sports day, walking group, swimming group and supported family outings. Young People in Conflict with the law Support from custody As part of our Intensive Service, the Youth Bridges team supported 58 young people under the age of 21 who had experienced custody. 21 were new admissions to Polmont within this period. This is consistent with the downward trend in admissions to Polmont from North Lanarkshire although may have also been affected by Court restrictions through Covid. Youth Bridges staff ensured that 72-hour reviews were held within the prison to discuss vulnerabilities and support for these young people. Five (24%) young people were care experienced, a significant reduction from the past two years (56% in 2019/20 and 50% in 2020/21). Youth Bridges uses the Outcome Star to identify areas requiring support and to measure outcomes. Over the year ten domains of the Outcome Star showed improved outcomes of at least 65% for the young people closed to the service, with reduced offending for 88% and reduction in drug / alcohol use for 69%. As part of the commitment to meet the requirements of The Promise Plan 21-24, the service reviewed its approach to young people in conflict with the law. We found that 182 children were referred to the Reporter on offence grounds - a higher rate than the national average. However, SCRA only referred 7 of these children to a Hearing on offence grounds, reflecting the strong partnership commitment to the welfare principles of Kilbrandon. We still have
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30 work to do, however, to maximise the use of the Children’s Hearings and diversion rather than the court: In 2021/22 only 4 young people (under the age of 18) were remitted to the Hearing by the Sheriff court for a disposal, 5 young people were remanded or sentenced to custody and 7 were made subject to a Community Payback Order. This resulted in the development of a small team to work in partnership SCRA to use hearings more effectively to support relational working and robust alternatives to custody, remand and court disposals. Moving on: Supporting Care Experienced young people who have left care In response to our recognition of our need to provide more intensive and integrated support to care experience young people, the newly established team of three support workers and two social workers within intensive services has proactively reached out to young people and responded to young people returning for support to provide the care they need. As at March 2022, 141 young people were receiving support representing an increase of more than a third since the start of the pandemic. 66 care experienced young people were supported directly from Intensive Services, many of whom have reconnected with the service over the past year. A key area of improvement has focused on a ‘hub’ approach delivered from the Intensive Services building to ensure awareness of the rights and entitlements of care leavers and promote a ‘no wrong door’ approach across the multi-agency partnership. The building is used by many care leavers to receive support from the service or other agencies. A new protocol with housing was also agreed to ensure housing support was arranged around the needs of young people. Each locality in North Lanarkshire now has a housing champion advocating for care experienced young people. Tackling poverty has been a key priority and the council did not reduce payments to care experienced young people in line with the UK Government’s decision to end the temporary uplift to Universal Credit. A Right to Education: The Virtual School North Lanarkshire has continued to strengthen its commitment to care experienced children and young people to access education and close the attainment gap through the Virtual School. The Virtual School is a small multi-professional team, which supports the improvements in capacity and responses across the education system as well as co- ordinating and providing direct bespoke support for children and young people. The Virtual School maintains an overview of education planning and support for all care experienced learners. The Virtual School works in an integrated way and has formed productive relationships with community learning and development, local businesses and many other relevant partners in addition to strong connections with schools and other education and social work services. During the 2021/2022 school session, the Virtual School received 89 new requests for direct support and worked with 242 learners. The Virtual School supports young people through a wide range of activities including well-being programmes – improving physical and mental health, vocational learning opportunities, outdoor learning, literacy and numeracy
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31 programmes including direct support for SQA qualifications, volunteering/mentoring opportunities, individual learning engagement projects, transition supports and access to specialised resources e.g., counselling. Support interventions are delivered in a setting specific to the needs of the young people involved with intensive staffing provided to increase confidence levels and ensure any barriers to engagement are addressed. The Virtual School seeks to accredit young people for their learning undertaken during these activities through wider achievement awards including for example, John Muir, Young STEM Leader and Saltire or additional qualifications such as Forest and Outdoor Learning Award (SCQF 2 and 3), Cosmetology (SCQF Level 4) and City & Guilds Introduction to Automotive Engineering (Level 1). In session 2021-22, 108 such awards were achieved. Through Virtual School, teachers also deliver 1-1 or small group teaching sessions, with a specific focus on S4 pupils at risk of leaving education without any formal qualifications and learners at significant risk of disengagement with education. The direct impact of the former being the achievement of 81 SQA national 3 or 4 qualifications achieved by 32 young people. The Virtual School coordinates an intensive support offer for a number of vulnerable families across school holidays. Over summer 2021, the intensive offer was aimed at care experienced families including kinship groups and other targeted groups. Offers made were wide-ranging and included a variety of activities for young people and their families to enjoy, for example, leisure passes, access to summer activity camps, family days out (including cinema and bowling trips), Cooking Together sessions and bespoke health and wellbeing interventions. In total, 1339 individual offers at the intensive level were accepted by 402 children and young people. In addition, 74 families were supported with a direct payment to facilitate a bespoke package of support in circumstances of particular need. Removing exclusions of care experienced learners from school, aligning with the ambition of the Promise Plan 2021-24 is a target for Virtual School. Staff work in collaboration with schools and wider services to support the development of trauma informed practice and to seek alternatives to exclusion. For care experienced learners over three sessions (August 2019 to June 2022), data gathered demonstrates a 48% reduction in exclusion episodes, a 59% reduction in school days lost due to exclusion, and a 39% reduction in the number of care experienced learners excluded from school. Education within Intensive Services Within the intensive services base in Coatbridge, bespoke education was provided to 18 young people in need of enhanced support. Four were school leavers and achieved various qualifications in National 3 and 4s. The young people in the school were supported by intensive services support assistants to engage in their education programme and with some practical skills and activities. As part of our intensive service offer, we have an operational garage, The 7 Day Centre, that offers experiential learning in automotives and mechanics. Over the year the centre offered 9 young people vocational placements. One young person was supported to access a college course for mechanics, and this commenced in August 22. One young person evidenced the skills and ability to pursue mechanic but was not ready to undertake other available routes to further their training or employment. The
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32 young person has been supported to maintain their placement at the 7 Day Centre through NL Roots: Opportunity for Growth programme, which is placement and learning programme for young people who are or have experienced care. The young person is being supported to continue their learning in automotives and mechanic whilst increasing skills, options and readiness to pursue further careers options. To ensure the young people within these settings benefit from more robust pathways and the full range of educational opportunities, the 7 Day Centre and intensive service education base are being integrated into the We Aspire Academy. 2.4 Adult Social Work Services In common with other social work care groups there have been a number of challenges to the delivery of Adult Social Work Services over the year due to the impact of the pandemic and both associated and underlying demand pressures as well as recruitment challenges in key areas. Significant work has been undertaken, both to reinstate support services that had been reduced due to the pandemic and to continue to redesign services. This report therefore reflects the challenges experienced in maintaining high-quality care in line with statutory and regulatory requirements as well as ongoing work to redesign and improve services to support improved outcomes for individuals. Investment in Adult Social Work and Social Care through the Winter Planning and Enhanced Support funding stream from the Scottish Government was introduced during the course of 2021/22 to increase capacity in direct provision as well as to improve assessment capacity, nonetheless the volume and complexity of demand profile alongside workforce challenges have resulted in significant operational and capacity pressures across the whole of health and social care provision and we have seen this in particular with respect to Support at Home, Mental Health Officer activity and also in adult protection where the resourcing of large scale investigations has been required against a background of existing high demand. The narrative below provides further detail on service activity, performance, innovation and improvement as well as areas of challenge. Early and preventative interventions – Right Support, Right Time First Point of Contact A major focus for the Health and Social Care Partnership is to ensure that when people contact health or social work services the response is rapid and appropriate. There should be a focus on assisting people to be independent and getting things right first time. The core of which is a strength-based approach, transferring the balance of care to prevention, early intervention and self-management. In order to explore a whole system change a pilot project was undertaken in Motherwell in 2021 using the Three Conversation Model. Partners 4 Change who led on the delivery of the model have experience of working with 75 council areas in the UK in relation to reform, redesign, financial sustainability, and personalisation. Of the 75 councils, 35 councils were judged to have used this to support whole system change.
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33 Here the evaluation of the Motherwell innovation site in 2022 deemed it to be a success with much learning. The aim was to build a whole system, multi-disciplinary team approach embodying coordination, collaboration focusing on communities and person-centred practice. The new way of working was found to have reduced barriers and with simplified recording sufficient to meet legislative needs. It was found that early links with the community and voluntary sector was important for quality outcomes and supporting people with better lives. The quality of engagement with people was strong and there was reduced need to access services for longer term supports. Ongoing development work through the First Point of Contact Group is considering how to scale the learning from the innovation site and addressing how to bridge the gap between the voluntary and statutory services, creating trusted pathways. Making Life Easier Making Life Easier (MLE) is an online resource offering information, professional advice and direct access to support and services for all residents of North Lanarkshire. Making Life Easier gives people the tools to look after their own health and wellbeing. It allows earlier interventions for people and prevents deterioration. The system has reduced waiting lists for Occupational Therapy services with the consequent increase in capacity allowing for services to be directed to the people that need them most. Making Life Easier supports the national policy shift in Scotland to give people the tools to help them to stay well, live independently, promote their social engagement, live active and healthy lives and can, where possible, self-manage. In the year 2021/2022 8,089 people in North Lanarkshire used MLE, a 24.9 % increase on the previous year and an increase of 63% increase on the 2019 usage. Of these users, 86.7% were new visitors and 1,102 people completed a self-assessment. Figures show through the Covid 19 pandemic, Making Life Easier remained a reliable source of information, advice, and support for the people of North Lanarkshire with users increasing year on year. Technology in Health and Social Care We continue to invest in the implementation of technology enable care and have established a dedicated Technology Team within Health and Social Care which provides support and guidance on the implementation of technology, through the development of standards, processes and training. A key focus is on embedding technology into the assessment, planning and implementation of care to provide service users further choice in how care can be provided. The ‘tech flat’ within North Lanarkshire has been set up to demonstrate technology in situ to professionals as well as those who use services and their carers’. Having closed during
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34 2020/21 due to pandemic restrictions it has now reopened and continues to be a well-used resource with around 60 visitors per month. The flat supports consideration of the use of technology within support plans for individuals and continues to be upgraded with new and innovative technology, something that the team will be looking to further evolve. We also continue to be involved in shaping the NHS Lanarkshire Digital Strategy to ensure a person-centred focus is maintained is this fast-developing area of practice. Work has been carried out alongside our NHS partners in developing guidance around the use of technology within rehabilitation. The team has also had involvement in shaping national policy and learning around TEC, telecare and the analogue to digital transition through partnerships with the Digital Office for Local Government, NSS TEC and the Scottish Government. The analogue to digital telecare transition is a major change project with considerable associated challenges for our Community Alarm Service through the transition. This continues to be progressed through the technology team with the aim to conclude with a fully digital community alarm and telecare service by the end of 2025. Locality Support Services The Locality Support Services (LSS), registered with the Care Inspectorate, offer self-directed support to adults with disabilities and /or long-term health conditions. Support is flexible over seven days and evenings connecting people with their local communities and interests. The service takes a human-rights and asset-based approach, promoting independence and personal responsibility, supporting people to consider their natural connections, friendships and paid support where it is required to achieve positive individual outcomes and better lives. The locality support service adapted its delivery model throughout the pandemic and into recovery, offering a blended service of direct support and online/distant support to the people and their families and where required making use of a temp variation to registration to offer support and care in and from people’s homes. Some service users have opted to continue having support on-line and benefit from our broader portfolio of communication methods. Some young people have been particularly enthusiastic about using technology to communicate including a preference for using this for reviews rather than traditional building-based meetings although limits on organisational access to social media platforms can be an issue. The pandemic has also necessitated a more place-based approach changing the needs profile of people being referred into locality support services, with more people requiring support who have mental ill health, self-neglect and addictions as their main issue. This has highlighted new training needs with steps taken to source development opportunities for workers. The service is also very conscious of the wider health inequalities which often impact on those with disabilities and long-term conditions and continue as core practice to support people to identify at least one health outcome and to promote general healthy lives. This is underpinned by an approach which places value on developing a progressive assessment
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35 process, communicating well and working with partners will improve access to health and other services. Integrated Day Services Integrated Day Services for Older Adults have continued to work with an aim to support people with complex support needs to continue to live in their own homes safely, often preventing admissions to hospital. During the initial period of the pandemic the service changed its delivery model in line with restrictions to work on an outreach basis however the have now returned to working as a building-based service implementing a recovery plan whilst adapting to the increased pressures across health and social care services. This has temporarily reduced the availability of some on-site interventions from health professionals however operational arrangements will continued be reviewed as full recovery of the service is progressed. Support at Home North Lanarkshire has, for many years, had a positive balance of care, which means that the considerable investment in community-based supports over time has resulted in a high proportion of people with long-term and complex needs being able to continue to live in their own homes. The metric used for benchmarking across Scottish Health & Social Care Partnerships and reported in the Annual Performance Reports (APRs) reflects very positively the long-term efforts in North Lanarkshire to create and sustain the range of supports which minimise long term residential, nursing or hospital care. In Adult Services, support at home is offered through internal home support, independent sector provision and direct payment. Home Assessment Team To complement existing measures around Planned Date of Discharge (PDD), Discharge to Assess (D2A) and Discharge without Delay (DwD) a multi-disciplinary Home Assessment Team has been established with the aim of supporting people to be cared for at home (or as close to home as possible), preventing avoidable admissions to hospital and, where hospital admission is necessary, supporting timely discharge. During 1st April 2021 and 31 March 2022 the referral rates demonstrate the pressure on Home Support with 73.1% of referrals coming from the hospital. The Home Assessment Team (HAT) soft launch took place in Wishaw in late April taking referrals from University Hospital Wishaw/ Monklands and in August the Cumbernauld soft launch was implemented taking referrals from UH Monklands/Wishaw with plans now underway to accelerate full implementation at UHW.
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36 HAT work collaboratively with hospital discharge hubs and clinical teams to support timely discharge from hospital to enable an assessment of each person’s immediate and longer- term needs in their own home. This can include anything from signposting to support from a statutory service and community care assessment. The Home Assessment Team has a multi-disciplinary approach to person centred care and consists of Home Support staff, AHP’s, Clinical Responders and Social Work staff facilitating ‘Home First’ principles enabling people to be supported to return home for a period of assessment. This also reduces the pressures associated with having to make life-changing decisions around longer-term care from a hospital setting. The initial implementation stage has demonstrated multiple benefits in supporting early intervention, reducing deconditioning, supporting and maintaining independence though better tailored support, reducing also the ‘over-prescribing’ of support and levels of ongoing care required from the home support service. Home Support Service The Home Support Services supports up to 3,000 people at home in any one day (over 5,500 people over the year), providing over 22.5k hours of support each week. 74% of home support service is provided by in house services, the remainder provided by the independent sector. However, maintaining responsive, high-quality support at home for those who require this has presented as substantial challenge over the past year due to significant workforce and demand pressures within the sector, a pattern which has been common across the country. An underlying increase in the level of need and national and local drive to relieve pressure on acute health services are significant factors and within home support resource has been drawn to the high level of referrals from hospitals impacting also on the responsiveness to emerging need within the community, As reflected above the HSCP have continued to focus on early intervention and prevention and the delivery of person-centred care through self- directed support with the introduction of the HAT team, described above, designed to improve the experience and outcomes for individuals, in particular on their pathway from hospital, as well as improving allocation of home support resource to those who need ongoing support. As noted in previous CSWO reports immediately prior to the pandemic plans were put in place for a redesign of the service with the centralisation management and support functions and new roles to maximise the capacity and quality of the service, to embed reablement and to support a move away from a time and task model to more personalised self-directed support for those with more stable longer-term needs. The pandemic, wider demand and system changes have required these plans to be adapted. There has since been considerable work to implement a new structure within Home Support Service to ensure that assessment and planning through reablement is re-introduced and that the wider options for independent living can be developed. A Home Support Redesign programme has been established to progress the implementation to improve pathways and service user experience, and address workforce challenges to maximise capacity and
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37 responsiveness. Additional resource has been invested in the service supported through partnership and new Scottish Government funding, with additional management and administrative support put in place, alongside the additional recruitment of 140 frontline home support workers based in Home Assessment Team and Home Support Service. The service now employs approximately 950 FTE Home Support Workers. A reassessment of the implementation to inform further redesign is taking place to allow the service to reflect and review changes to meet current and new priorities. This includes our Out of Hours Service to address call waiting times for both staff and service users. To ensure the delivery of a safe and high-quality service to support positive outcomes, consultation with staff, service users and their carers and stakeholders will inform the continued redesign of the service. The key areas that will be addressed to include; 1. Recruitment and retention of Home Support Workers, administration and Management 2. Training, to ensure staff are competent and confident across all aspects of Home Support provision 3. Roles: evaluating the hard-to-recruit posts 4. Quality of care and support being providd 5. Efficiency/ scheduling 6. Increased demand needs to be managed through efficient pathways Recruitment and retention to posts at all grades has been challenging and there has been a higher than usual turnover. In addition to Home Support Worker roles, Support Officer and Service Delivery Coordinators are difficult to recruit and retain. These new roles were introduced just prior to the pandemic, and it was not possible to establish them fully due to changes in working arrangements and the difficulties of delivering training during this period, contributing to staff feedback suggesting the posts are too challenging. The tasks and skill sets required for a number of posts, including administration and management roles which are critical to supporting our staff will therefore be reviewed as part of our planned work. In the interim the rolling recruitment of Home Support Workers continues in order to meet demand, with plans now in place to ensure all learning and development requirements are informed by a fully inclusive development plan and robust curriculum to support key priorities. A further key element of the planned redesign of Home Support was the development and implementation of a dynamic scheduling tool both to benefit home support workforce in the field and for those who schedule and plan work. Initial development work has been undertaken but identified a number of design complexities however this will be taken forward as a priority given its criticality to service efficiency and improvement. In response to the challenges outlined the service has been working closely with colleagues from the Care Inspectorate, both strategically in relation to service improvement as well as operationally at local level. Promoting choice through Self-Directed Support Transformational SDS Agenda
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38 Our transformational SDS agenda has an emphasis on building greater community capacity to support earlier preventative approaches and proactive planning alongside the continued use of individual budgets for those with substantial and ongoing need. Two new temporary Service Manager posts have been created to further develop and shape our strategy around Self Directed Support across the Partnership supported by two resource worker posts. These posts are part funded through Scottish Government monies to enhance SDS. Key priorities include enhancing partnership working across the spectrum of community solutions, universal services, third and voluntary sectors and statutory sector, linking also with the Tec team on assistive technology so that people can be supported at home as independently as possible, for as long as is appropriate, whilst minimising risk and reducing reliance on statutory services. SDS Budgets The number of people receiving an individual budget within the 21/22 year was 1520. The graph below shows the number of individual budgets per locality. This numbers reflect all people receiving funding via an SDS budget across children, adults, and carers. There are currently 148 individuals who have an individual budget to provide 24-hour support. Part of the transformational work going forward will be around robust reviews of these support arrangements considering the potential use of technology enabled care solutions where these are appropriate to support better lives and increased independence.
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39 In the year 21/22 year we had a total of 317 Direct Payments (Option 1) and as with SDS budgets overall these figures include all children, adults and carers. To support the increase in people choosing a Direct Payment arrangement, and the anticipated need going forward a new DP support service was specified and procured. As of October 2021, Take Control North Lanarkshire commenced work in North Lanarkshire replacing SPAEN. Take Control NL are part of the well-established user led organisation Glasgow Centre for Inclusive Living (GCIL). GCIL have a track record of effectively meeting the needs of people wishing to employ their own support staff using a DP. 23 21 18 39 17 30 0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45 Individuals receiving 24/7 Support per Locality
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40 Community Living Change Fund/Coming Home Report In line with Scottish Government recommendations made within the Coming Home Implementation Report, and more recently the allocation to North Lanarkshire Health and Social Care Partnership of £1,298,332 from the Community Living Change fund, over a three-year period (2021-2024), a programme of work is being undertaken to support the strategic objectives of: Reducing delayed discharges of people with complex needs. Repatriating those people inappropriately placed outside of Scotland. Redesigning the way services are provided for people with complex needs. This initiative will build on the work already well established in North Lanarkshire and evidenced through our balance of care data. A significant amount of work has been undertaken to ensure people are supported at home in their local community. North Lanarkshire has the highest proportion of people aged 18 and over with long term needs who receive personal care at home in mainland Scotland and has the lowest placement rate for all adults aged over 18 in Scotland, which is over 30% lower than the Scottish average The addition investment will provide an opportunity to review the current situation post- pandemic and compliment the national work being undertaken to develop a dynamic discharge register. A multi-agency team lead by Health and Social Care Partnership was proposed to be established and will identify individuals with Complex Care Needs who are out of area or whose discharge is delayed and review and develop protocols to address this. This will include robust planning arrangements across a widen number of agencies to reduce the length of time people need to wait to be discharged. A key outcome is to establish a new register of individuals affected and the introduction of an appropriate assessment tool which will facilitate review of all cases. From this individual outcome plans will be developed to assist each person back home addressing and resolving the key obstacles faced such as housing, funding, care equipment etc. For those individuals identified as being repatriated and following appropriate assessment including risk assessments, planning will facilitate appropriate interventions to ensure individuals can come home safely. Additional protocols will be developed to support interactions with other authorities which may be involved in such areas. Statutory Interventions Mental Health Officers Service and Adults with Incapacity Act (Scotland) 2000 Mental Health Officers (MHO) are social workers with a minimum of two years post qualifying experience who have gained Mental Health Officer Award (MHO award) which is a postgraduate certificate at SCQF level 11. Statutory duties for MHO’s are set out in the Adults with Incapacity (Scotland) Act, 2000; the Mental Health (Care and Treatment) (Scotland) Act, 2003 [MHCTA]; the Criminal Justice (Scotland) Act, 1995; Criminal Justice (Scotland) Act 2016 and the Adult Support and Protection (Scotland) Act, 2007. The implications of emergent court judgements emphasising the significance of both the
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41 European Convention of Human Rights and the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities in statutory decision making, combine to place heavy demands on the current resource. Additionally, new duties for mental health officers were introduced in the implementation of the Mental Health (Scotland) Act, 2015. The Chief Social Work Officer holds overall statutory responsibility for the governance and the management of welfare guardianship orders that have been granted to the local authority, and for overseeing the supervision of private guardians in their role and function as welfare guardians. The day-to-day management of these statutory responsibilities are delegated to Mental Health Officers and Social Workers and overseen by managers within adult social work. Adults with Incapacity Act (Scotland) 2000 The above chart shows the monthly running total of private and local authority welfare/financial guardianship orders held for individuals in North Lanarkshire over the period April 2021 until March 2022. The total number of guardianship orders in place in the North Lanarkshire Council area at the end of March 2022 was 986. This is a 1.6 % decrease from the period 2020-21. On 31 March 2022, the number of individuals on a guardianship order in Scotland overall was 17,101. The North Lanarkshire total figure constitutes 5.8 % of the national total. The local authority has a statutory responsibility to provide supervision and support to all Private Guardians and undertake reviews of how the powers are being used on a regular basis, unless it is formally agreed that this is not required. In relation to local authority welfare guardianship powers, these are also reviewed regularly either by a Designated Mental Health Officer or Social Worker.
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42 Within North Lanarkshire Council there are several private residential and nursing care homes which offer accommodation for adults with complex care requirements. Local Authorities, from across Scotland, place Adults in these establishments. number of these Adults require the use of Mental Health, Adults with Incapacity and/or Adult Support and Protection legislation to ensure lawful decision making and protection of human rights. The statutory responsibility for undertaking statutory duties as relevant to individual residents is carried out by North Lanarkshire Council staff. During this period, as noted in section 2.5 below two Large Scale Investigations were undertaken under Adult Protection processes with respect to this type of establishment. The co-ordination of these investigations and associated statutory activity, in liaison with home local authorities, to ensure individuals rights were safeguarded and needs appropriately supported placed substantial additional demands on North Lanarkshire MHO and social work resources. Over the period April 2021 to March 2022, 135 requests were received for Mental Health Officer reports to accompany new guardianship applications. In comparison with the previous year this shows a 5.5 Increase. Of these applications 77 were for renewals of welfare guardianship orders, which is a 157 % Increase in renewal applications since the previous year. It should be noted that the ‘stop the clock’ put in force by the Coronavirus (Scotland) Act 2020 ended on 30th September 2021, therefore the increase in renewals this year would be expected as a direct consequence of demand effectively being held over from the previous year.
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43 Younger Adults with intellectual disabilities and/or neurodevelopmental causes and older Adults with cognitive impairment remain the main categories of diagnosis in respect of guardianship applications granted between April 2021 and March 2022. Mental Health (Care and Treatment) Act 2003 and Mental Health (Scotland Act 2015 Statutory interventions to safeguard and support individuals through mental health legislation is noted in the table below. National trends for civil detentions under the Mental Health (Care and Treatment) (Scotland) Act 2003 have continued to rise. In North Lanarkshire there has been a reduction in the number of Emergency Detention Certificates (down 10%) and Short-Term Detention Certificates (7.9%), whilst the number of Compulsory Treatment Orders has increased (22%) since the previous year. The total number of supervised Forensic orders continues to increase in North Lanarkshire Council. We continue to maintain a higher than the national average rate of consent to Emergency Detention Certificates. This year, MHO’s have however refused consent to 38 Short Term Detentions, which is 25 more than the previous year. Quality Assurance, Continuous Improvement and involving Lived Experience North Lanarkshire Council recognise that, MHO involvement in the social work and care management role of adults with complex needs in relation to decision making capacity and/or experience severe and enduring mental health difficulties, can offers much better outcomes for individuals as a result of the knowledge and skill base MHOs retain whilst ensuing human rights are central to intervention.
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44 Our plan is to promote quality assurance by gathering feedback from people with lived experience who are involved in the service, in addition to continuing to work collaboratively with partnership colleagues and other stakeholders. We are developing our links with Integrated Addiction Services in recognition that many individuals we work with experience mental health and addiction issues which require a whole systems approach. We are also introducing self-evaluation and auditing processes for statutory MHO reports and have undertaken a trauma informed walk through of the service to ensure best practice and continuous improvement. Service Recovery As discussed in last year’s report, the impact of the pandemic, required rapid development of remote working and centralising processes across the MHO service. Whilst there has been a return to face-to-face assessments, meetings and MHO forums we have also continued to benefit from the flexibility remote ways of working can offer service users and staff alike with MS TEAMS and ‘Near Me’ service. The centralisation of key functions has created many benefits to managing pressures across the service in relation to staffing, workload and sharing knowledge and experience. A centralised priority allocation process is now in place as a way of addressing the pressures across the service. Appropriate Adults Services In January 2020, Appropriate Adults (AA) Services across Scotland became a statutory function via part implementation of the Criminal Justice (Scotland) Act 2016. This now means that a statutory duty is placed upon Police Scotland to request an Appropriate Adult, while the Council have a statutory duty to provide Appropriate Adult Services, and the training of AA’s. The Care Inspectorate have the duty to assess the quality of AA Services. During 2021-22, national developments have continued to take place to assist with the ongoing implementation of the national statutory framework e.g. Scottish Government AA Oversight Group, national training group, and the requirement to complete a service-based questionnaire on North Lanarkshire AA Services, for the Care Inspectorate. The Council is currently working in partnership with the Care Inspectorate and other partners to design a self-evaluation model for ongoing quality assurance purposes for AA Services. Appropriate Adult Services in North Lanarkshire are currently fully operated, funded and delivered through Social Work Services with 12 employees trained to perform AA roles during business hours and SWES (Social Work Emergency Services) staff providing support out of hours. In line with statutory guidance produced by Scottish Government, work is underway to develop a local Appropriate Adult Oversight Group. This multi-agency group will have responsibilities for policy and practice development in this area eg. recruitment, training, confidentiality, health and safety and service complaints. Appropriate Adult referrals decreased by 23% (from 92 to 71) from the same time last year, in line with other local authority areas who have also experienced reductions in referral rates. This is being monitored by a National Oversight Group, Scottish Appropriate Adult
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45 Network and Police Scotland. While there was a decrease, there were increases in the number of times AA’s are being asked to attend police stations (for the same offence) and are spending an increased amount of time supporting vulnerable adults whilst there. As Council employees perform the AA role in addition to professional social work roles, this continues to contribute to resource pressures however an Appropriate Adult Development Officer post has been agreed and funded through new monies following statutory implementation and it is hoped to recruit to this shortly. 2.5 Public Protection Whilst all public protection activity is undertaken in partnership, the social work service has a lead role and associated statutory responsibilities, particularly with respect to adult and child protection and the management of high-risk offenders. The information below provides an overview and analysis of that activity. Child Protection The number of children whose names were placed on the child protection register decreased by 20% from 2020 to 2021, consistent with an emerging national trend during the initial period of the pandemic. Historically, proportionately fewer children’s names have been placed on the children protection register in North Lanarkshire than the Scottish average and this remains the case, although the gap is narrowing as illustrated below. Despite this decrease, 2021/22 saw a continuing trend of increased child protection activity overall. The table below illustrates an increase of 66% in child protection referrals over the past 5 years but proportionality fewer children (a 33% decrease) being referred to a Child Protection Case Conference. This indicates that more children were referred into the child protection system than was perhaps necessary. The development in North Lanarkshire of planning for the wellbeing of children through our Empowering Clusters, is designed, in part, to address this, with local supports and services in place to respond to need at an early stage. These trends will be monitored.
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46 Year Number of Child Protection Referrals Number of referrals that proceeded to Case Conference Percentage of Investigations Proceeding to Case Conference Percentage of Conferences resulting in Registration 2021/22 1714 229 30% 73% 2020/21 1482 261 31% 76% 2019/20 1617 339 42% 74% 2018/19 1150 329 51% 76% 2017/18 1030 340 49% 74% Adult Support and Protection During 2021/22 North Lanarkshire Social Work Services, as part of Health and Social Care North Lanarkshire, received 2434 ASP referrals, an increase of less than 1% compared to 2020/21 (from 2,426 to 2,434). This is the third consecutive year that an annual increase has been measured. Police Scotland remain one of the highest referring agencies, submitting 16% (380) of all ASP referrals received; this is a 39% decrease from last year (from 598 to 380). In addition to the 380 ASP referrals made by Police Scotland, there were a total of 4,004 Police ‘Adult Concern’ Reports received. Since the same reporting period last year there has been a 13% increase in police ‘Adult Concern’ reports (from 3,552 to 4,004). This is the third year running when significant increases have occurred; this work continues to generate significant resource pressures. For the fourth year running, there was an increase in the number of referrals received from NHS L personnel (from 426 to 473, up 11%). Referrals from Social Work Services staff decreased by 10% (from 411 to 371). For this period, ASP referrals from Care Homes demonstrated a 9% increase (from 416 to 455). Information from inquiry and Investigation processes suggest possible causes of this include, the increasing complexity of people placed in care homes, many of whom have significant levels of cognitive impairment and/or dementia, and behaviour which requires intensive support. Monitoring and support in this area is provided by colleagues in Quality Assurance and, in line with the increased focus on Care Homes during the pandemic this area of activity has also been monitored through regular review of ASP referrals for care homes and multi- professional Care Home Oversight arrangements. Adults with mental health issues were represented in 35% (858) of the total ASP referrals received, being the main primary user group referred. Referrals for this group have decreased since the same time last year but remain high in overall percentage terms (from 939 to 858). This only reinforces the importance of key service developments such as Distress Brief Intervention (DBI) and social work investment in delivering ASP training for those organisations who deliver services at home to our most vulnerable service users.
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47 ASP Investigations /Case Conferences and Statutory Orders/Functions During 2021-22 there were 434 ASP Investigations carried out, a 18% conversion rate from inquiry to investigation and a 16% increase from the previous year. There were 111 ASP Initial Case Conferences held; this measures a 29% decrease from last year. Anecdotal information from localities suggest that some cases have moved from investigation to case conference sooner in the process. For the period 2021/22, North Lanarkshire Council, as part of Health and Social Care North Lanarkshire also sought and implemented thirteen ASP Protection orders, broken down as; six Removal Orders, three Banning Orders and four temporary Banning Orders, all with power of arrest. During the period from April 2021 to March 2022, two Large Scale Investigations (LSI) under Adult Support and Protection (Scotland) Act 2007 (ASPA) were carried out at care homes. Both investigations highlighted a lack of legal safeguarding for many adults in relation to welfare and financial decision-making with necessary actions progressed to address this in conjunction with the Care Inspectorate, placing authorities, providers, individuals and families. The nature of these investigations required dedicated staff teams to be set up for a period to progress this and whilst this was critical in ensuring the effectiveness of investigations and supporting actions, this did have an impact on staff resource for other activity. MAPPA (Multi-Agency Public Protection Arrangements) In addition to their in public protection though the management of offenders, as described in 2.2 above, justice social work services have a key role in respect to MAPPA arrangements as lead agency for offenders subject to statutory supervision. As such the service works closely with the council’s housing service and other responsible authorities including, Police Scotland, NHS and the Scottish Prison Service to assess and manage the risk posed by sexual, violent and other risk of serious harm offenders. As noted in 1.4 above whilst activity is operationally managed within relevant agencies. multi-agency oversight and co-ordination is supported by a small pan-Lanarkshire team and Strategic Oversight Group (SOG). An annual MAPPA report provides information on the ongoing local implementation of MAPPA arrangements, key priorities and activity statistics: MAPPA Annual Report 2022 | North Lanarkshire Council Of the 699 individuals in custody or in the community in Lanarkshire subject to MAPPA as of 31/3/22, 56% (394) were the responsibility of North Lanarkshire authorities. Overall, the number of individuals managed under MAPPA have grown significantly since arrangements were established 15 years ago however this increase has slowed in recent years. In both North Lanarkshire and pan-Lanarkshire there was again a small increase between 20/21 and 21/22 however as in other areas of the justice system it difficult to clearly separate underlying trends from the impact of the pandemic on the justice system. MAPPA related activity is however a key aspect of justice social work workloads. Whilst the statutory activity above is categorised in distinct strands there is a clear interface across the different areas of public protection requiring joint-working across both social work
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48 care groups and partnership arrangements. There is for example an increasing number of older individuals and those with substantial care needs who are managed under MAPPA requiring close working between adult and justice services and there is also a strong interface with child protection whilst domestic abuse and violence against women may also link strongly to wider public protection processes. All social work staff are therefore expected and trained to have core knowledge of of the range protection procedures and responsibilities. Statutory public protection interventions and processes are also part of a wider continuum of safeguarding and community safety activity in which social workers are involved, some of which are reflected in earlier sections of this report. Additional examples of key priority areas for social work and partners where practice is evolving and innovating to strengthen the protection and wellbeing of our communities are set out below: Contextual Safeguarding and Missing Young People Contextual Safeguarding is an approach to protecting young people who are at risk of extra familial abuse (harm outside of the home), such as criminal or sexual abuse or violence within peer groups. North Lanarkshire is one of the first local authorities in Scotland to adopt this approach and a multiagency steering group was established in 2021 and an audit of practice comprising a review of processes and consultation with staff was completed. In addition, the Promise Development Team with the support of Who Cares Scotland provision in North Lanarkshire, held consultations and engagement with young people in relation to their experience of service responses to risk of harm outside the family. To ensure interventions and resources are put in place to reduce risks in contexts, a Young Person’s Safeguarding Panel was established in November 2021. It has representation from across council services (CLD, education, community safety, housing) as well as from partners to ensure a holistic response. The panel considers young people at significant risk of harm outside the home and is co-chaired by Police Scotland and Social Work and with each panel there has been a complex mix of risks. Risks are discussed alongside strengths, and there is a clear focus on the young person/people’s wellbeing. The panel adds value to case planning with young people by agreeing actions to address risks in locations or contexts for young people. There continued to be a weekly Missing Persons’ meeting that discussed all young people who were reported to the Police as being missing from the community or a residential home. The missing person meeting notes any risks to the child or young person when they were missing for further action and support and monitors the outcome of this. A comparison of those young people reported as missing in 2021/22 with the previous year shows a decrease in the number of total missing episodes (603 as opposed to 663) but an increase in the number of individual young people reported as missing (287 as opposed to 185). As a result of ongoing work with children’s house staff in their approach to nurturing and supporting young people, there was a significant reduction in young people reported missing from North Lanarkshire’s children’s houses as illustrated below. In 2020/21 nearly half the missing episodes related to care experienced young people missing from children’s houses whereas this reduced to a quarter in 2021/22. However, it also reflects an increase in young people missing from their own families, 65% of whom were not known to the social work service at the point of being reported missing.
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49 20/21 21/22 All young people reported as missing continued to be offered a Return Discussion from a contracted service through Barnardo’s Scotland. This enabled young people to raise any issue that may be affecting them with an independent person rather than a parent, police officer, teacher or social worker. This led to a number of young people being referred onto additional supports and the disclosure of harm that would not necessarily have occurred if this independent service had not been available. All young people reported as missing continued to be offered a Return Discussion from a contracted service through Barnardo’s Scotland. This enabled young people to raise any issue that may be affecting them with an independent person rather than a parent, police officer, teacher or social worker. This led to a number of young people being referred onto additional supports and the disclosure of harm that would not necessarily have occurred if this independent service had not been available. Suicide Prevention The Suicide Prevention Partnership Group is a collective of multi-agency staff which aims to collaborate in the promotion of the national and local suicide prevention strategies. This takes place via a range of activities including awareness raising and training across services and local communities. The process of gathering data on suicide locally has developed since the winter of 2019. More comprehensive information is now available from Police Scotland; which includes more contextual information about the deceased person’s life, employment and relationships. This information support the targeting of prevention activity. As noted in the table below from 2018 until 31st December 2021, North Lanarkshire has lost 171 people to completed suicides. There continues to be an increase in deaths of younger people under the age of 39: these have mostly been young males. Suicide rates did not significantly vary throughout the lockdown period (2020/2021) however as we continue to recover from the emotional and fiscal effects of the pandemic there is a
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50 concern that the cost-of-living crisis may impact an increasing number of individuals mental health and wellbeing with an associated risk of a rise in suicide rates. In this context continuing to review and enhance the local action plan is clearly essential (taken from National Records of Scotland suicide data for North Lanarkshire on an annual basis from 2018 until 2021) YEAR Completed number of suicides in NLC 2018 58 2019 57 2020 62 2021 52 Up to 31 March 2022 13 The local action plan delivered by the Suicide Prevention Partnership Group is framed around the following aims: 1. Reducing the risk of suicide in high-risk groups. 2. Tailoring approaches to improve mental and physical health in specific groups. 3. Reducing access to means of suicide, including identified Locations of Concern 4. Learning from investigations and reviews into unexpected deaths. 5. Providing better information and support to those bereaved or affected by suicide. 6. Supporting research, data collection and monitoring. 7. Building community capacity to help reduce the stigma and taboo associated with suicide. There is extensive peer support available across the authority with suicide awareness and prevention training being delivered across health, education, third sector and voluntary organisations. The partnership now embedded participation, initially as a pilot area in rolling out Distress Brief Intervention is also supportive of this work. A Senior Officer Adult Service Leads on the Suicide Prevention work. A proposal is being progressed to recruit a Suicide review Officer pan Lanarkshire, initially on a temporary basis, to continue to take forward this important work. Drug Related Deaths North Lanarkshire has some of highest levels of alcohol and drug related deaths in Scotland with 94 people dying from drug-related causes in 2020. Of these, 68% were male and 32% Female. Further analysis of the data shows 62% of all deaths in North Lanarkshire occurred in the 35 – 54 age group with 25- 34 olds and 45 and over age range falling not far behind. Overall, 98% of DRDs were poly-drug deaths with 71% of deaths from drugs in 2020 having more than 5 substances named in the toxicology reports*1. This represents a significant challenge in understanding and responding to the needs of people who use drugs in North Lanarkshire.
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51 Measures associated with targeting drug related deaths locally and nationally have been implemented via MAT Standards, Drug related Death task force workstreams and ADP funded projects. Actions will be centred on improving quality, offering choice and creating more of the connections to keep people safe, well and thriving. Realising a North Lanarkshire where: 1. Fewer people develop problem drug and alcohol use 2. People access and benefit from effective, integrated person-centred support to achieve their own type of recovery 3. Children and families affected by alcohol and drug use will be safe, healthy, included and supported. 4. Vulnerable people are diverted from the justice system wherever possible, and those in the system are fully supported. 5. Less harm is caused by alcohol. 3. RESOURCES For financial year 2021/22 North Lanarkshire Council had gross annual social work budget, inclusive of Covid & winter planning funding, in excess of £266m. This was allocated as £220m for Adult Social Care and £46m for Children, Families & Justice. The equivalent funding for the previous financial year was £252m. The ongoing impact of Covid-19 resulted in spend in excess of £8M which included the costs of PPE, the provision of additional home support hours and partner sustainability payments. This expenditure was fully funded by the Scottish Government. New recurring investment of £300m was announced by the Scottish Government at the end of 2021 to protect health and social care services over the winter period and to provide longer term improvement in service capacity across health and social care systems. North Lanarkshire’s share of this funding was £6.4m and a full business case was approved on how this would be utilised over the forthcoming 12-month period: https://mars.northlanarkshire.gov.uk/egenda/images/att97950.pdf
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52 There are however ongoing difficulties across the sector in recruiting for the required posts delaying spend against these funds. In aggregate Social Work had a savings target of £1.768M, 78% of which was achieved during the year. Plans are in place to fully achieve the savings in future years. Whilst the totality of Social Work activity during 2021/22 was undertaken within the overall budget resource and resulted in an underspend position this outturn underspend is projected to be on a non-recurring basis and therefore financial pressures are expected in specific areas as follows: - a. Home Support b. Independent Care Homes c. Self-Directed Services d. Integrated Equipment and Adaptation Service e. Family Placements f. Children’s Houses The underspend in Children’s Services Social Work was mainly due to savings in employee costs, which were largely as a result of recruitment issues and savings in external payments both to individuals and external agencies. There remain however significant ongoing cost pressures particularly in relation to placements costs which were alleviated by temporary additional funding allocated by the council which ended in 2021/22. Pressures relate primarily to growth in placements and costs within kinship care and external fostering. There are also ongoing cost pressures in relation to the management of internal Children’s Houses and the rise in costs for external residential placements, although as noted previously there has been a reduction in the use of external residential resource over recent years. Previous pressures with respect to continuing care costs have been mitigated by the additional recurring local investment in this area of service. Within the Justice budget the Scottish Government allocated additional funds to all 32 authorities to support the Justice recovery from the pandemic. North Lanarkshire received £0.943m of which £0.164m was earmarked specifically for the Third Sector. NLC were able to utilise £0.632 in year which included the full utilisation of the Third Sector monies. The main obstacle to fully spending the additional funds was in relation to recruiting to temporary posts. This was exacerbated by the relatively late confirmation of this funding which meant an automatic lag in recruitment as a direct consequence. In view of demand pressures and the criticality of frontline social work provision to both the delivery of statutory responsibilities and wider national and local policy ambitions the council and HSCP have taken no savings from main grade social worker posts over this period or recent years however wider savings have impacted within the service and the overall financial climate clearly remains challenging. Additional national funding for adult health and social care, of which local spend is reflected in the business case link above, has supported address some pressure points in Adult Services, however as noted elsewhere in this report recruitment challenges remain. Further
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53 recurring national investment in Adult Social Work from 2022/23, equating to 1.278m for North Lanarkshire announced in early 2022 is also welcome. Additional funding for Justice Social Work Services to support address the pandemic related backlog in demand will also continue into 2022/23 however the position beyond this is unclear. In contrast there has been no earmarked national investment in Children’s Social Work Services beyond the short- term winter support plan monies allocated at the end of 2020 with the impact that a number of the developments reflected in section 2.3 above have been supported by a range of short-term or non-recurring partnership funding and are therefore vulnerable to any changes within this. Financial Modelling for Service Delivery Financial Planning and monitoring continue to be a key responsibility for the management team. The Council’s financial strategy includes Service input to four key processes. These are: a. Preparation of detailed single year budget b. In–year budget monitoring and projections c. Preparation of rolling 3-year budgets d. Preparation of a Medium-Term Financial Plan Alongside these the Council Finance Team work closely with the IJB Chief Finance Officer to prepare a medium-term financial plan for the Health and Social Care Partnership. In terms of financial modelling the Management Team increasingly take a whole systems approach to delivering new and more efficient operating models which often requires joint working with other Council services and key external partners. The Management Team have also had to undertake significant work to prepare projections, plans and models which estimate the operational and cost impact of Covid on service delivery. This information is shared with officers in the Council, IJB key external partners and with the Scottish Government. In addition to the wider financial modelling described above work has also been undertaken to support the business plan for Adult Health and Social Care. With respect to Children’s Services the council and local partnership is one of three areas who have committed to working with the Promise team nationally on ‘Human and Economic Cost Modelling’, work which is intended to support longer term change both nationally and locally by identifying how money is currently spent and the system changes required to move the balance of spend toward early intervention and family support in line with the aspirations of Christie. 4. WORKFORCE 4.1 Workforce Planning
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54 Workforce planning within social work is integrated thought the social workforce group but informed by the Council’s corporate ‘Workforce for the Future Strategy’, https://mars.northlanarkshire.gov.uk/egenda/images/att96241.pdf which was updated and approved in June 2021 and interfaces also with the wider HSCP workplan. As reflected in other parts of this report the direct and indirect impacts of the pandemic and cost of living crisis along with underlying demand pressures have significantly impacted on the ask of the social work workforce over this period. Changes in the labour market as the country moves into the recovery phase have also impacted on recruitment and retention of staff and have together exposed some of the underlying vulnerabilities with respect to the capacity, valuing and development of the social work and social care workforce. North Lanarkshire is not immune to these challenges and whilst many of these also require action at national level, there is substantial work ongoing locally to address key issues and support workforce resilience. Social Worker Recruitment and Retention The service has previously adopted a mixed model with respect to social worker recruitment bur in response to financial constraints the services’ internal social worker trainee programme was paused in 2018/19 and since this time social worker recruitment has been predominantly external. Whilst staff turnover in many areas was supressed during the initial stages of the pandemic this has increased over the last 18 months. This is in part due to more internal movement to promoted, developmental and specialist posts within all care groups, including those created through service redesign and temporary funding streams, with such opportunities also supporting positive career pathways and staff retention. There has also been movement across care groups due to the creation of additional posts in justice and adult services with some ‘churn’ emerging particularly in children and families alongside an emerging increase in movement to other local authorities, in particular Glasgow where pay rates for main grade social work staff are higher. This is in a context of national recruitment challenges for social work with no overarching-system of bursaries/employment whilst training as well as increased demand for staff and the disruptive impact of the pandemic on social worker qualifying training. Whilst North Lanarkshire continues to successfully recruit including attracting students who have has positive placement experiences with the authority, this has also impacted on experience levels and stability at the frontline, for example in Children, Families and Justice alone 36 external appointments were made to the role of social worker over this period, 29 of whom were newly qualified. Whilst these staff bring skills, creativity and commitment to the service, the impact of the pandemic on pre-qualifying opportunities has impacted on learning needs and the changing balance between newly qualified and more experienced workers, alongside an increasing complexity in the demand profile, has created clear pressures with respect to the allocation of work within localities with a requirement to provide more support across teams. Frontline managers continue to monitor caseloads and assist their workers in the prioritisation of their statutory responsibilities. In Justice Social Work a revised structure has allowed for a more flexible approach to the deployment of staff across the authority to
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55 support the teams who are dealing with the most urgent and pressing demands and authority wide teams continue to support localities across all care groups. Whilst not favoured as a core element of our ongoing workforce strategy, where necessary limited use of agency social workers has also been employed under the auspices of Covid-19 recovery monies in Adult and Justice services. There is a productive partnership approach between the service and our HR colleagues in terms of ongoing recruitment strategies. Advertising frequency and dates have been reviewed to streamline the process and quicken the employee onboarding experience to and the service also maximises opportunities to recruit on a permanent basis (temp location) against temporary vacancies on the basis that normal levels of turnover mitigate any associated. financial risk. As outlined in 4.2 below, a commitment to capacity to support Practice Learning, the new Supported Year in Practice and to both Continuous Professional Development and Health and Wellbeing Support are all critical to longer-term recruitment and retention strategies but in the current context and it is likely that supporting actions will need to continue to be updated and reviewed. Our Senior Practitioner Scheme continues to contribute to retention and the building of a skilled workforce. It allows social workers and occupational therapists to progress to an enhanced salary scale on completion of relevant post qualifying training and commitment to undertake additional responsibilities and remains a key component of our model, with over 60 practitioners within the service carrying the status alongside tailored work plans identifying their additional contribution to the service. The Senior Practitioner qualification has been extended to include the Diploma in Autism and the National Joint Investigative Programme Training and new social workers who meet the criteria have immediate access to temporary Senior Practitioner status, pending a process to confirm status. Our strong commitment to the provision of Practice Learning as part of Learning Network West has been maintained and despite some of the challenges involved in providing quality learning experiences in the context of hybrid working, we have by the end of 2021/22 been able to restore placement provision to pre-pandemic levels. The service has benefitted significantly from the input of the students and as noted above this also supports recruitment. Following a ‘test of change’ in autumn 2021 provision of opportunities through traditional dispersed placements has been supplemented by the development of two student hubs base in the north and south of the authority. Each hub has the capacity to support around 9 students with a co-located practice teacher and with all placement opportunities overseen by a dedicated Senior Officer in our Training and Organisational Development team. Our experience to date suggests this model is highly valued by students whilst also providing flexibility of deployment to support service needs. Recruitment and retention of Mental Health Officers
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56 North Lanarkshire Council remain committed to training social workers to become MHO’s and since 2018 have successfully supported nine individuals through their MHO award. An MHO Traineeship Scheme was introduced during the pandemic, ensuring the MHO Trainees are located within the MHO Service during the course. We received positive feedback from the Trainees that being based within the service, provided quality learning and practice opportunities, despite a significant reduction in face-to-face contact with colleagues and service users. The scheme will continue, and a self-evaluation process is currently being undertaken. Colleagues across Education and Families and Social Work Emergency Services have shown an interest in being considered for the Award. Mental Health Officer forums continue every 6 weeks, offering discussion on practice issues, case studies, national reports/guidance and providing feedback to Scottish Mental Health Law Review. North Lanarkshire continue to offer MHO’s the opportunity to obtain, and maintain, Senior Practitioner status and to share their knowledge and experience with MHO and social work colleagues in relation to various aspects of AWI and MH legislation as well as Self Directed Support. We recognise the breadth of knowledge, experience, and skill across the MHO service and plan to restart consultation sessions regarding human rights, AWI and MH Act as well as establishing MHO champions who have areas of practice interest, in relation to neurodiversity, forensic work, and complex trauma. Remote external training and development opportunities continue to be available to MHO’s, for example via the Scottish Forensic Network, Mental Welfare Commission and MHO community of practice (SASW). Despite these measures in common with other local authorities, North Lanarkshire continues to be under-resourced in this area and this poses a considerable challenge for responding to statutory duties and timelines. Recruitment, retention and succession planning for MHOs are high level priorities and are under constant review. The service has recently been augmented by three newly qualified Mental Health Officers and an experienced MHO from another social work team. We also continue to have a core group of sessional MHOs who are involved in supporting AWI processes to support adults assessed as lacking capacity for making decisions with respect to hospital discharge processes this is proven to be beneficial and will continue to be funded. Grant aided funding from the Scottish Government to support Mental Health Officer training, is supporting the recruitment of a stand-alone Practice Assessor with we anticipate the post be filled by September 2022. We are also in the process of recruiting social worker posts to be based in the Mental Health Officer Service and an additional Mental Health Officer post for complex discharge planning is also currently under development. Social Care
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57 As reflected in Section 2.4 above there remain significant recruitment, retention and capacity challenges with respect to the home support workforce and whilst recruitment planning for the in-house service has always had to be balanced to avoid a simple transfer of capacity from the local independent sector the need to retain critical service delivery has necessitated an upscaling of recruitment to our in-house service over the last year. Challenges in recruitment and retention in this sector are not confined to the roles of home support workers providing direct care but also to management and support functions, as reflected earlier in this report, requiring further review of roles, the creation of additional posts and ongoing consideration of support arrangements to aid retention. Other areas in which there are recruitment challenges include locality support services and some roles within residential childcare, significant factors being wider labour market changes and comparative pay. In addition to wider strategic actions, service areas are themselves active in seeking solutions, for example, locality support services have continued to build links with education, encourage apprenticeship schemes and promote the idea to young people that a career in social care is rewarding and full of possibilities for promotion, further education and development. A group has been set up with a focus on promoting succession planning and preparedness of workers interested in promotion, staff development and the introduction of the principles of creating a working environment that is trauma informed Administration/Business Support Administrative and support staff within social work play an invaluable role in supporting service delivery and increasing challenges with respect to recruitment and retention in respect of key administrative and support roles have over the past year also impacted significantly on the service with high vacancy and turnover rates particularly in main grade roles with loss of staff to other services in the local authority, the health service and private sector an issue, again with comparative pay issues a significant factor. A wider review of administrative support across the wider education and families and social work service is planned with an ambition that a redesigned business support model will support efficiency and offer roles which both reflect the specific needs of the current service and which are more attractive and offer improved career pathways for staff. Care Academy A important vehicle to support workforce planning in social work and a key element of Workforce for the Future is the Health & Social Care Academy a much long-standing piece of work, with mature partnership model and based on a key joint venture with NHS Lanarkshire. Recently, existing work has been deepened by establishing 3 priority sub- groups focused on 1) the young workforce, with further development of the in school vocational offering for Health and Social Care; 2) adult recruitment and employability, with a focus on both short- and longer-term workforce demands in the sector, 3) building capacity and resilience by supporting wellbeing, training, and development across the existing workforce. A clear plan of action has been developed for each of the subgroups who will take forward this work in the next 6 to 12 months with regular reporting to the Workforce for the Future Steering Group. Work will also be taken forward in the next phase to develop a framework of outcome measures which can be used to track the overall progress of the programme and its impact.
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58 4.2 Workforce Development and Staff Support There are a wide range of learning and development opportunities open to staff supported and planned both corporately and at service, team and individual levels with a focus on alignment to service and corporate ambitions and redesign but also on more specific team and individual development needs the latter through our PRD processes. Prior to the pandemic the council invested in LearnNL a cloud-based learning management system designed to support a more inclusive and accessible approach to learning whilst improving digital literacy, and this was a key support in sustaining training and development during the pandemic period during which more training was adapted for online delivery however as the year has progressed there have been some opportunities to re-stablish face- to-face team development, with the hope that wider opportunities will be available over the coming year. A summary of key activity over the period with respect to Learn NL, Assessment Centre and training activity to supporting registration and the social care workforce and Post-qualifying Awards is noted below: LearnNL Total number of activities undertaken on LearnNL including mandatory learning – 10,718 Leadership Development – 87 activities Fundamental Leadership – 2 Influential Leadership – 9 Assessment Centre and Registration The Assessment Centre continues to support SVQ, and PDA qualifications required to meet registration, role and CPD requirements. This is achieved through both in house assessment and access to SVQs through external providers. The North Lanarkshire Assessment Centre was subject to an external verification visit in August 2022. A number of activities were undertaken in this visit to ensure we continue to meet the requirements set out by SQA. All areas sampled in the visit were rated green (High Confidence) by the external verifier, an excellent achievement, sustaining high standards of delivery throughout challenging times. Awards completed (2021 – present) SCQF Level 6 (SVQ2) – 8 SCQF Level 7 (SVQ3) – 5 SCQF Level 9 (SVQ4) – 2 PDA Level 9 – 4 Active Candidates – External Programmes (2021 – present) New College Lanarkshire – 17
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59 West Lothian College – 4 A tender has recently been issued for the provision of SVQ Level 2 in Social Services in Health Care which will provide up to 30 places over the next two years Active Candidates – Internal Programmes (2021 – present) SCQF Level 7 (SVQ3) – 4 SCQF Level 9 (SVQ4) – 5 PDA Leadership and Care (SCQF Level 9) – 3 Post Graduate Opportunities Advanced Practice skills – 1 completed 2022 Postgraduate in Child Welfare and Protection @ Stirling University – 4 started in 2021 and completed June 2022. A further 5 will commence September 2022 due to finish June 2023. Postgraduate in Adult Support and Protection – 2 Postgraduate in Contemporary Drug and Alcohol Studies – 2 Part funding of final year of PHD qualification – 1 Postgraduate in Management and Leadership – 1 Exploring the Theory and Practice of Psychological Trauma – 1 MSc In Leading People Centred Care – 1 Children in Conflict with the law – 2 places funded for 2022 with a further 4 places funded for 2023 Professional development award in practice learning (PDA PL) Four social workers qualified as practice teachers this year with a further two due to finish by December 2022. This is supported by a practice learning pathway for social workers to become link workers and practice teachers. Over the past 4 years we have promoted practice learning and successfully built a strong cohort of competent and confident link workers and currently have waiting list to become a practice teacher. Social Worker Training Whilst our secondee scheme is currently suspended as noted above we continue to have staff studying on their own time with the Open University which they self-fund. We have 6 support workers who are all at a stage they now only require to be sponsored by NLC for their 2 practice placements to qualify as social workers. We have committed to this funding and all 6 will start their first assessed placement February 2023 and will qualify September 2024. Newly Qualified Social Workers (NQSWs), Supported Year in Practice In view of the workforce profile describe in 4.1 above, the service has been delighted to receive funding support for a Practice Learning Officer as and early implementer of a supported year for NQSW’s. Knowing that North Lanarkshire Council (NLC) is a part of the early implementation has also been a key factor for NQSW applying for posts in the local authority.
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60 There are currently 21 NQSW who are registered with SSSC as part of the supported year with others sue to join this group shortly whilst 4 NQSW who were employed by NLC prior to the supported year starting are receiving support through Early Professional Development Programme, training and development opportunities being shared and 1:1 support as required. An initial face-to-face inductions day for NQSWs has taken place with others to be scheduled as further staff join backed with a 12-session programme to runover the year and engagement with line managers. The CSWO and Head of Adult Social Work met with NQSWs as part of their initial induction programme, and it is planned that further ‘touch in’ contact will take place in future induction days and later in the programme. Other key training and development: A broad range of other core training and development activity has continued including with respect to Public Protection using online and blended models. For example, ASP Council Officer Training (Day2) and investigative Interview Training (Day3) were reviewed and redesigned to support remote delivery and were delivered to 30 staff during April and May 2021. The Getting it Right in Child Protection blended course has run throughout the pandemic ensuring that multi-agency staff are knowledgeable and confident within child protection practice. A range of service specific and partnership training has supported key areas of organisational, service and practice development described elsewhere in this report in a number of instances using a ‘train the trainer’ model which is supporting the expansion in the use of the Outcome Star as a tool from justice services across education and families and plans to embed Safe and Together within Children’s Services Team based learning is also common across the service. One example being locality support services who developed an on-line platform using Yammer to share good practise and develop a quality assurance space insuring services across the six localities were learning from one another and providing quality services. Six weekly ‘best practice’ meetings have been established locally to recognise and celebrate good stories, meeting one of the needs expressed by workers in one of our feedback exercises. Trauma Informed Practice A key priority across the social work service is the embedding of trauma informed approaches across both organisational systems and service delivery and to ensure an appropriately skilled workforce in line with the National Trauma Training Plan. Trauma Informed Practice is already embedded in areas of training and service delivery, for example, as integral to the Scottish Child Interview Model which forms the basis for the pan- lanarkshire Joint Investigative Interviewing Team. One of our childcare teams was involved in the national piloting of social work specific training and trauma informed systems and practice are also integral to our work on contextual safeguarding and the subject of a research partnership with the Innovate national research project as well as to the work of the services’ health and wellbeing group. Senior Social Work Managers are Trauma
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61 Champions for the Council and HSCP respectively along with our Principal Educational Psychologist, developing the local steering group and associated plan. Lived Experience As reflected elsewhere in this report the service has benefited significantly from the increased involvement of those with lived experience in training and development activity and from the opportunities created for targeted employment of those with lived experience. Further work is planned to ensure appropriate pathways are available both to this type of role and others within the service and to ensure appropriate support is available for staff with respect to these roles and future career development. a number of Reflective Learning: The Scottish Child Abuse Inquiry/Historical Abuse Reflective learning remains central to continuous professional development and service quality within social work and social care whether through 1-1 supervision or sharing learning from case audits and reviews. One area of focus over the past year has been local learning from work undertaken with respect to the Scottish Abuse Inquiry which has also dovetailed with work around the Promise. Lead officers involved in supporting the inquiry have prepared presentations around key learning which have been delivered to the social work management team and to a range of children and families staff with further inputs planned to adult services and the child protection committee. This is also influencing service improvement in areas as diverse as the planned review of our foster care handbook and management of access to records requests. Support for Staff Wellbeing As reflected across this report demands on staff remain significant and whilst there has been huge resilience within the workforce the level of demand alongside a significant change agenda and the residual impacts of the pandemic are still impacting on the wellbeing of many staff. A range of specific supports have been made available but there is also increasingly within the service a clear need to focus on the support staff need within day-to-day practice and working arrangements to manage and thrive and this clearly links with work around a trauma informed organisation. 5.1 Looking Forward - Priorities for 2022/23 and beyond It is clear from the reflection on delivery of social work and social care contained in this report that the context is likely to remain both complex and challenging over the coming year as both the service and the communities we support continue to be impacted by the legacy of the pandemic and the increasingly significant cost of living crisis. There are clear indications in the demand on all areas of the social work service during 2021/22 of a significant increase in both the volume and complexity of need, which will not be simply transitional, but will carry forward into 2022/23 and beyond, and that challenges in other parts of the public sector, particularly with respect to acute health services, will also continue to impact hugely.
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62 In this context it is sometimes difficult to focus on the strong starting position within North Lanarkshire with respect to our balance of care and the embedding of integrated working across Health and Social Care, the Education and Families Service and the wider Council and Partnership. Whilst this position is likely to be tested by immediate demand pressures it is important that these do not draw focus from a whole system approach and the opportunities to further strengthen this, for example, through the embedding of the Empowering Cluster’s model within Education and Families and of the 3 Conversations Model in Adult Services. Equally, whilst income maximisation and tackling poverty actions have always been a feature of the delivery of social work and social care in North Lanarkshire, it will be more important than ever that these are both broader and fully integrated into day-to-day practice and service delivery given the challenges faced by those we support and the close association between poverty, health inequalities and statutory interventions across all social work care groups and the disproportionate experience of poverty also impacting on unpaid carers. Workforce pressures and issues in social work and social care will require serious and continued attention at both national and local level, both to reduce the risk to the delivery of key statutory responsibilities and the quality of care and support, and to ensure capacity for the continuous improvement and service redesign necessary to improve outcomes. Whilst digital developments will continue to be essential, and create opportunities for wider engagement, as reflected at the start of this report, the visibility of senior managers and opportunities for more informal engagement with staff have been compromised over the last two years and a range of visits and events are planned for early 22/23 which will also provide an important vehicle for staff to come together. A continued focus on working to build trauma informed systems and organisation as well as to strengthen practice in this area will also be fundamental to creating a healthy service which supports staff to deliver well for our communities In addition to the continued opportunities presented by digital and tech solutions within service redesign and improvement, it is anticipated that the conclusion of a tender for a new social work case management system will be completed early in 2022/23. Whilst the transition to this will be complex, take some time and require the support of a robust implementation plan, a new system will be a key support to staff as well as improving service user experience and the measurement of performance/impact. Equally important, for the home support service in particular, will be work to finally secure a strong dynamic scheduling system. External scrutiny, specifically with respect to public protection is likely to feature for the service in the coming year with some inspection programmes previously paused during the pandemic. An adult support and protection inspection is scheduled during the first part of the year and there is the possibility also of an inspection of services to children and young people at risk of harm in the relatively near future. Whilst welcome this will require to be factored into planning given the associated stretch on organisational resource requirements. Similarly, 2022/23 will be a year when significant work will be required around strategic needs assessment and other preparatory work to support the the renewal of key statutory plans due in 2023 including the HSCP’s Strategic Commissioning Plan and
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63 the Children’s Services and Community Justice Plan whilst the Council will also refresh its Programme of Work. Undoubtedly the financial context for service delivery, as for the wider public sector, will also remain challenging and its impact is exacerbated by the growth in demand across all social work care groups. Whilst, as reflected in the resources section of this report, there is considerable focus on financial planning, there remain specific challenges around the short- term nature of additional funding specifically in justice and children’s services and in realising a route to support the aspiration to move a higher proportion of resource upstream. We will however continue to engage in work on this. The context for the delivery of social work services will also clearly continue to be impacted by key national policy drivers including the Promise, the yet to be finalised incorporation of UNRC into Scots Law, the Vision and Strategic Priorities for Justice, and perhaps most significantly by the planning and legislative process for the proposed National Care Service alongside a raft of additional national policy drivers and planned changes in guidance and legislation. Additionally wider and emerging demands on social work services include the now mandatory National Transfer Scheme for Unaccompanied Asylum-Seeking Children and, with the resettlement support needs arising from the tragic war in Ukraine. The overall the scale of change, some of it potentially significantly disruptive, alongside the demand and workforce pressures likely for social work will undoubtedly continue to challenge capacity and in moving forward there will be a need to maintain the benefits of local best practice and partnership working whilst progressing the system transformation required to address longstanding problems and to support better outcomes. Continued strong leadership will be required to avoid staff being overwhelmed and to balance immediate pressures with respect to core service delivery, and the associated risk to those we support, with the change and improvement capacity required for the scale of envisaged over the coming years. As noted in my report last year, and equally true a year on, ‘Social work has the potential to play a key role in shaping system transformation nationally and locally and in ensuring a focus on rights, inclusion and social justice however it is also important that the complexities inherent in the social work task are recognised and that context supports best practice’